I used to work at a small startup in the midwest. Like real small. We had maybe 12 people total and I was doing backend stuff basically by myself. We built software for manufacturing companies and it was alright but kind of boring and nobody outside our town ever heard of us. I was there for a little over a year and felt like I was just stuck.
I started thinking maybe I could get into a bigger company but I didn’t really know how to even start. I had a LinkedIn and a GitHub and I sent out resumes but I either got ghosted or got interviews I bombed. I could code fine but I would totally freeze on system design and I’d second guess myself a lot in interviews. Honestly I think I just lacked confidence and didn’t know how to play the game.
Someone in a discord I was in mentioned „dedicated interview coaching“ after I was venting about failing another interview. I started looking into it and found the cheapest one I could. Ill plug it because, well, they deserve it (https://easyclimb.tech/). It wasn’t some big bootcamp thing. It was just one-on-one mentorship with someone already working at one of the top companies. I figured I’d try it since I didn’t really have anything to lose.
I matched with a mentor who worked at a big company on the west coast and he was super honest with me right away. He told me my resume looked like it was made in Word and that I had no story. We started doing weekly sessions where we’d go over my projects, practice mock interviews, and talk about how to handle recruiter calls. Sometimes it felt like therapy. Other times it felt like I was getting coached for the NFL Combine.
After a couple months he offered to refer me to LinkedIn since he knew someone on one of the teams hiring. I didn’t think it would go anywhere but then a recruiter emailed me a few days later and set up the full SWE loop. I freaked out a little if I’m being honest.
That’s when we really locked in. For the next month and a half we went all in on prep. Mock after mock after mock. We broke down the loop step by step. He drilled me on behavioral questions like “tell me about a time you had conflict with a coworker” which I used to totally mess up. We also worked on system design almost every week until I finally stopped rambling and started being able to actually explain my ideas.
By the time the real interview came, I wasn’t even that nervous. I ended up passing the loop and getting an offer with around 250k total comp. I honestly still don’t believe it sometimes. Like I eat lunch for free now. My badge works in buildings I used to just walk past when I visited SF once.
I don’t think I would’ve figured this stuff out on my own. I’m not a genius and I didn’t go to some big name school. I just needed someone to show me how the game works and keep me accountable when I felt like giving up.
If you’re in a similar spot, stuck at a small company and trying to level up just know it’s possible. You just gotta take it seriously and get the right help.