Technical Interviews are Trash | I Quit my DevOps Job

Over the past 3 months, I've been studying non-stop for software engineering interviews in order to quit my DevOps job. As much as I enjoyed DevOps and Infrastructure, I realized that I wasn't coding as much as I wanted to. I also wanted to try something new. But I completely forgot how stressful and ridiculous the job interview process can be for software engineers. The process can be so random. And knowing how to code a sudoku solver in a word document, from memory, does not make you a good programmer and yet, way too many companies are expecting this from their candidates.
The whole process can be demoralizing but after 3 months of a necessary evil (Leetcode), I was finally able to get an offer for a Backend Software Engineering job that I'm excited about. However, the fact of the matter is, companies need to rethink candidate interviews. If you're currently in the process, I promise it gets better! Lean on me as a resource. And speaking of resources, here are some resources I found super helpful these last 3 months:
Companies moving away from whiteboard coding/leetcode - airtable.com/shr3eGPDm3wGjT2g...
- yangshun.github.io/tech-inter...
- leetcode.com
- cses.fi/book/book.pdf
- highscalability.com/
- github.com/donnemartin/system...
CHAPTERS
00:00 - Intro
00:25 - Why I Wanted to Leave / First Attempt
07:47 - My Second Attempt at Leaving
09:04 - Things to Remember During the Process
10:16 - What I Was Looking For in My Next Job
12:42 - Overview of Technical Interview Results
14:50 - Reflection and Advice
•••••••••••••• CONTACT •••••••••••••••••••
Business inquiries ONLY (pls and ty) - [e-mail]
Wanna talk about tech or investing 1:1? www.buymeacoffee.com/sosa
Or support the channel :) www.buymeacoffee.com/sosa
•••••••••••••• SOCIALS ••••••••••••••••••••
Instagram - / sosaasiruwa
Twitter - / sosaasiruwa
•••••••••••••• ABOUT ME ••••••••••••••••••••
I'm a software engineer currently working at a really dope company in Silicon Valley. I'm about 3 years out of college where I graduated with a degree in Computer Science. This channel is all about helping people who want to know more about software engineering, computer science, money, investing, and everything else in between. Hopefully, I can be a helping hand in any way I can.
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Thanks for watching. You da best.
love,
sosa

[@deonoliver4989]

Congratulations, Sosa!! Mental stress and lack of professional growth can leave anyone feeling stuck and unfulfilled. Glad you didn’t give up and kept learning and pushing forward with each interview. I also work in technology, but I’m in school for my CS degree currently. -D

[@brendon7325]

I really appreciate your transparency with this video. I just graduated a few months ago and the constant stress and anxiety I put on myself because I feel like I am not good enough to pass these interviews is insane. I also find it cool that I have some interest in devops so I was thinking of going that route but on the fence of just trying to stick out this journey of becoming a Software engineer. Thank you for making this video!!

[@enriquejpsa]

Congratulations on the new job! Thanks for sharing how difficult it is to get through the coding interviews. An eye opener for me. Sounds like it is a numbers game. You need to apply to many companies to get one job.

[@annazhang275]

Awww I really appreciate this vid. It gives ppl who're job hunting a lot of comforts. Thank you for all the genuine words ❤️

[@sophiel9687]

Hi Sosa, nice to meet you :) thank you for being courageous in sharing and being transparent. You're like a mentor to me ♡ Take care ~

[@bwizac]

You are really inspiring Sosa! Keep doing what you are doing!

[@heysosathedev]

Thank you so much!

[@evemarietou]

Thank you for sharing your journey with the tech interview process, especially your experience with test-taking and social anxiety. By leaving your old job, you did right by yourself! You should be so proud of yourself. ❤️

[@ashleylarose7473]

I’m glad you found a new job 😄!!! Just started my job hunt as a junior dev 4 months ago and wow it’s tough. I wasn’t prepared for all the rejections. Some days it’s hard to keep trying knowing I might see another rejection email. But I know things will work out soon. I hope you are happy in your new company. Thanks for sharing ☺️

[@supervijay2996]

Hai, I'm from non technical side, I dont have networking or coding knowledge. Only cleared AZ 900. Now preparing for AZ 104. How did you prepare yourself, like what did you learn to become junior devops

[@hollyho6003]

I feel so heard!!! I feel everything that you said! I am in the process of job searching because I have the exact same red flags that you have: not coding enough, not feeling challenged in my work, and lack of technical mentorship. Thank you so much for sharing your journey

[@etikh404]

You are so engaging.... Great video!!

