Changes that helped me cracking Fortune 1 Company(Walmart’s) Interview
Here are the few lifestyle changes that I adopted which directly or indirectly helped me cracking one of the toughest interviews for a Software Engineer role a year ago.
Please read it till the end, the last one is very important and that personally helped me a lot.
1. Circling down the organizations -
When we are in a phase of “Appearing for Interviews”, we often get suggestions to give interviews for every other company who is offering the required job role, this is good particularly when you’re a novice player in that field and need some exposure to “What are the latest trends of questions and how Interviewers are asking the problems”. Also, this is sometimes helpful when you just started looking out for a “change”. Always, consider this exercise as a “Warm-up” match where you’re exercising your brain and preparing it to be ready for the actual match where you’ve to be at “Your Best”.
Circle down the organizations that you have dreamt of working for, interact with the people who are already working there, follow them on LinkedIn, Instagram and ask questions from them or notice out their patterns of growth in that field, this would help you to get prepare better. I listed down only 2–3 organizations when I was looking out for change and I didn’t give or applied for any other interviews other than the ones I listed out.
Due to this approach, my mindset was very clear and decisive on what I need to prepare, till what depth I need to prepare and it made my life and my mind less cluttered and more focused.
Pro tip: Always circle down Best Organization in that particular field and prepare accordingly.
2. Taking Constructive Advice from Constructive People -
Whenever there are plans for switching careers we often hear the noise around us regarding “What-to-do”, “What-no-to-do”, “How-to-do” and “How-not-to-do”.
In my opinion, these are just noises and you have to be very careful in selecting whom to listen to and whom not to. Try not to reveal your plans of switching the career before you actually do that, and in case you are revealing to someone make sure that person will give constructive advice and he or she himself is already standing out somewhere making a difference.
One of the “Chanakya’s Neeti” talks about this and he advises that “King should always be careful of his Cabinet, he should keep only those people as his advisors who are well capable enough of advising and those who are well qualified enough.”
When I was preparing, I used to follow those people who are already well-reputed in the role I was looking for. Reading their blogs, going through their website, trying out problems given by them used to be my daily routine.
3. Take it seriously but not too seriously -
Often times when we are preparing, we get too much frustrated that we forget that we have another life outside of our professional world as well. We tend to take out our frustrations on our loved ones, it starts impacting our day-to-day work as well. We often lose interest in our present roles and responsibilities because we are somewhere frustrated with this whole process. I understand this whole process takes a heavy toll on the mind, on the body, and on our time, but it’s okay, you’ve survived till here and you’ll be able to continue in the future as well, just hold on to the things, take them easy, no one is going to judge you if you don’t crack that company and nobody gives a shit even if you do so. Enjoy your life as it comes and always strive to give your best whatever the situation may be.
4. Learn something new and relevant daily -
This is very important especially when you’re trying to crack product-based companies’ interviews. You need to be among the best candidates and for that your skill-set matters, your knowledge matters, your way of approaching different kinds of problems matters, your way of talking to others matters. Trust me, doing your minimum is not sufficient since competition out there is huge. But don’t be disheartened, be consistent and chart out a proper plan on what are the skill sets you need to acquire to crack your “Dream” tech company job and what are the fundamentals that you need to brush-up.
Even if you have to spend some money out of your pocket to get relevant training and coaching, consider that as an investment that can have long-term returns.
5. Sneak peeking perks and benefits -
Companies like Walmart offer huge perks and benefits to their employees. Some of them are Free Transportation, Free Food, Free Mobile Device, Free Annual Health Checkup, Education Assistance, Creche Facility for your kids, Professional Development Reimbursements, RSUs, and the list goes on and on and on. These are very few of them trust me(not even 50%) and chances are that with this new advent of WFH culture these companies are gonna pass benefits of operational costs’ savings to their employees in terms of Perks and Benefits.
So, why they are important for you to know about them before you apply for them? These are important because they will motivate you to push yourself harder. Trust me, once you crack it, you’ll really embrace yourself for these little benefits that you get on a daily basis and you’ll save a huge amount of money that otherwise would have gone from your own pocket.
6. Embrace Rejections -
This out of all points is the very important one. We know that in this competitive era chances are high that we’ll not be able to make up for our dream tech company and that’s completely fine. You have to embrace rejections as well. Due to this, you were able to learn so much, you were able to face the world’s best interviewers out there and your learning experience will never go in vain. There are numerous organizations that are doing equally amazing things, provide equally if not more compensation, perks, and benefits, and where you’ll surely make up someday. Keep on trying if you are very much stubborn about a particular company, learn from your mistakes, fill out the gaps that you left last time and strive for excellence always.
I myself tried two times before I got into this organization, but then I was very much stubborn for only a few organizations that I wanted to work for and Walmart was at the Top of that list and hence I made it.
Stay Hungry Stay Foolish.
All the best for your next job. Happy Switching and thanks for reading.
PEACE |V|
