Journey of Interviewing

March 28, 2025

Some of My Friends Entering a New Chapter ...

Since I can see some of my friends starting a new phase of their lives, opening a new chapter, I want to write a few words about how I get my current job.

Not too proud, but I hope you can see what happens if you don’t give up. Keep fighting, pals!

How it all started

I started my journey with the idea of not getting (too much) rejected in the last two years (whether in education or career). With the mindset of "If I can do it once, I can do it again," I thought it would be smooth sailing. But to be honest, it was not that easy.

I spent the first half of the year preparing, covering a lot of ground. But no matter how much I did, it never felt like enough. As I researched, I found that there were two key areas I needed to focus on:

• What you are doing – This is a must-have on your CV, and it’s the most important part.
• Algorithms – This is the most time-consuming part, and you’ll never know exactly what problem will be asked.

Disclaimer: I was too naive to think that's enough, but life will teach me that through the hard way.

I started applying ...

I spent a day writing a base resume and then changed it for each company, which I felt pretty confident about. I applied to several companies, mostly through LinkedIn, but the market wasn’t easy for me — I only got about a 20% success rate for getting past the HR screening round.

Fun fact: I actually failed the CV round for my current company. A bit sad, but to be honest, I didn’t prepare well for it. This was when I realized I needed to take every interview seriously—or risk getting "cooked" (which ended up causing me a lot of stress).

For more context, the first round is the CV screening—it’s your ticket to meet the actual interviewer. Then comes the HR round, where they align details from your CV and ask some job-related questions. Next are the technical rounds and the culture fit round. While it varies by company, this was the general pattern I experienced.

This phase lasted for about two months. I had several technical interviews, reached the culture fit stage twice, and passed only one of them — but I decided not to take the offer.

Here are some lessons I learned:

• The depth of knowledge interviewers expect is way beyond what I initially thought.
• Security and CS fundamentals always come up, and it helps to explain things in detail: What? Why? When? How?
• I needed a better strategy for reaching out to recruiters. Applying on LinkedIn is not the only way—and not the best way.
• Be transparent—not just about what you know, but also about your thought process. Even if you don’t have the exact answer, showing how you approach a problem matters.

Back to the grind:

I gave myself a short break—not too long. Worked on some side projects, solved more Leetcode problems, took a few Udemy courses, then got back in the game.

This time, I applied to only three companies—my current company and two others. With better preparation and more effort, I made it to the technical rounds for all of them.

I failed the first one. Did well at the start but couldn’t make it to the final round. Got rejected on my birthday (what a way to turn 25). For my current company, I had some good rounds — still choked on a few parts, but I managed to land the offer. This one lasted for 3 months, what a journey. The last one was more for experience. I got pretty far but failed the algorithm round (despite solving 400+ Leetcode problems).

And here I am—new city, new job, new chapter in life.

Taking a step back ...

I took a trip to Ha Giang Loop to reset and clear my mind.

For me and some of my friends, we grew up in an environment where people measured success by achievements. The better your test scores, the better your school, the better your job—the higher your "worth." There was always pressure to be at the top, and failing at anything felt like the end of the world.

But you know what’s great about failing an interview? You get better at it. It will have less impact, then be easier to get over. You realize it’s not the end of the world—you’re still breathing, the sun still rises, and life moves forward.

What if you keep failing? Each failure teaches you something. Learn from it. Make it count. At the end of the day, you only need to succeed once.

I had a conversation with a friend about all my failed interviews. And looking back—did everything happen for the best? The job I landed, the experience I gained, the lessons I learned—did they all lead me to this point?

I think so. And I’m happy with the result.

Let's be honest, i did some really bad interview, some really bad feeling, but they are all getting lighter than they once were, and i need less time to move on for the next one. As my starting point at the beginning of the blog, my condifence took a hard hit, but it's not a too big deal and still standing strong!

One quoted thing from my friend "If you know you will pass at 20th time, do you happily failed the first 19 times?"

I hope you believe in your 20th time, all the best!

Quick shoutout

Leaving my ex company wasn’t about wanting something better - I genuinely loved it there. Great people, great experiences, and so much to learn. But it was time for a new chapter, bringing all that with me.

Big shoutout to my family and friends for always having my back — couldn’t have done it without you!