[@aditijag2426]

couldn't have asked for a better motivation. in the same position as you were. 3 yrs of devops..started career with it. Now completely bored and missing out coding. Thanks for putting out my thoughts and emotions in such a beautiful manner. It gave me hope and a good boost to continue with my job hunt! ❤️

[@KevtechITSupport]

Congrats and good luck! Great story by the way.

[@heysosathedev]

Thanks so much!

[@adebs]

this was too relatable, the anxiety during interviews, spending hours leetcoding, getting rejected after phone interviews...technical interviews can be soul crushing, but thank you for sharing your journey & congrats on your new job 🤗 glad you are back!!

[@heysosathedev]

Ty! So happy to be back 🤗😭

[@TheBeach5563]

Congrats, I understand where you are coming from as far as not feeling like you are not being challenged. I'm in a similar situation. Trying to get away from a position that really isnt helping me move toward certain things. I am studying for AWS Solutions Architect then AWS Dev/Ops. Looking forward to the journey.

[@heysosathedev]

Thank you! And good luck on your journey!

[@TheBeach5563]

@@heysosathedev Thanks so much, appreciate it.

[@satdanie7349]

Hey ,i really loved your honesty for sharing your experience and as a matter of fact. I have good skills in aws , linux and devops but the problem that i got lack a mentorship .More to that, i am not a developer. What can i really focus, on in order to get into the field.

[@DiannaYoung-oc1ew]

Hey Sosa, I love watching your videos and This was a great video to discuss. I have a question. How did you find the company that matched your interview points?

[@helovesdata8483]

I love working from home all the time too. I'm trying to change careers into I.T. These videos help prepare me.

[@AfrooBlack]

What are you trying to get into?

[@abelmoremi8192]

I relate so hard... I am 1yr 3months into my job search as a junior... I try to take things one step at a time... As I continue to sharpen my skills.... but man... it's been hella hard. It's like trying to knock down a wall with my fists. I do get interviews every once in while... with those, the hard part is keeping up the enthusiasm... Probably the hardest thing I have ever done... I have been overwhelmed soo many times... Thank you so much for this...

[@heysosathedev]

Oh man, searching for a year is super rough. I really hope you're able to find something soon. Keep trying to knock down that wall. You're so close!

[@abelmoremi8192]

@@heysosathedev Thank you

[@TreBros]

Hang In there you two! Work is rough no matter where you go. We need to find a job that treats us like actual people and not robots. Right now I'm dealing with a team of 5 people who just watch me work on all the entire code myself. I've advocated for git and nobody takes the time to learn it. I have till the end of this week to get the work done. I won't give up and you guys should not. Hey if you are looking for a job message me. The position deals with code, testing, scripting, and all round development. A C++ framework, a custom scripting language for modeling and simulation. Anyways never give up! Hope you all find something you like and enjoy!

[@jalalsaadat3198]

Hi Sosa, I've been watching your videos for a while now. I like the insight you've given me. However, I do have one question as recently I've been accepted by a company which run both DevOps and Dev type roles. 1) In terms of future prospects and demand, would you say DevOps is better than software development or is it the other way around? 2) Also, would you say its possible to transition from DevOps to Dev later in my career if I prefer the programming side of things? Thanks again, love the vids.

[@shubhamshejaval8526]

Hey, in the exact same situation.. did you find your answer?

[@89kylestyle]

Refreshing to watch a video that just gets to the point and is honest. I am losing my mind watching other videos with guys wearing their hats on backwards and having neon lights in the background, trying to get likes and subscribers. This video is great, I'm in operations also by the way, this was helpful.

[@nathansire6623]

I am sorry Sosa... but there is a ton of bad leadership in this industry. A DevOps engineer should not feel compelled to practice Leet Code just to interview. You should add $50,000 to your salary just for all the practice and non sense these egg head managers are imposing on the industry. $200,000 minimum for DevOps. Every year... they just keep combining more and more roles into one role... to the point... they want 1 person to run the entire company.

