“Don’t be afraid to fail and ask for help,” says Devang Modi. Devang worked at an energy startup for 9 years, and before that, he worked at Paypal for 6 years.
When he started his job hunt, he realized that day-to-day coding was very different from an interview environment. He went to a few interviews without preparation and struggled because he had minimal time to come up with solutions. This is why he joined Interview Kickstart. The course helped him land a job at Roku Inc. as a Senior Software Engineer.
Read on to find out what made him choose Interview Kickstart to take his career to the next level.
What led you to join Interview Kickstart?
In my 15 years of experience, I solved many complex problems. But very few developers actually solve problems that involve graphs and trees. We might do it once in two or three years, but not every day. Most people just use libraries and get what is needed to do the work.
But technical interviews are all about such problems! I realized that I needed to face facts and thoroughly prepare for technical interviews to get a good opportunity at a good company — and so, I decided to join Interview Kickstart.
Did Interview Kickstart help you achieve your goals?
I don’t think I would have succeeded the way I wanted without IK. I joined in February and got an offer within just 8 months, and that’s including the course duration! I had 3 offers and chose Roku — they offered me a good position and a significant increase in compensation. So, it worked out pretty well.
What did you like about Interview Kickstart’s program?
- The curriculum is well organized. It starts with recursion and then moves to trees and graphs. It helps you figure out interview questions.
- The instructors are thorough and knowledgeable. They’re not tied to the curriculum. So, if you ask them a different question or a different format, they help you out.
- The behavioral coaches help you with resume building, salary negotiation, and all other non-tech aspects of the interviews. They give you practical advice on how to talk to recruiters and make sure you get the offer you deserve.
Did you leverage the mock interviews offered by Interview Kickstart? If yes, how did they help you?
Yes. I attended about 10 mock interviews. Out of the ten times, I got a low rating six to seven times. But I always got feedback on what I was doing wrong, which helped me slowly improve.
For example, while I was solving a problem, one of the coaches mentioned that I used recursion but didn’t return the value the way I was supposed to. Another generic feedback I got was — I didn’t understand the question correctly and jumped straight into solving it. Also, I didn’t stop to clarify my doubts. These inputs helped me do a little better each time.
Any advice for software engineers who are looking to join Interview Kickstart?
If you put in the hard work along with Interview Kickstart’s program, I think you can get an excellent job. Many people I know are amazing software engineers, but they don’t make the cut at top tech companies for different reasons. Some don’t want to try. Many are complacent and think — “I have a house, kids and wife, and this company. Life is going well, so why should I care?” Then there are people who fail and give up. They don’t ask for help.
When you attend Interview Kickstart’s webinar, you see that everyone who joins is the same — they all want better opportunities. They have crossed these 3 hurdles — they are not complacent, they want to try, and they ask for help.
My advice to everyone looking to crack a Tier-1 tech company — the biggest thing is to try out. Don’t be afraid to fail and ask for help. All the best!
What can we do better?
I think IK is doing a fantastic job already. However, it might help if there can be a week of personality improvement classes after every week of coding. This way, you get a breather from coding, and you get to take advantage of the great career resources at IK. The curriculum is pretty good overall, so no complaints.
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