Bryan Cranston's Advice to Aspiring Actors

There is only one way to toughen up: Practice. Be it interviews or sports. Be it negotiations or cooking. Practice and practice perfectly. 1. Take mock interviews from experienced engineers Go one topic at a time e.g. Recursion or Trees or DP or Multithreading etc. Before you walk into the interview, practice well. Do at least 20 problems on that topic, if not more. 2. Do practice interviews at companies you don't want to work for Don't feel an imposter in doing this. Realize that companies also go thru several candidates before they pick one. They are normal people like you, they have a learning curve to fill the position, and so do you. Finding the right company, at the right stage of your life, is not a trivial thing to do; it's a project and needs to be managed like that. Going thru various interviews hardens your skills of negotiation, your understanding of business models, and more importantly, gives you clarity about what your strengths and limitations are. 3. Practice the right mindset Never go to interviews with a loaded agony of getting a job. Go simply with the intent of solving interesting problems with interesting people ("to add life to your character"). Nobody explains this better than Bryan Cranston (possibly one of the most successful TV actors of recent times): ▶ this video I make these observations based on my experience running a successful bootcamp for interview prep ( link ) and also being an early engineer and a hiring manager (Director of engineering) at

> Nobody explains this better than the meth guy: ▶ this video That clip just increased my already substantial respect for Bryan Cranston, though I feel as though calling him the "meth guy" does him a disservice. Yes, Breaking Bad brought him a great deal of exposure, but I think that even his role in Malcolm in the Middle showed how capable he is as an actor. The fact that he performed both roles excellently is also a testament to his skills. He's also won a Tony, and was nominated for a few director awards. ( link )

> You can only present the best version of yourself, but you can't control who will and won't like you if you want to listen to that advice - ▶ this video

First, find a mentor you can talk to and who can guide you. In your case, getting a mentor who does not work where you work would be better. Perhaps someone at church, or within the local tech community. Second, it sounds like you may be overthinking things. Get yourself out there and start interviewing. You'll find that your thought processes will often change in response to actions. When you get out there and start looking, keep this in mind: ▶ this video

[Disclaimer: I run link . It's a hyper-focused bootcamp on coding interview prep] Probably one of the biggest mistakes developers make, is to treat coding interviews like they are standardized tests with a checklist of evaluation. They are not. They are like a date. The other person is judging whether they want to work with you, more than anything else. No matter how good you are, you won't get into a long-term relationship (date) if you don't confirm to the (technical and social) beliefs (and biases) of your interviewer (date). The reverse is also true viz. no matter how mediocre you are, you'll get in, if you do. So, do everything what the author says, but you'll progress faster if you keep your mindset grounded. See this: ▶ this video

You're thinking of interviews as standardized tests (exam). To some extent, they are, but overall they are closer to a date , than to an exam. In other words, it's not sufficient that you be good at algorithms. You also need to get a panel of interviewers with whom you gel well. What interviewers you get at a company, is not in your hands. You can try a few things: 1. Do mock interviews with experienced interviewers. Get used to being judged. Repeatedly. 2. Don't interview with the agony of getting a job. Just go to solve the problems. Listen to this: ▶ this video 3. Interview at companies that bias towards take-home tests. If you haven't already, then try triplebyte.com. They can help you find such companies. -- I make these observations based on my experience running a successful bootcamp for interview prep ( link ) and also being an early engineer and a hiring manager (Director of engineering) at Box prior to that.

"Bryan Cranston's Advice to Aspiring Actors" ▶ this video Thanks for the tip. I hadn't seen this video before.

They only get as picky as their options. Remote companies get exponentially more candidates so they can make them jump like monkeys with impunity. ▶ this video