[@FA-sr6lx]

Exactly she was underpaid ! Devops should be making 200k or mire

[@clintonugogeorge3416]

me entering DevOps rn🥲

[@ladyashephd727]

That’s great advice. You have to watch all the ridiculous requirements combined with selective under employment offers for people whom have there AWS/AZURE Pro. DevOps Certification’s. Settling is not an option especially with a Masters or PhD in Information Technology to start with.

[@gustavemuhoza4212]

100 percent. I did a technical interview where I literally froze for minutes and a for loop that should've taken me 2 minutes max took me like 20 minutes which then led to feeling again and not being able to do a simple SQL Query. What made me mad was that it looked like this guy had literally copied interview questions I had practiced online. It was depressing. I decided to look into a different field lol

[@nathansire6623]

Kubernetes is a full time job in itself. I am really getting tired of the eggheads asking graphics designers, frontend and fullstack to manage their Kubernetes cluster. DevOps is a full time job. Now, Kubernetes deprecated the Docker runtime. And many people are looking at Podman. Do you think a frontend designer creative is going to keep up on that all day?

[@anthonybeckford5608]

Thank you very much for this video! I have more of a operations background looking to break into either DevOps or Web Dev/Software Dev. I like operations but I want to learn to code more. I think that my worry with DevOps is that I’ll get stuck in just more Operations role than a Dev role where I will code. Do you have any advice

[@heysosathedev]

That’s a great question. I think if you have the opportunity to to start with Web Dev or Software Dev, I’d do that first. I think that would give you a solid foundation to be a great DevOps engineer since you already have the operations background. If getting a dev job first isn’t an option, then you have to do your due diligence with finding the right DevOps job that will have a good split between coding and operations. Make sure to ask the hiring manager lots of questions and let them know what you’re looking for.

[@Eden-fx2ek]

how can I reach out, your experience, background is unique, super fab and the content is very helpful. I currently preparing for DevOps interviews and it would be amazing to hear from you.

[@Outfotech1]

Well I think the company was more keen on grooming you as a development team leader than a code-developer and its kinda hard and unreal for a person who comes from a extensive coding background and is still looking to hone more skills coding, I have the same loyalty towards coding but I wouldn't give up the Devops engineer opportunity, pretty much because it boils down to the new non monolithic style of systems development which is the future of software development, and if you think of it, it is just powerful, leveraging on kafka tools

[@leonaxlily]

gurlllll i have missed you

[@heysosathedev]

:’)

[@wackpattynacknick]

This is incredible

[@ladyashephd727]

I really enjoyed your sincerity and honesty about he interview process. I am looking forward to your guidance.

[@lanreuzamere4994]

You must be a Nigerian called eSOSA; Because you are Smart, Intelligent & Tech-Savvy! Nigerians are intelligent people. . . Well Done! Well, I am a Senior Data Engineer . . . Cheers

[@nevinesaid]

I really felt you were passionate about devops in your previous videos Why haven't you considered switching companies in the same field? Why did you switch to a different role (back to development)?

[@heysosathedev]

That's a great question! I really did enjoy the work I did in my DevOps role but it had been what I was doing since I started my career. So at that point I had done ~3 yrs (an internship + my first full time job) and I wanted to try something different. I knew if I kept going, there was a good chance that I would be pigeonholed to DevOps for a while. Since I'm so early in my career, I wanted to give myself the opportunity to learn about other areas of software engineering. Who knows, maybe I'll be back to doing DevOps one day but for now I wanted to explore my options

[@missMiracle7]

Thanks for sharing this 🙏🏽 I’m also the type of person have anxiety for test. Do you think in your tech career if you ever need another career growth and need to switch company in the future, will you need to go through this process again for studying and going through this type of anxiety feelings again? I’m still in my early software dev career but recently I’ve been thinking if I need to go through this kind of process again and again in my career maybe this is not a healthy career path for me...😔

[@heysosathedev]

There’s a chance that I’ll need to go through this process again but there are lots of companies moving out of the “Leetcode” type of interviews. There’s actually a list of them that I forgot to put in the description (I’ll do that ASAP). I think in the future, I’d focus on those companies since I’d have a lot more experience which would allow me to be more picky. I definitely dont want you to be discouraged though. This field is amazing just not perfect.

