I am excited to announce that I joined uSoftware as a Senior Software Engineer and will provide services for Printify in a Developer Enablement team š¤©!
Background
For those who don’t know, at the end of May I was laid off from GetResponse along many others, and then I spent whole June on several recruitment processes. It was really tough time, because me and my family still struggle with renovations after moving out to the new place, so we already had a lot on our shoulders. Being laid off at such a crucial moment is not nice, it causes stress and anxiety, but it is unfortunately part of adult life and professional careers. It wasn’t the first time when it happened for me, but every time I was forced to look for new opportunities in the past, it ended up pretty nice - this time wasn’t different!
Recruitment process(es)
After hearing the decision from GetResponse I immediately started to look for new opportunities. Heck, I even spontanously (day later!) went to PHPers Day conference in PoznaÅ to do some networking. I messaged several people that I knew they were interested in my services in the past. I also prepared this post to summarise my profile and expectations I have for the new role, to make HRs’ life easier š, and shared it on all my social accounts (you can find them in the site’s header). I also updated my LinkedIn profile, even though I don’t use it that much on daily basis. Basically, I did everything to help myself with finding next job as soon, as possible. It worked, as I quickly was invited for several meetings and started recruitment processes.
I had to make choices where I want to engage, and where not. It’s not an easy task, but entering too many processes at the same time can affect their outcome - it’s better to focus on fewer ones, but to be able to give 100% for each of them. In my case I had 4 main processes I was focused on, and kept few alternatives in early phase to continue later if needed. These 4 recruitment processes consisted of multiple meetings, home tasks, quizes and other steps, so it was a lot of work anyway.
The Choice
I did my best in each of the processes, at least I thought so š . It turned out later that I did not cover all the cases in one of the home tasks (overlook), and also in the other one I made wrong decision to implement one crucial thing in a simplified way, with explanation in the readme file, which in the end costed me a rejection. Basically, I have completed 3 of 4 recruitment processes, with 2 of them ending with an offer: Shipmonk and Printify š„³.
To be honest: it wasn’t an easy choice. Both companies looked very nice through the whole recruitment process, either from technical and team’s point of view. Both companies did their best to convince me to join them, for which I am extremely grateful ā¤ļø. In the end the decisive factor was a profile of the role: I chose Printify because they offered me a possibility to continue working in the Developer Enablement area, which I find really interesting and fulfilling.
Friendly advices
To make this post something more than an informative note, I would like to share some advices that maybe someone finds useful when looking for new opportunities.
Be quick
Don’t waste time. Job offer that is available now may be unavailable tomorrow. You got a message/email about the recruitment process? Answer as soon as possible, even if it’s a short info that you are busy now and will dig deeper later. You have one week for your home task? Fine, but don’t leave it until the very end because then most probably you won’t be able to do everything as good as it should be - starting early can help you with estimation and it’s always better to have time margin.
Be publicly active
Remember: all your public activity can be an (dis)advantage from companies’ point of view. It includes speaking at conferences, publishing blog, creating content on social media and Open Source work. Having something that you can proudly share during the process is crucial, as it shows your real-world skills.
Use your network
Don’t hesitate to reach people from your network (both indirectly and directly). It can open doors that you may not even knew before. In my case both of the job offers I got were the outcome of my tweet or direct message sent to friend. Similar for other processes, one of them started because Jagoda saw my “open to work” announcement and referred me to NordSecurity. That’s the power of networking and being recognisable. Invest in yourself.
Be ambitious
I know from my own experience (I always underestimate myself) that sometimes job offers seem unreachable. You may think: “I am too weak for that”. The truth is: job offers are often overpacked with requirements and you don’t need to meet them all. Even if you get rejected, this can be a valuable lesson for future recruitment processes and for your self-development. Always aim higher.
Be honest
Talk openly with your potential employees, so they know whether you’re going through other recruitment processes, whether you already have some offers. It doesn’t mean you have to tell everything, but act in a good will and don’t use companies as a lever to get better offer in other companies (I mean: don’t do it on purpose, there’s nothing inherently wrong in telling one company that you have better offer from other one). During interviews don’t be afraid to tell that you don’t know something. Software development is not about knowing everything, but about ability to find solutions. I don’t know many things, even those considered as basic stuff, and I am fine with that because I know what I know and what I can.
Learn English
It may sound obvious, but from my experience not everyone invest in learning English, even though code is almost always written in this language. Knowing English will make your work easier each day, but also can open opportunities. I’ve been using English for years mostly for reading and writing, but at GetResponse I took advantage of English lessons with native speaker to improve my speaking skills and foundamentals in general (grammar, phrasal verbs etc). I believe it greatly impacted my recent recruitment processes as I felt much more comfortable during the interviews. If you have such a perk in your company - use it! If not, use DuoLingo or any other learning platform. Even your local companies may have English as an requirement, so don’t limit your options because of not knowing it.
Do your best
Respect each others’ time and do your best at every step of every recruitment process you’re in. Prepare for the interviews (re-learn things, remind yourself the basics, list your successes and failures etc), when doing home tasks always implement more than required (QA tooling, Docker runtime, tests). Show your strengths, don’t hesitate to point your weaknesses. Provide context and additional information (readme, comments). Use Git in a way to make code review easier, just as you would do at work. Don’t skip crucial parts of the task and don’t make shortcuts there (I failed one process because I implemented money operations with floats and provided info in the readme that in the real-world app it should be done differently - even though I knew what’s the correct implementation, I decided to make it simpler, and that was a mistake).
Follow your heart, not wallet
Even though money is really important, it can’t be a main driver for your career (well, unless you really want as much money as possible, which is not the case for me). I believe sometimes it’s better to choose an offer with less money but with better-fitting role. If the role is closer to your heart and the salary is higher there - it’s even better š. Listen to your heart and choose wisely.
Special Thanks
I would like to send huge THANKS to people who have been important for me in this transition period:
- my wonderful wife who supported me at this difficult time and always believes in me and my skills even more than I am ā¤ļø.
- Damian Dziaduch for referral, and whole Printify/uSoftware team involved in the process.
- Jan Nedbal for surprising referral, OndÅej Klamt for all the efforts, and all the people at Shipmonk.
- Jagoda Lasek for surprising referral, I am glad that my public activity paid off š .
- Marko Kunic for referral, sorry for letting you down š .
- Adrian SÅowik for all of your efforts, you were first who wanted to help me ā¤ļø.
- Arek BerliÅski, my great friend and person who hired me for my first professional job at IT. Thank you for reaching me and trying to help me ā¤ļø.
- Michael Telgmann for referral.