How to Get a Job as a Software Developer in Test (or Any Other Job in Tech, Really)
Simple but unintuitive advice on how to succeed in your job search
To speed up your journey to the position of a Software Development Engineer in Test, you need to understand the business side of the company you are trying to get a job at. Doing so will put you well ahead of someone who simply went through a $19 test automation course on Udemy.
Even if you think you lack technical skills, If you can demonstrate understanding of the business pain points and present yourself as someone who can solve them, you’re doing yourself a big favor.
Think Like a CEO
In a typical round of interviews at any top company, there will be at least one interviewer from the business side, like a director or even a VP (Vice President). The reason this person is there to talk to you is not to judge your technical ability or even soft skills. It's to figure out how well you will fit into the "flow" of the company's inner workings. Whether you will be a bottleneck or a roaring river during a flood season.
Give this person what he or she wants to hear. Talk about the cool shit you've done. How you took the initiative on something and made the thing a success. How you are the go-to person in your area of influence. You want this person to say "Yeah, he/she is a rockstar" at the post-interview powwow.
Do the Legwork
Going to interviews half-prepared and getting rejection after rejection is not a good strategy. Taking a step back, surveying the playing field and carefully planning your next steps is a good strategy. You won’t have to blast tens of resumes a day and get no results. You won’t settle for the first company that decides to take a chance on you, often at the lower pay rate. You will select companies that you want to work for, do research on them and be able to talk about how you can help overcome those companies' problems.
They Really Want to Hire You if You Let Them
In any economic environment, software companies need to keep releasing quality software. They are always looking for good SDET candidates to help them put quality gates in place.
Understanding that companies are looking for and giving it to them will put you light years ahead of other candidates. When the interviewers meet to discuss your candidacy, there shouldn’t be any doubt in their minds that you are the right candidate to bring aboard. As someone said about hiring for a start up, “If there is a doubt, there is no doubt”.
At this point in my career, I have been on the interviewing committee at several companies ranging from six-guys-in-the-basement to a publicly traded corporation. It’s amazing how many candidates almost made it but were rejected due to the little things that nevertheless made a negative impression on the interviewers.
Why strong candidates don't get hired
One interviewee applied for a position of an iOS developer. He did pretty well on the whiteboard coding section, which is typically the most difficult part of the entire interview process. He was then asked to explain how he would design the system behind the main screen of the iOS app he would be working on, if hired.
My co-interviewer and I assumed that this candidate had already downloaded and played with the app. It turned out that he had not. We had to explain to him what was on our app's main screen. This person had just probably spent weeks if not months preparing for interviews but couldn’t be bothered to spend five minutes to play with our app. Do I need to mention he didn't get the job?
Don't stop 5 feet before the finish line.
Spend 20 minutes to play with the app. Write down what you like and don't like about it.
An interview is not just a set of checkboxes that interviewers check, i.e. "did well enough on the algorithm question" or "seems to work well with others". It’s also the feeling that the interviewer leaves with.
Does she leave the interview with "wow" playing in her head or is it "meh"? Don’t sabotage all the hard work you’ve done to prepare for the interview. Don't take shortcuts. Read the company's engineering blog. Read about all the challenges the company is facing. At the end of the the interview, ask questions about those challenges. By spending a little bit of extra effort you will go from an 80% to a 100% candidate. Give them the whole package.
Conclusion:
Become business side-minded. Be ready to articulate how you will help the company to become a well-oiled machine.
Make them leave the interview with a "Wow", not a "Meh". This is easier than you think. Give 'em the whole package: think a beautiful MacBook Pro package, not a half-assed brown cardboard generic Windows laptop package.
Do what others won't so you can get the results that others don't. Play with the app.