1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,080 The question I received the most in Q&A episodes and podcast 2 00:00:03,080 --> 00:00:06,200 episodes is how do I get a job in tech, remote or 3 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:08,200 internationally? How do I do that? 4 00:00:08,600 --> 00:00:11,640 In this episode, I'll share my perspective and advice and give 5 00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:14,200 you a few tools which I think are key and they might not be 6 00:00:14,200 --> 00:00:20,320 what you expect. So let's get to it starting from 7 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:22,240 the start. There's one big truth that you 8 00:00:22,240 --> 00:00:25,160 need to be aware of and you need to answer the question, why 9 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:27,920 would companies hire you? Why would companies even talk to 10 00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:30,960 you, especially in these types of roles where there might be a 11 00:00:30,960 --> 00:00:33,840 lot of competition locally as well as then from 12 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:36,520 internationally because nowadays it's a global playing field. 13 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:39,440 Why would it be you? You need to answer that question 14 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:42,760 and to help you do so, you need to focus on one thing first and 15 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:45,440 foremost, that is building solid fundamentals. 16 00:00:45,880 --> 00:00:48,840 Focus on your craft. I honestly don't mind what it 17 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:50,440 is. Front and back and full stack. 18 00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:52,800 Software engineering, infrastructure, cloud 19 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:56,920 infrastructure, data analyst, data scientist, data engineer, 20 00:00:57,320 --> 00:01:00,000 security. I don't mind what it is. 21 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:03,200 Pick one, make it your core and become really really good at 22 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:04,720 that. That is going to be the 23 00:01:04,720 --> 00:01:08,360 foundation and answering why companies should hire you from 24 00:01:08,360 --> 00:01:11,920 all hard skills perspective. If you don't have that yet, then 25 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:15,560 honestly you need to find a company, likely locally, and 26 00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:19,520 build up that skill. People don't necessarily think 27 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:22,840 of hard skills. They also think of who am I 28 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:24,960 hiring from a personal perspective. 29 00:01:25,320 --> 00:01:28,120 So starting locally instead of immediately trying to get an 30 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:30,400 international job, even though you don't have any job 31 00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:33,320 experience hypothetically and there's going to be a lot of 32 00:01:33,320 --> 00:01:36,240 hypotheticals. Building up that job experience 33 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:41,200 locally is I think the best step you can do because professional 34 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:43,440 experience is way different than what you get from your 35 00:01:43,440 --> 00:01:46,280 educational journey, than what you might even get looking 36 00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:49,960 online and educating yourself through YouTube or various means 37 00:01:49,960 --> 00:01:52,240 of newsletters and media out there. 38 00:01:52,600 --> 00:01:56,040 It's very different working in a team day in day out, 39 00:01:56,280 --> 00:01:59,120 contributing towards a product, towards a shared vision, towards 40 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:02,520 business outcomes as an individual contributor, because 41 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:04,720 I'm, I'm going to take that path mainly for answering this 42 00:02:04,720 --> 00:02:08,280 question as software engineers. I'll touch on product probably a 43 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:11,280 little bit later, but that is very different and you need to 44 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:14,320 build up that muscle, you need to build up that rhythm for you 45 00:02:14,320 --> 00:02:17,000 to be able to relate during the interview process in the 1st 46 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:20,200 place at all. So step one, building up your 47 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:22,600 skill. It's very easy though, because 48 00:02:22,640 --> 00:02:24,080 there's a lot of content out there. 49 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:27,560 There's a lot of time that likely you have and it's a 50 00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:30,160 matter of spending that time. It's going to require a lot of 51 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:31,920 discipline. Honestly. 52 00:02:31,920 --> 00:02:34,560 You do need to put in the work because otherwise you will never 53 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:37,280 be able to answer. Why would a company hire you? 54 00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:39,760 Or in this case, why would a company hire me in the 1st 55 00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:40,920 place? Why would they talk to me in the 56 00:02:40,920 --> 00:02:44,720 1st place if my fundamental skills are not there? 57 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:48,360 Even if you get your foot in the door and then your hard skills, 58 00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:49,640 you don't have good fundamentals. 