Alex Nguyen

I've worked at Amazon, Microsoft, and Google

But I've been rejected from
- Bloomberg
- TikTok
- Palantir
- Affirm
- Goldman Sachs
- Meta
- Netflix
- Stripe
- GoPuff
- Cardless
- Yext
- AngelList Venture
- J.P Morgan Chase
- Veeva
- IBM

On LinkedIn you'll see everyone's next opportunity
But no one is ever happy to announce where they've been rejected.

#alexcancode
#rejection
#coding

LinkedIn will tell you I work at Google
But I'll tell you about the failures along the way


• Started computer science my Junior year of college
• Had 0 Summer internships
• Failed Introduction to Computer Science
• Graduated a semester after my graduating class
• Rejected from 20+ full-time interviews

But I had 1 company that took a chance on me
That built confidence that led to every opportunity afterwards

You just need 1 opportunity to start your career
Your career starts building itself afterwards.


#alexcancode
#softwareengineer
#interview

Computer Science Major:

- School
Operating Systems, Calculus, Parallel Computing, Concurrency, DS&A, OOP, Computer Architecture, Linear Algebra, Java/C++/Python

- Interview
Trees, Binary Search, BFS, DFS, Dynamic Programming, Linked Lists, Stacks, Queues, Arrays, Strings, Graphs, Sorting

- Work
SOLID Principles, Unit/Integration testing, Sprint planning, SCRUM, CI/CD, Version Control, System Design, Code Reviews, Angular, Scala, GoLang, Swift, RESTful Apis, CRUD Databases


I don't think I'm the only one who sees a disconnect

#computerscience
#softwareengineer
#alexcancode

LinkedIn tells you I work at Google

But it doesn't tell you that I
• Got rejected 2x at the phone screen
• Started as an experienced hire
• Joined when they over hired

I needed several tries
I needed previous experience
I needed a booming economy

LinkedIn can't explain the circumstances people had to get their opportunities.
It also won't tell you it's harder now than ever to find that next opportunity.

#alexcancode
#opportunity
#career

Multitasking was my biggest mistake as an engineer.

I accepted every task I was offered, thinking people would judge me if I said no.

I took on everything:
• Tasks I did not want to do
• Tasks I did not know how to do
• Tasks I already knew how to do

Suddenly I was juggling 3 projects for months.

I burnt out and needed a few “sick“ days to take care of my mental health.

I asked my senior engineers if this was common. They all told me what I did would burn anyone out

When you are on multiple projects, your productivity is never split evenly

Your bandwidth will not be 50/50 between two projects

Your bandwidth will be 45/45 with 10% gone from

1. context switching
2. excessive meetings
3. multiplied stress

“Multitasking“ is a productivity myth that is actually “concurrent tasking“ with context switching costs.

The productivity truth is we will always be more productive focused on one thing at a time

#alexcancode
#productivity
#projectmanagement

It's not easy to tell
But I failed 25 interviews before my first job


• 1x failing to explain recursion to a 5 year old
• 1x asking for a salary too high
• 1x arguing with the interviewer
• 1x being 30 min late
• 1x saying we store data in data structures instead of databases

• 3x coding without asking clarifying questions
• 3x mentioning I would leave in the next 2 years

• 4x coding too slow on a compiler
• 4x not knowing how to optimize code

• 6x failing the online assessment


But all it takes is just
• 1x signed offer

To turn 25 rejections
Into 25 learning experiences.

#alexcancode
#interviewing
#opportunity

Someone told me an API joke and I didn't get it.

I thought CS was for people who were naturally talented. The ones who didn't go to class and still had it figured out.

But I didn't have it figured out at all.

Still confused resolving my git merge conflicts.
Still struggling with memory errors and segment faults.
Still learning the differences between programming languages

Not everybody comes out the womb naturally knowing how to code a for-loop.
I actually came out the womb unnaturally.

Nobody tells you they all started with print(“Hello World“);
Everything else is learned and all that learning takes practice.

Hours of practice from:
• Solving data structure questions
• Reading programming books
• Contributing to open source
• Building side projects
• Making pull requests
• Taking online courses
• Struggling with bugs
• Reading Tutorials
• Writing unit tests
• Following Blogs

If it takes 10,000 hours to master anything
Then all the hours you're putting in are paying off.

You become a software engineer the same way you get to Carnegie Hall.

Practice.

#alexcancode
#softwareengineer
#programming

The first season of Naruto taught me how to increase scope.

It was supposed to be a C-ranked mission to walk an old man to another village.

Then requirements changed and it suddenly became a deadly S-ranked mission with no way out.

The task was still the same, to walk the old man to another town. But the scope increased beyond what anyone expected.

For any software engineering task, nobody is stopping anyone to go beyond what was assigned.

If you ask an intern to make a photo app, they'll give you a simple photo on a webpage.

If you ask a new grad engineer, they'll ask about the size of the photos and where to get the photos.

If you ask a mid-level engineer, they'll ask about supporting videos and other features that need to be supported.

