The Ups and Downs of Job Interviews

Results and Intensity#

This time I applied to 15 companies, received interview invitations from 6, and ultimately got 3 offers. Excluding companies that required 7+ interview rounds (which I politely declined to continue), the overall ratio was pretty good - much better than I originally expected.

Having not interviewed for a long time, I didn't know how many rounds current interview processes typically require to get an offer. This time I had 18 interviews over 40 working days, averaging 1 interview every 2 working days. The intensity was quite demanding for me 🫠 Even though I tried to schedule no more than 3 interviews per week, I still ended up completely burned out.

Beyond the number of interviews, when discussing with recruiters and hiring managers from various companies, I'm not sure if it's because the positions I was interviewing for were different from before, or if companies offering this salary range have more sophisticated approaches, but extreme experiences during interviews were less common this time (though they still existed).

The Three-Part Process#

This batch of interviews can be broadly summarized into the following three categories. Some companies would add additional rounds with more detailed discussions, but based on this experience, it generally follows this pattern:

• Recruiter Screen
  Most start with a 30-minute chat with HR - simple self-introduction without too many technical terms, mainly to understand personality traits and basic experience alignment. If this stage goes well, you can often learn about company benefits, team updates, and even the reason for the position opening and package range.
• Technical Interview
  This round can be divided into pure testing and experience discussion. A few would dive straight into problems without small talk, covering everything from basic logical thinking to complex system design recommendations. Common interview flows still include self-introductions, and some interviewers might be the hiring manager or future manager. Besides exploring past experience and problem-solving approaches, this stage reveals the feasibility of future collaboration and whether you'd be interested in the challenges you'd face joining the company.
• Cross-Functional Panel Interview
  Compared to talking with engineers, discussions with cross-functional interviewers focus more on team collaboration that the company currently cares about or needs to improve. This usually involves collaboration between different roles, including trade-offs during resource competition, leadership experience, and project conflict resolution. In this round, it's important to translate technical terms into impact vocabulary, otherwise you'll fall into awkward miscommunication.

Memorable Interview Experiences#

This time I mainly interviewed for Staff Engineer and Engineering Manager positions. During the interview process, besides basic professional discussions, most conversations revolved around team management, project resolution experience, and timing for workflow optimization.

Some particularly memorable experiences included:

• Recruiters without technical backgrounds setting professional capability assessment thresholds in the first round
• Extremely difficult technical knowledge questions that made me completely doubt why I was there and damaged my confidence
• CEO interviews asking about business direction but then saying just focus on delivering work
• Cross-timezone technical interviews in the middle of the night when I was exhausted like a dog

Of course, there were more, but these were memorable enough and left me exhausted. As an introvert, every interview day felt like being dragged away - nervous before interviews, completely drained after, needing at least a day or two to recover energy.

The Subtle Test of Language Switching#

One of the most interesting experiences during interviews was language switching. Some interviews would switch from Chinese to English mid-way, and this sudden switch was often the interviewer testing language abilities.

In one interview, halfway through, the interviewer asked: "Can we complete the rest of the interview in English?" After we spoke in English for 5-10 minutes, he said: "I think your English is quite good." That's when I realized my English level might actually be sufficient for some job requirements.

The Power of Positive Feedback#

Some companies had very fast processes, and some interviewers gave immediate positive feedback. After one interview ended, during a catch-up call with the headhunter, he told me: "This company wants to invite you for a second round interview." After another interview, the engineering lead immediately sent a LinkedIn message expressing positive feedback.

These quick positive responses helped me understand that my experience was valuable to certain companies, especially those needing technical transformation or building new products. During this job search process, this feedback helped sustain a local engineer's confidence while floating in the sea of interviews, and helped me understand my positioning in the market.

During the interview process, while I could usually analyze various problems eloquently, I occasionally questioned whether I was really as excellent as I appeared. Being able to have so many interview opportunities during the transitional Q3-4 period, I remain grateful and need to constantly remind myself not to measure my worth by others' evaluations or acceptance results, because such thinking easily surrenders the agency over my own life.