Landed a paid Software Engineering internship through Reddit!

My country simply did not have a lot of code meet-ups and communities or maybe I could not simply find one. So, I was pretty much alone on this journey for a long period of time. Additionally, I did not see a lot of job or internship postings without the requirement of a Software Engineering degree and this made me nervous, as I felt I was in the middle of the ocean with no signs of shore in any direction! However, as a self-teaching Engineer, I needed collaboration to expand my horizon and so I went to Reddit.

I got contacted by the CTO of a tech company, we scheduled an interview. I passed the interview and got hired within the day!

I want to get straight to the point so here is what I did, and what might have given me the edge:

• Data structures, Algorithms, and Mathematics:
  - It is easy for a self-taught to forget that core computer science knowledge is just as important as knowing how to write any code. Yes, it is likely that you will not implement merge sort for work but you will be writing other algorithms and they have to be efficient!
  - I learned Data Structures and Algorithms from an MIT book and youtube videos.
  - I had a good foundation in Mathematics but nothing crazy! This is self-taught as well. Yes, you don’t need to know a lot of mathematics in order to know how to write code but having a basic knowledge of it will help you and might give you the edge.
  - Other backgrounds will help as well. You don’t need to have a math background. If you have a background in business, biology, or anything else, it does help. Things like these are extremely valuable to employers and yourself if you’re starting a business.
• Beyond coding:
  - Knowing how to code is cool, but you need to do beyond it. You need to know the theory of, and how to use certain paradigms like Object Oriented Programming and Functional Programming.
  - You need to show that you are aware of certain design patterns and their use cases. For example, when it comes to OOP, we have the Singleton pattern.
  - You need to think in a problem-solving, analytical manner and have an understanding of DSA. You need to develop this skill, and practice is the only way to do it.
• Soft skills
  - To nail the interview, I believe and have personally seen how important “communication” is. You really need to be able to talk with the interviewer and turn the interview into more of a “conversation”. Give the interviewer interesting points to ask about.
  - Be confident. What’s the worse that can happen? You won’t be selected? Big deal, you can always find another opportunity. You need to show you are confident in yourself. This is how anyone hiring you will know whether or not they can be confident in you or not. The logic is pretty simple.

All in all, this is what I think helped me nail my interview and get hired on the same day.

Today I am a full-time SE at the same company and I did it all within 6 months of the internship. I will be writing about that, and all the cool things I learned and did, including the Google FooBar Challenge. Follow up if you’d like to hear — or read!