Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to fly to Redmond to interview with Microsoft for an SDET (Software Development Engineer in Test) position. To prepare, I read a couple of books, reviewed my materials from Cem Kaner's Blackbox Software Testing course, and went over some technical programming examples. This was the most intense, brain-squeezing, mind-bending interview I had ever been on. . . . but it was really fun! And although I performed what I thought was exceedingly well, I was still not offered a position. I was disappointed, but not discouraged.
My Microsoft recruiter consoled me and said that sometimes it takes people upwards of 3 tries to get hired. She said that I should work on my skills and try again in six months or so. I made it up in my mind that I would have that job, and that next time around, I would be more prepared, and give an even better shot than the first time.
Last week, I was scheduled for another phone interview (YES!!). Since that time, I feel that I have gained some very applicable knowledge directly pertaining to the type of positions I'm seeking. In addition, I've decided to take on some other projects. Among them are:
- Reading Pro .NET 2.0 Extreme Programming
- Learning basic operation of NAnt
- PSP Programming - just to get some more OOP experience from another perspective. I enjoy writing programs and debugging them myself.
- Re-reading The Art of Software Testing (which was recommended to me at my very first Microsoft interview, to prepare for the Redmond shindig)
I should have a firm grasp on (at least 2 or 3 of) these things by the end of this week. In addition, I'm going to read peoples' blog posts of their experiences dealing with the grueling SDET interview and what skills they chose to polish and highlight during the process. I have a couple of friends who work there too, so I'll try to get some of their input as well.
As you can see, I have my work cut out for me, but I'm determined!
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