If you ask a senior engineer, they'll ask about security, latency, lifetime photo support, roadmap for other products, and total value to the customer.

It's the same photo app, but the scope changes depending on who it's given to. But nobody talks about how anyone at any level can choose to expand or limit scope themselves for any task.

One of the fastest ways to grow as a software engineer is to willingly upgrading your tasks from Genin C-rank tasks to Jounin S-rank tasks.

#alexcancode #naruto #softwareengineer

Computer Science Major:

- School
Operating Systems, Calculus, Parallel Computing, Concurrency, DS&A, OOP, Computer Architecture, Linear Algebra, Java/C++/Python

- Interview
Trees, Binary Search, BFS, DFS, Dynamic Programming, Linked Lists, Stacks, Queues, Arrays, Strings, Graphs, Sorting

- Work
SOLID Principles, Unit/Integration testing, Sprint planning, SCRUM, CI/CD, Version Control, System Design, Code Reviews, Angular, Scala, GoLang, Swift, RESTful Apis, CRUD Databases


I don't think I'm the only one who sees a disconnect

#alexcancode #softwareengineer

After a day being on set, here are things that make me jealous about workers at LinkedIn...

1. Free Food - It's not just a Google thing. LinkedIn offers a free cafeteria to everyone on campus. Sad it never got around to Microsoft.

2. Unlimited PTO - Unlimited PTO and the company has pushed employees to take it. Everyone at LinkedIn gets the entire 4th of July week off!

3. An open gym - Workers get access to a free company gym! When you're always at your desk, getting exercise at the gym is always convenient.

4. Unlimited Guests! - Google has a limited two guests per month policy. LinkedIn is always open to workers bringing their friends and families around.

Never thought I'd be someone who would go from writing code to teaching code.

#alexcancode
#softwareengineer
#coding

Computer Science Student:

- School
DS&A, OOP, Computer Architecture, Linear Algebra, Java/C++/Python, Operating Systems, Calculus, Parallel Computing, Concurrency

- Interview
Arrays, Strings, Graphs, Sorting, Trees, Binary Search, BFS, DFS, Dynamic Programming, Linked Lists, Stacks, Queues,

- Work
Code Reviews, Angular, Scala, GoLang, Swift, RESTful Apis, CRUD Databases, SOLID Principles, Unit/Integration testing, Sprint planning, SCRUM, CI/CD, Version Control, System Design,


Something's not right here.

#computerscience
#softwareengineer
#alexcancode

You wouldn't expect it but I moved on from Microsoft.


From great people to great technology
It would never be an easy decision to leave such a supportive environment.

My team at Microsoft lost 1 teammate in me.
I lost 9 great ones in them.
But the memories I will cherish forever.

As rare as it sounds, people don't always leave their roles because of a toxic work environment.

I mean I had
• 100% Remote work flexibility
• Fair compensation for my role
• Clear career growth and support from my manager
• Supportive teammates for any problem I had
• Project work with meaningful customer impact
• Reasonable working hours from 9am-5pm
• Bi-annual oncall

To work at a place where I feel respected is invaluable.
So much that even my manager encouraged me to make the best decision for myself whatever the opportunity is.


I'm moving on to my next adventure
But I wouldn't be able to without looking at the road that led me to it.

Thank you, Microsoft.

#alexcancode
#softwareengineer
#microsoft

I scheduled a meeting with my senior and they asked:

“What is this meeting for again?“

I didn't know what I wanted to get out of this 30 minute meeting.

It made me feel anxious
It made me feel annoying.
It made me feel unprepared.

Probably because I was.

I had some questions on integration tests.
I needed some answers on how to make them better.

I didn't read the docs and haven't looked at the code.

My senior said “if there's anything confusing about the docs, let me know“ and left the call.

It was an unsettling moment in my career

Nobody teaches you to do your homework first
• To only invite who's necessary
• To have prepared links to resources
• To have an agenda for each meeting
• To consider sending an email instead.
• To outline clear follow-up action items.
• To be prepared for questions someone will ask.
• To define what makes this meeting “successful“.
• To cut that 30-minute meeting short when you have your answer.

In college all I did was try to submit my homework online at 11:58pm before the due date.

Not optimizing how we share information in a finite time limit.

A lot goes into running a meeting and we shouldn't be so hard on people who are still learning.

#corporate
#alexcancode
#softwareengineer

The little reasons why I struggle as an engineer


I say yes to every task without knowing if I'm actually capable of completing the task.

I spend days trying to figure bugs out on my own instead of saving days asking the author.

I don't even know why we use Angular vs any other Javascript framework

I pretend to understand designs enough to do my work, not enough to understand the overall design.

I review code only looking at the diff changes without looking at the file/directory/project as a whole.

I do enough work to complete a task, not enough work to prevent future tasks.

But the biggest reason I struggle is because
I do enough work to get by, not enough to succeed.

#softwareengineer
#productivity
#alexcancode