Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Job search records

Guess what? Seems that the title of "Software Engineer" in my head throughout my 3 years at NUS was a bit too vague for the interviewers. It appears that I do not know what I want, which is why I still do not get what I want.

The unfamiliar environment
  • 1st 3 interviews were miserable failures
    • 1st full time job interview was DSO
    • 2nd was DSTA, and I stammered my way through (How sad I sounded eh?)
    • 3rd was OCBC, a walk-in interview
  • Began to understand the idea of selling yourself and also have a slightly more detailed idea of what I want to accomplish as a Software Engineer.
  • From the OCBC walk-in interview for Technology Associate, it appears that OCBC prefers business-oriented people which unfortunately I am not. I want to be appreciated as one who can use technical skills to contribute directly to the core business of the company. UPDATE 19th May 2011: OCBC finally called for a second interview (The first interview was more of a briefing) after more than a month of silence, but I decided to decline the interview as the position does not match my goals.
Grades does not matter in the end
  • Did my best to sell myself during CSIT interview on 20th April
  • Still not qualified - CSIT sent me a rejection e-mail today!
    • School grades was supposed to be a stepping stone for the start of my career.
    • I missed the 2nd stepping stone: Passion and the knowledge that comes from it.
  • Gives me the final wake-up to the reality that despite my good grades and all my attempts at learning, I am doomed to be equals with the unremarkable and underwhelming people out there at the workforce, and hence that makes me a greater loser than them (See Blog Title).
  • Oh well, at least for now. *Shrugs*
Assuring myself through aptitude tests
  • Or not.
  • CSIT technical test for System Analyst...
    • 1st part: Writing an essay
    • Essay-writing wasn't that difficult but I guess I might be a little vague in many of my arguments.
    • 2nd part: Technical test, all MCQs with some True/False questions.
    • Again, the basic programming questions wasn't that difficult but I do not know how to answer many of the questions that are directly testing about the specific job title I applied for
    • So much for passion eh?
  • Then from IBM...
    • 1st aptitude test was Maths (A timer for each question, I was too slow)
    • 2nd aptitude test was on programming language syntax for Java and C++
    • Apparently testing programming language syntax is the ultimate test of one's familiarity with programming.
    • Guess what? I am certainly not expecting any call from IBM after that aptitude test.
Now I even doubt of my candidacy at ST Electronics (I applied for a job which I have nearly zero experience in).

Current Job Search Status at the time of this writing

Companies applied to:
  1. DSO
  2. IHIS
  3. DSTA
  4. ST Electronics
  5. ASM
  6. CSIT
  7. OCBC
  8. NUS Computer Centre
  9. IBM
1st Interview attended: DSO, DSTA, OCBC, ST Electronics, CSIT
2nd Interview attended: ST Electronics
Technical/Aptitude tests taken: CSIT, IBM
Job offers: -

I am only waiting for a reply from ST Electronics, if any.

Whatever.

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