One Small Step for Today, One Giant Leap for my Career

I haven't been posting here as much as I planned when Launch Academy was winding to a close, but for (what I think is a) good reason.  After graduation we had a Career Kickoff event, which introduced us to employers in the area who were looking to hire Launch Academy grads for entry-level positions, and that began a few weeks of almost non-stop interviews.  No amount of preparation can really make you ready for your first on-site interview with a technical company.  In my previous experience, an interview was almost an hour long conversation where they tell me about the position and ask if I would be okay with that, I say "Yes" and ask about the dress code, and they offer me the job.

Having a group of people actively trying to see if they want to work with you, and if they think you can be taught their "monolithic" database and program, is a whole different ballgame.  In a way, it's more nerve-wracking, because you need to impress every one of the people you talk to.  In another sense, though, it's nice to go into your first day at least knowing that you've met a good portion of the team you will be working with.  I learned pretty quickly that I should not book 2 on-sites in the same day (in fact, the second company from the one day I tried was also the one company who did not ask me back in or make an offer.)  The on-site is important enough that it should have its own day and a half dedicated to it - a minimum of half a day before hand to research the company and anyone you might be meeting, so that you have a basic understanding of what you would be working on and with whom.  Then, on the day of the interview, half of the day is set aside for getting to the interview and being actively engaged while you're there, and the other half is spent going over notes and trying to write acceptably personal thank-you-notes to everyone you met.

My job search went pretty well, though -- if I do say so myself -- and tomorrow will be my first day as an Engineering Intern at OneDoor in Boston.  It's going to be a shift from jobs I've had in the past, where the main concern was whether you could move your hands quickly enough without thinking too much about it, to a job where thinking and reasoning through a solution is (at least) half the battle.

That said, as an intern I'm not required to know any more than Launch Academy has taught me, and I think I can responsibly say that I have learned as much as I could.  Now it's just a question of showing up to my first day and going from there. I'm still nervous, but I always am before Day One.

Wish me luck!