59 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:52,880 It's a wasted opportunity because getting your foot in the 60 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:56,240 door nowadays is honestly incredibly difficult. 61 00:02:56,480 --> 00:03:00,080 So then once you have your foot in the door, getting the hard 62 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:03,680 skills or having the hard skills to actually back that up is what 63 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:07,320 you need. Now separately, also while 64 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:11,680 building up these hard skills, I've seen people think of remote 65 00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:14,680 jobs and that being kind of the Holy Grail to go for. 66 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:17,800 Also early in career, especially during COVID, everyone was kind 67 00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:20,520 of remote. But nowadays you have options. 68 00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:23,600 You can go hybrid, you can go fully to the office, you can try 69 00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:26,600 and find remote, even though you're kind of local companies 70 00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:29,120 that are OK with that. My advice, and especially for 71 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:31,520 people that are early in career, go to the office. 72 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:34,640 All right, you might hate it. Five days in the office. 73 00:03:34,640 --> 00:03:36,960 That's what I did. And obviously I'm speaking from 74 00:03:36,960 --> 00:03:38,920 experience. But now seeing people that 75 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:41,000 haven't done that, it's different. 76 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:43,840 You're completely isolated. It's very hard to ask for help. 77 00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:47,320 You need to actually put in the effort to call someone and some 78 00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:50,720 people really don't like that from a calling perspective. 79 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:53,440 And likely if it's a remote company, people don't mind 80 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:56,360 outreach and like asynchronous communication and anything like 81 00:03:56,360 --> 00:03:58,560 that. But for me and talk about my 82 00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:01,640 experience going to the office, having colleagues next to me 83 00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:05,960 made it very easy to pair program to ask for help, to even 84 00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:08,800 sit in after hours. And I would spend hours after 85 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:12,080 work discussing certain technical intricacies, learning 86 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:14,560 about people's interests. So then our relationship would 87 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:17,800 be better to execute even better building trust in that way. 88 00:04:17,800 --> 00:04:20,920 Or just honestly, because because I was very eager, people 89 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:23,560 would just take their time and try and walk me through a lot of 90 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:26,360 technical concepts and whiteboard even after hours with 91 00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:27,880 me. And I would just have the 92 00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:30,920 opportunity to ask questions and go over it and over it and over 93 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:33,880 it until I understood. It's kind of a personal kind of 94 00:04:33,880 --> 00:04:36,480 tutoring session to be honest. And I don't think you're going 95 00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:39,000 to have that remote. Why would someone say and do the 96 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:42,440 same thing remotely? It's more transactional, I feel 97 00:04:42,440 --> 00:04:44,120 like. So especially when you're early 98 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:47,160 in career focusing on your craft, find an environment where 99 00:04:47,160 --> 00:04:49,680 you can be there in person with people that are actually there 100 00:04:49,680 --> 00:04:51,400 and also enthusiastic to teach you. 101 00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:55,200 I think that's the biggest benefit that you can have 102 00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:57,040 nowadays because there's a lot of options. 103 00:04:57,640 --> 00:04:59,800 And from my perspective, honestly, this is the best one. 104 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:02,320 Start locally, build up your craft, build up your 105 00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:03,800 fundamentals, and then go from there. 106 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:09,040 Now, something you might not have thought of is you can 107 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:11,560 actually move internationally through your company. 108 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:14,600 So especially when you're talking about a local company, 109 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:16,920 it might be something that's local that you can go into the 110 00:05:16,920 --> 00:05:19,880 office for that is actually a big international company. 111 00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:22,280 It doesn't have to be big tech. It can be an international 112 00:05:22,280 --> 00:05:26,640 company that has positions open in tech internationally. 