[@missMiracle7]

@@heysosathedev Thank you so much for the encouragement :)

[@theimposter_dev]

Congratulations, Sosa!💐 Also I have a quick question. I am also not feeling challenged enough at my current job and it seems just too monotonous and there's no learning. Would it be wise for me to quit this job before having another offer in hand ?

[@heysosathedev]

Thank you! And nope, I definitely recommend having a job lined up first before you quit. The job market is incredibly competivite and we're still in the middle of a pandemic so you never know what could happen. It could take you a couple weeks to find a new job or a year. Try your best to get something lined up before you quit.

[@pawanbasu6777]

Hi Sosa, I am working as a support guy in IT mainly on Jenkins job, shell scripting writing. I want to completely move to Devops but I scared as if I some how got the job and didn't able to make it there then? I like automation using shell scripting, Angular coding, Jenkins. I am self learning kubernates and Docker. Could you help counseling me. Guide me that how should I enhance mine developing as well as Devops skills. What projects should I made?Is moving to Devops do I need to be good in Development part too.? What programming language you are getting too?? I also want to do coding

[@heysosathedev]

Hey! I think you can start with getting proficient with Python. There are a bunch of online resources to get you started like this one: www.learnpython.org/

[@HiPh0Plover1]

i mean you have experience , you can work for companies who hire on culture fit rather than pure technical skills , i think they exist and they pay okay i dont know

[@lolamaven3971]

Technical mentorship or mentorship in general is something a lot of managers forget to implement

[@clintonugogeorge3416]

like seriously

[@jlr2282]

Do I have to have a CS degree or can I just be certified

[@ezewong290]

I think you hit on why these interviews are so flawed. Most other interviews will ask, what did you do in your previous job? Coding challenges are asking you to know, within the whole freaking field of coding, dev, data, etc.... do you know this exact thing? And it could be the most basic question but it could be totally irrelevant to what you've done and therefore don't need to know it.

[@memoriesdead2544]

Hey! I live in Oakland and was hoping to get your advice in the field you are in. :). I just graduated Skyline high and was looking to pursue computer science. Been analyzing the best paying jobs and software engineer seems like the best options in terms of pay and it seems nice for introverts. Based on your experience is pursueing computer science to be a software engineer good in terms of money and is it good for introverts? It would mean a great deal if you responded! :)

[@heysosathedev]

Hey! I would describe myself as an introvert and I love this field. I think being in software engineering was one of the best decisions I made. Personally, I really like being able to work with others to solve a problem or doing pair programming work. And then if I feel like my social battery is draining, I can take a step back and focus on my code. I say give it a shot and see how you like it

[@memoriesdead2544]

@@heysosathedev Thanks for the feedback they're really insight and your vidioes help clarify alot of things. It you have the time I just have one more question. Is it good paying job? I've been looking at online resources and 99% of them all are six figures pay. I just wanted to confirm if that's true from someone who works in the field. :).

[@heysosathedev]

@@memoriesdead2544 Yes, in general, software engineering jobs usually pay well. Besides finance, I can't think of another career where someone straight out of college could start making $85k+. Howeverrrr, salary depends on a bunch of different factors like location, company, years of experience, etc. For example, it's going to be hard to get the six-figure Bay Area salary in somewhere like Texas but you'd still get paid well with better cost of living.

[@memoriesdead2544]

@@heysosathedev thank you 🙏. I live in the bay area that's why. :)

[@mangeshchikhale6986]

Hi Sosa I am a QA engineer I know python language and learning devops tools now I am confused whether I need to go to dev or devops here.,which will suits me in terms of future jobs and learning and money.

[@Oche923]

hi which did you choose?

[@Chasbott]

Same

[@lowbarb]

During your 1:1/yearly goal your mama her and you never discussed your role here and growth opportunity?

[@owenzmortgage8273]

17 mins, I get confused. Are you a devops engineer and quit the job? Or you are not a DevOps engineer?

[@kayeserrano3093]

Hey, do you wanna talk at all?! I'm a black fem devops eng that is seeing all the red flags you did!! It's the struggle out here!!

[@FA-sr6lx]

As a devops you should of been paid been 200k.

[@youngmoneymahini]

Panini 🥪