I'm my experience live technical assessments are mostly just luck, especially when interviewers are being overly opinionated about how things should be done. When you're a certain level of seniority anything in your code which isn't a mistake is typically a debatable decision. Formatting, naming, where and when to optimise, what patterns to use and avoid, etc... And there will always be things you miss, that's what code reviews are for at the end of the day.
Just keep looking and try to not let rejections get to you. It's a difficult market for software engineers and employers have all the power right now.
My guess is that in the new year things will pick up a little. We're seeing some positive news on the economic front right now and my guess is that there will be more a bit appetite for investors to start putting capital to work in tech again next year. It's probably not going back to what it was a few years ago, but I think there's a good chance the market will be noticeably less difficult.
I think things will pick up in the new year too, I’ve had a few replies telling me to contact them again in January or February so that’s sort of hopeful.
two of my friends in VC say that their respective firms have tons of capital ready to deploy but that their bosses are being extremely choosy. I think right now it’s almost like they’re waiting to see how the new year goes and how AI stuff shakes out.
If I may rant for a bit: I do hate how my aspect of the job market can feel like "guess the interview format". If I see a position marked "Unreal Engine Senior Graphics programmer", I have anywhere from
- core graphics programmer knowledge
- Unreal engine specific knowledge
- c++ general knowledge
- fundamental Comp Sci knowledge (data structure concept, heaps, performance)
- Software engineering knowledge (GoF software patterns, coding structure, etc.)
Or you know, I could still end up being metaphorically asked (or literally) to invert a binary tree. These aren't theoretical either, I've been quizzed on all these topics the past 3 months.
Like, none of these are hard for me, but if you want a confident, knowledgeable interview where I talk off the cuff about these I'd probably want some prep time. But alas, I was screened out almost every time, for reasons that may or may not even have to do with any of the above. I try not to blame myself and just accept that everyone's having a bad time, but not knowing how else to improve for test, or even WHAT they want to test me on feels discouraging. Why bother continuing to tinker on my renderer if they are just going to leetcode me? Why bother grinding leetcode (which I hate, mind you) if instead I end up in a role that never asks any?
I agree things will pick up in January. In the meantime I'll probably just relax and let interviews come to me.
I'm my experience live technical assessments are mostly just luck, especially when interviewers are being overly opinionated about how things should be done. When you're a certain level of seniority anything in your code which isn't a mistake is typically a debatable decision. Formatting, naming, where and when to optimise, what patterns to use and avoid, etc... And there will always be things you miss, that's what code reviews are for at the end of the day.
Just keep looking and try to not let rejections get to you. It's a difficult market for software engineers and employers have all the power right now.
My guess is that in the new year things will pick up a little. We're seeing some positive news on the economic front right now and my guess is that there will be more a bit appetite for investors to start putting capital to work in tech again next year. It's probably not going back to what it was a few years ago, but I think there's a good chance the market will be noticeably less difficult.