113 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:30,360 If you build up a good reputation locally within your 114 00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:32,960 team, within your org, within your part of kind of your 115 00:05:32,960 --> 00:05:37,040 domain, that can translate towards you actually landing a 116 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:40,800 job or people helping you. If you are vocal about it, what 117 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:43,400 your path is, what your career path is, what you want in life 118 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:46,400 and at this company, they can help you and they can support 119 00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:48,840 you getting there. Honestly, I think that's 120 00:05:48,840 --> 00:05:51,200 something that might be the most feasible. 121 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:54,160 Starting somewhere at an international company, seeing a 122 00:05:54,160 --> 00:05:57,160 job opportunity that is overseas or across continents. 123 00:05:57,480 --> 00:05:59,240 You've already built up a reputation. 124 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:02,840 Your manager and their manager, your skip level can help you get 125 00:06:02,840 --> 00:06:06,600 that role. For me, that would be kind of 126 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:11,240 the easier, easiest potential path to make this happen. 127 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:13,360 It's still a hard one honestly because there's still 128 00:06:13,360 --> 00:06:16,960 computation likely if it's across seas, if it's across 129 00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:20,120 continents, you will still have to apply formally. 130 00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:22,320 But then people can already put in a good word. 131 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:25,560 Your foot in the door is not really a step because you 132 00:06:25,560 --> 00:06:28,400 already have that. Then it's just about acing the 133 00:06:28,400 --> 00:06:32,040 interview and people might be more lenient based on how well 134 00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:35,520 of a reputation you have, how good your political credit is 135 00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:39,160 within that organization. But basically your time spent at 136 00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:41,280 that organization is going to be your leverage. 137 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:44,440 So the better you do that, the higher the likelihood it is that 138 00:06:44,440 --> 00:06:47,400 your reputation, your reputation pays dividends. 139 00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:52,240 Now there's also a part where I've received a few questions in 140 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:55,640 the same vein. However, they explicitly say 141 00:06:55,640 --> 00:06:57,920 they're from a non-english speaking country and they want 142 00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:00,840 to move to an English speaking country, which means that the 143 00:07:00,840 --> 00:07:02,560 language is going to be core here. 144 00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:04,680 I'm going to take English because English is like the most 145 00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:07,840 internationally, I think accessible language for people 146 00:07:07,840 --> 00:07:09,320 that want to move internationally across 147 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:11,600 continents here, at least my listeners. 148 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:16,120 So if English is going to be the language that you speak first 149 00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:19,120 and foremost for me, it makes sense to get really good at 150 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:21,800 English to be honest, which is kind of a skill that no one 151 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:25,480 talks about. But if it's very hard for you to 152 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:28,200 get your thoughts in order and then communicate in English, 153 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:31,000 yeah, it's going to be a step down compared to other people 154 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:34,240 that can do that. It's the harsh and honest truth. 155 00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:39,160 So getting really good at English verbally in your 156 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:42,240 writing, in your reading and understanding of concepts. 157 00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:44,800 But usually through most education that's out there, it 158 00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:47,840 is English in the first place. Then it's a matter of you can 159 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:50,080 probably have a really good understanding of the English 160 00:07:50,120 --> 00:07:51,760 language. You can probably read and write, 161 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:54,000 or writing is a different skill in and of its own. 162 00:07:54,280 --> 00:07:57,080 But for me, communication and getting your thoughts in order 163 00:07:57,080 --> 00:08:00,000 and having a smooth conversation with someone is actually going 164 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:03,080 to be the most challenging. Now, luckily, there's a lot you 165 00:08:03,080 --> 00:08:06,800 can do with regards to practice. One of the things that I did, 166 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:09,920 which is not really on purpose, it's very much subconsciously. 167 00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:12,920 I played a lot of video games and during video games I would 168 00:08:12,920 --> 00:08:16,640 always listen to podcasts and I think by listening I got better 169 00:08:16,640 --> 00:08:19,920 at speaking. That was one part of it. 170 00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:23,400 And then also doing this podcast, speaking on a more week 171 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:25,920 to week basis in English continuously. 