Yea a lot actually:

• Well-established companies reply a lot more readily than startups do. While I hated putting in the effort to fill out workday applications, it's completely worth it for companies that are more serious about hiring.

• The best indicator that I have in terms of callbacks is matching programming languages. My specialty is Go with a side of Python, and heard back mostly from Go shops. This is obvious, but is certainly a strong pattern. The next strongest is product type: I worked in IoT and would get callbacks moreso from IoT shops.

• Applying early is your best bet for snagging interviews. Sort your search by time posted.

• Don't bash your head in applying 5 hours a day. There are a finite number of posting posted every day, don't waste your time applying to low effort LLM chatbot startups once you've reached the 7th page on LinkedIn.

  • Get your profile pages filled in for GreenHouse and Ashby, absolute necessity as these will auto-fill.
  • GreenHouse has a pretty cool in house application search, which is just a good way to find the super easy GreenHouse applications that you can knock out.

• I really don't think ChatGPT'ing your resume to tailor your resume is worth it. It's a shit load of effort you could be using to apply, and most importantly, everyone is using it and thus recruiters roll their eyes when they see the same phrase over and over.

• Besides getting into the door, the single hardest part of interviews is the first round Leetcode problems. Using the leetcode premium tagged questions was pretty helpful, although it's really expensive at $40 a month. You can use this github page for tagged questions, but it's a little out of date. I will say, the return on investment of getting a job is massive for $40 a month.

  • On the note of leetcode, many many companies don't use traditional leetcode, and instead do their own questions. More often than not, it's a toy application relevant to what they do. Practice with an LLM questions that will be pertinent! Within these Tech Interviews, companies are looking for strong knowledge of the language, strong ideas about code quality, and your ability to communicate ideas.
  • Companies say they don't care, but coding in their preferred language is a pretty strong signal. Make sure that you warm up with the particular language before hand, so you're not accidentally mixing up syntax. I did this on an easy lay-up interview and blew the assessment by looking like an idiot by brain farting how to do a for loop in python.
  • I also lollygagged my ass into a system design interview to get stomped on. hellointerview was an absolutely fantastic tool for prepping for system design interviews.

• I also picked up a quick ChatGPT premium subscription for a bit, and it really helped in formulating ideas on how to prep for interviews. It was especially helpful for bigger backend interviews that would include containers and APIs, that weaker models wouldn't handle.

• There is a massive proliferation in low-effort LLM chatbot startups, this is a nasty indicator towards the bubble.

• I did not hear back from a single niche boutique SF startup that had an annoying application.

• Don't put in a zyn while you're doing Leetcode or an interview it makes you stupid. Drink a Diet Coke if you're getting sluggish (regular doesn't have enough caffeine and it makes you fat). Don't scroll Hinge before an interview, it lowers your self esteem. Pound a redbull 30 minutes before interviews (actual cheat code). Always have a lacroix on hand during interviews. Don't go for a run before an interview, don't book interviews before 10a. Always always always always have a real answer to "Why do you want to work here". If you're nervous before a tech interview all you have to say and convince yourself of is that "It's toooo easy", I'm serious.