Job-Switch Prep Recap as a 3rd-Year Backend Developer (Long)
I started preparing slowly late last year and recently wrapped up my job switch. I'm writing this down in case someone like me comes along later.
1. Resume
For your career description, you need to write about "what got better as a result," not just "what I did." Things like improved performance by 30%, cut incident response time in half. At first, I just listed my tech stack and got rejected at every document screening.
2. Coding Test
In the end, it comes down to how many problems you've solved. One problem a day for three months will get you through most mid-sized companies. However, you need to prepare for SQL separately. I failed once because of that.
3. System Design
This was the hardest part. I watched YouTube and practiced explaining out loud by myself at least 50 times.
4. Salary Negotiation
You get what you ask for. Go in planning to ask for at least 10% more. I didn't know this, so I almost accepted the first offer as is.
Conclusion: 6 months of prep, 12 applications total, final rounds at 3 companies. It was tough, but worth doing.
4 answers
Agreed, especially #1. I also just listed my tech stack and got rejected at the resume screening 20 times lol. "So what actually improved?" That's the real key.
Well, that's a bit... The idea that you can break into a mid-sized company by solving one problem a day for three months seems way too case-by-case. These days, even mid-sized companies have raised their coding test difficulty a lot, so there are many places where three months is nowhere near enough. And saying "you can name your price" while telling people to ask for only 10% more is also a bit ambiguous. Salary bands differ by company, and if you ask for too much it can actually backfire, so I think telling people to just unconditionally ask for more is dangerous advice. It feels like it's generalized from one person's experience.