this is not an article articulating the technical details of how i prepared for my microsoft and amazon interview, but rather how i built the necessary habits and mindset going into my preparation.
as you are reading this, you may be thinking to yourself, how does taking a cold shower have anything to do with getting a tech job offer. in my case, it played a major role. the action of taking a cold shower itself does not directly influence my success during the interview itself, however, it impacted on a larger scale which is the foundation on how i was able to build up a mindset that allows me to go about executing a routine that i had to follow on a daily basis leading up to the interview. that directly influenced how i was able to successfully construct a plan, act on it, and lead me to acing the interviews.
“preparation are keys”
i hate the cold and the feeling of being cold. i am the type of person that has a space heater nearby and uses a hand warmer at the office. i very much despise and detest cold showers. so this begs the question of why do it? for the simple reason, to make myself uncomfortable. after i finished reading can’t hurt me and man’s search for meaning, i just spontaneously decided one night that i am going to take a cold shower.
“do the things you don’t like” - david goggins
i remember the first time thinking that it was not too bad. although, while in the shower, i was shaking uncontrollably and afterward i had cold feet for hours. but i remember thinking it was not too bad. the feeling of accomplishment of doing something difficult was enough to combat the uncomfortableness. i kept at it, once in the morning and once at night. gradually, i increased the time i stayed in the shower from 5 minutes all the way to 10 minutes in the first week. the first few days went well, i was actually excited to do this task because the dopamine afterward was worth it. however after the first week, the task started to become increasingly more cumbersome and it dawned on me that i do not want to be doing this. the fear of taking cold showers starts to creep in as my mind poisons with the thought of having to stand through the freezing cold droplets of water for 10 minutes. delaying, stalling, procrastinating became the name of the game. i would stand in front of my shower door for minutes thinking why the hell am i doing this. i absolutely hated it. i hate being cold during it and afterward. all these thoughts would run through my brain, but i do it anyway. every single time for the first 2.5 months, i would question myself “why am i doing this? i could be enjoying a hot shower right now”, but once i set the timer on my phone, i immediately jump into the shower and go through the ordeal. and every single time i got out of it feeling accomplished. this one small change that i added to my routine helps establish the foundation of how i go about building up my discipline.
“consistent actions everyday will lead to result overtime”
building habits are very difficult. you can be very motivated to go to the gym for the first few days, but over time that motivation dissipates. when that happens, what is there to rely on? discipline. that is the lesson that i’ve learnt from taking cold showers everyday. the understanding that no matter how annoying and uncomfortable the task of a cold shower is i will do it anyway. that very thought process in itself is very powerful. the thing with discipline is it can be trained like a muscle. once your discipline muscle is leveling up, you are more inclined to do things that make you uncomfortable. this led me to discovering the “no days off” framework where there are certain things that i will do everyday no matter what. these include meditating (>5 mins), reading (25 mins), playing an instrument (25 mins), journaling (25 mins), planning the next day (25 mins) and studying (50 mins).
“think about how good you will get in 4-5 years if you were to do this task every single day no matter what”
once the routine had been established, it was not very hard to adapt it to preparing for the interview. with the new found mindset, i was more capable of handling difficult and complex tasks that i do not want to do. it helps me tremendously in persevering through failing to solve easy questions on leetcode in the first few weeks. no matter how hard it is, i told myself i will have to spend x amount of minutes on it each day. i did not want to overwhelm myself too much so i started off at around 15 minutes. bit by bit, i started to see improvements in my ability to solve problems. as the problems get easier, i started to increase the intensity of my routine as i need to go wide and try to solve as many problems as i can to spot the different patterns. solving technical coding challenges is just one aspect of the interview, but the same concepts applied to those other areas as well. my after work hours and weekends were consumed with my preparation. every day, week, and month was planned out on what areas and materials that i need to be focusing on. this allows me to have a clear picture of what i need to be doing at all times so i won’t waste time thinking about what i need to do.
“1% improvement every single day will compound you to a 3800% improvement in one year. ”
you have to understand that you will not transform yourself overnight, it will take months, or maybe years. but understand this, if you keep at it and grind every single day, you will get to wherever you want to go. you have to trust the process and have the belief that what you are doing right now will lead you to your goal. visualize it, dream it, feel it.
i was not perfect along the way. there were days where i wasn’t being as productive as i would like to be. there were days where i did a problem just to say i did that problem. there were a lot of days where i wasted time procrastinating. there were days where i wanted to take a break and quit the “no days off”. i am definitely still learning and trying to become better myself. i constantly have to remind myself that this is a marathon, not a sprint. you cannot rush this process. the one thing that helps keep me in check is to remember my goals and the why. understanding and remembering that i am on a journey to better myself is a refresher that i sometimes need to push myself to do my work out at 12 am in the morning or study for an extra pomodoro.
the lessons that i learnt along the way are huge. i get a sense that i understand myself better and the tendencies that i would partake in. for example, i’d get distracted by watching a youtube clip and i would go on a tangent for about 10-15 minutes before i realized that i need to stop and do the tasks that i set out for. things like that i would realize and find ways to combat it like using a blocker to block out sites during focus time. i started to see the tendency of my energy level during the day so i tried to maximize my time during those peak energy levels. it was definitely very fun to experiment with different routines such as eating habits, sleeping routine, and journal about it and see what i can do to tweak it to better maximize my productivity. and as i kept up with the routine every single day, i started to have this sense of belief that i’ll do very well in the interview. i wasn’t 100% confident going into the interview but i knew that with either outcome i was going to be fine with it because i did everything that i could to prepare for it.
in conclusion, i want to emphasize this point, i am not special by any means of the imagination. i truly believe anyone can absolutely do this. you have the power to change your life at this very second. create a plan, design a schedule and execute on it no matter what. every decision you make can steer you toward your goals. it’s hard, but not impossible. consistent hard work will get you to where you want to go, building that mindset is the goal. i hope you guys enjoy the article.
this article was written a while back when i first joined aws, but i just never posted it anywhere. thought to share my experience here : )
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