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Since I started blogging, I have received all kinds of letters from readers. Today I am sharing one reader’s question. Here is his background and what he asked.
Hi Brian,
I am in Vancouver, Canada, and I am also a front-end engineer who changed careers midway. I have been working for six years, and I would like your opinion on changing companies.
I studied 3D animation in college and did graphic design after graduating. Because clients needed websites, I started getting into web design. Because I had trouble communicating with the engineers I worked with, I taught myself HTML and CSS, and that is how I found my current job.
In the early days at this job, the work was mostly HTML, CSS, SASS, and jQuery, mainly designing and building landing pages. As I gained experience, I started joining product development. Around 2017 I began working with Vue.js and Vuex, and that framework is still my main daily tool.
I wanted to leave this company in 2018, mainly because there is no system for developing employees. At a small company, they just throw you in and let you learn on your own, and I feel having no mentor hurts my learning efficiency. And of course, the company’s finances are in serious trouble. Because twins arrived in my family, I could not job hunt more aggressively.
In 2019, in the gaps between childcare and work, I finished a React course on Udemy. This February I started job hunting seriously. So far I have applied to a bit over 100 jobs. I got about 15 interview opportunities, and only about 3 got past the recruiters. Of the three assessments that came back, two said they wanted someone more capable, and the third passed but backed out because my asking price was too high.
Whenever I see a suitable opening at Amazon, I apply, and I have been lucky enough to get a few interviews. The first time, they told me directly they needed a more senior engineer. The second time, the assessment was very simple and I finished it confidently, but I still did not pass, and the recruiter would not give feedback.
My question is this: my pass rate with recruiters is so low that I rarely even get an assessment. Is it because the six years of experience on my resume makes recruiters think I am more experienced than I am? Should I hide that and go for junior roles instead?
As for company choice, I want a big company with a more complete training system. I do not want to waste time at a small company. But reality matters too: I do not know how much longer my current company can last, and my family needs my salary to get by.
Thank you for patiently reading my long background. Your help is a big motivation for me. Thank you.
Here is my reply:
Hi,
Thank you for your letter and for sharing so much background. From your questions, let me summarize the main points I see:
- You are also an engineer who changed careers midway, with 6 years of experience. Your company’s finances may be in trouble, and you want to change jobs. (Background)
- You feel your growth at the current company gets no support, and you have had to figure everything out yourself. (Growth problem)
- Your job hunt this year is not going well. The conversion from recruiter screens to technical interviews is low (100+ -> 15 -> 3). (Inefficiency)
- You are unsure whether to downlevel and look for junior roles. (Open question)
- You hope the next job is at a big company with better training and growth opportunities. (Expectation)
- Your family needs your salary. (Reality)
After thinking about your situation, here are my thoughts. You can see that your company has financial problems. If things get worse, you might face a pay cut or even a layoff, so the fact that you are already job hunting is a wise move.
With young twins at home, preparing for interviews is genuinely hard. I have a daughter who is a little over 2, so I understand. The only time I really have each day is after she falls asleep, from a bit after 9 to 11 at night. You have to make the most of every scrap of free time you have to prepare.
You asked whether you should downlevel and look for junior roles. Personally, I do not think you need to. Six years of experience puts an engineer at mid to senior level. Of course, levels and expectations differ by company, but at work you should be able to independently complete many medium to large tasks without someone guiding you step by step on everything. Right?
Part of why you are getting fewer interviews may be the pandemic. Many US companies are laying people off. In the first 5 weeks, cumulative US job losses reached 26 million (note: this is the figure from the early pandemic period in April 2020, and strictly speaking it is the cumulative number of initial unemployment claims). The job market is currently flooded with talented people who urgently need work. I do not know the situation in Canada, but I imagine its economy has been hit by the pandemic too.
Because your family depends on your salary, that is your biggest real-world constraint. If I were you, here is how I would prepare:
As I mentioned in an earlier post, use the crowdsourced site where people report each company’s hiring status, and when you apply, prioritize companies that are still actively hiring. Use every channel you can (referrals and various job sites; see “Taking the Initiative: Which Job Sites and Platforms Get You the Most Interviews?” for details, though the situation in Canada may be a bit different). Apply to many different jobs.
You can also apply to both junior roles and your ideal roles. For engineers, applications do not need a cover letter anyway, so each extra application does not cost you much time. Try more opportunities, take every interview seriously, and remember that a job title and its stated experience requirements are one thing. When a company interviews you and really likes you and wants to hire you, the level and the salary can both be negotiated (see “Got an Offer? How to Negotiate Salary: The Sandwich Method and a Final Move Before You Sign” for details).
You mentioned the low conversion from recruiter screens to technical interviews (15 -> 3), and the conversion from 100+ applications to the first recruiter step is also low. In my earlier post, “Interview Tips: How to Tell Your Story and Persuade the Interviewer”, I described my own experience in 2015: I applied to nearly 180 jobs, only 63 contacted me from HR (35%), 38 moved to a technical phone screen (60%), 11 companies invited me onsite (29%), and I ended up with 3 offers, a rather pitiful offer rate of 1.6% of total applications. The economy in 2015 was much better than now, and Silicon Valley, where I was, probably has more opportunities than Vancouver. Even so, your application-to-HR conversion rate is a bit low. I would suggest carefully reviewing your resume for errors that may be costing you interviews. If you are not sure whether your resume has problems, you can refer to my resume template (“How to Write an English Resume: What US Tech Companies Look For”).
For the recruiter-to-technical-interview conversion, it really comes down to preparation. Summarize and package your past experience so recruiters feel you are the person they are looking for. Write your experience down, and when a recruiter asks, read it out or recite it, making sure your answers are organized and free of grammar and vocabulary problems. And for the technical phone screen to onsite conversion, honestly, all you can do is practice more and prepare more, with the same intensity you once used to prepare for the college entrance exams back in Taiwan.
You know your current work situation (no mentor) and what you want from the next job (a big company with systems) very well, which is good. It sounds like your dream company right now is Amazon, and trying more Amazon openings is good. At the same time, because of the pandemic, I think you should also apply to more mid-size companies. Your goal should be making sure your salary can support your family. If the next company has better systems and resources to help you grow than your current one, even if it is not Amazon, you might try again in a year or two and make it into your ideal company then.
I do not know whether your job search location is limited. If you widen your range to different cities and countries, you may have more interview options.
I hope you find your ideal job soon, and that your kids grow up healthy and happy! I hope these suggestions help.
This post was originally published on my former blog, 「半路出家軟體工程師在矽谷」, on April 25, 2020. The blog is now offline, and the text is preserved in a Wayback Machine backup. It has been lightly edited for this site.