172 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:29,840 Also now at home with my partner being American Italian, we speak 173 00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:33,840 English. I mean, I'm English kind of day 174 00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:35,520 in, day out. My Dutch is getting worse and 175 00:08:35,520 --> 00:08:38,320 worse, even though it's still, I mean I'm still Dutch native, but 176 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:42,360 English is what I use most of the day and therefore my English 177 00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:44,400 is getting better and better to a level where it's actually 178 00:08:44,400 --> 00:08:46,320 really good professionally. At least that's my opinion. 179 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:50,320 So, but that's what you want to be, that's where you want to be. 180 00:08:50,560 --> 00:08:53,000 You want to get to that level. How you do that? 181 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:55,520 Honestly, if you have some tutoring, if you have language 182 00:08:55,520 --> 00:08:58,400 classes, if you listen to a lot of podcasts, if you go to 183 00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:00,920 Toastmasters, your local Toastmasters, and you work on 184 00:09:00,920 --> 00:09:03,760 your public speaking. Anything you can do to up your 185 00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:06,240 communication in English is going to pay dividends. 186 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:09,560 Because especially if you've chosen this international career 187 00:09:09,560 --> 00:09:13,520 path, the better you are at communicating, the more likely 188 00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:16,480 people will want to hire you. Because why would they hire you 189 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:19,560 with regards to the same skill set, everything, hard skills, 190 00:09:19,560 --> 00:09:23,400 maybe you even as a person, same kindness, same empathy compared 191 00:09:23,400 --> 00:09:26,440 to a person that speaks way better English like that would 192 00:09:26,440 --> 00:09:29,480 just be a waste. So focusing on English as a 193 00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:33,080 language perspective I think is a must. 194 00:09:34,560 --> 00:09:37,600 There's also friends I have which are trying to move from 195 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:41,960 the UK to the Netherlands and for them speaking Dutch is been 196 00:09:41,960 --> 00:09:44,080 the biggest bottleneck because especially in certain 197 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:46,560 industries, this is still in tech, but for example marketing 198 00:09:46,560 --> 00:09:48,840 or sales. Yeah, if you're doing it in a 199 00:09:48,840 --> 00:09:51,480 local environment and then Dutch is kind of the main speaking 200 00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:53,640 language. Even though you work for 201 00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:56,840 international companies, learning the language that is 202 00:09:56,840 --> 00:10:00,600 local can still be a bottleneck. So if that is your aim, if you 203 00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:03,520 want to move from English speaking countries to like local 204 00:10:03,520 --> 00:10:06,600 speaking countries, then yeah, learning the language is exactly 205 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:09,400 the same bottleneck. You will have to learn the 206 00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:12,800 language, except it's way more difficult I think because 207 00:10:12,800 --> 00:10:16,000 English is so ubiquitous. Also in tech it's mainly the 208 00:10:16,200 --> 00:10:19,760 language that's spoken mostly. So I think the inverse is easier 209 00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:21,640 than actually learning a local language. 210 00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:24,360 So yeah. But also the bar and the 211 00:10:24,360 --> 00:10:27,040 requirements are maybe not as high depending on the country. 212 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:30,480 We still haven't answered. Why would companies talk to you 213 00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:32,320 in the 1st place? Even though your hard skills 214 00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:34,400 might be really good, even though your communication in 215 00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:37,800 English might be excellent? How would companies judge this? 216 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:41,280 Especially I hate it when people say in the age of AI because 217 00:10:41,280 --> 00:10:43,200 that's usually what AI generates in the 1st place. 218 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:48,360 But with AI nowadays, it's very easy to retrieve information, 219 00:10:48,360 --> 00:10:50,480 it's very easy to generate content. 220 00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:53,240 So a lot of resumes that companies will receive are 221 00:10:53,240 --> 00:10:56,600 either going to be bots, the different aliases that might not 222 00:10:56,600 --> 00:10:59,800 even be real, real people, or real people using AI, and the 223 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:03,120 resume all looks the same. Same hard skills, same tone of 224 00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:05,360 voice, maybe even better than the average software engineer 225 00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:07,880 because they tweak it specifically to this job. 226 00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:11,640 So it makes it very hard, I think from a hiring perspective 227 00:11:11,640 --> 00:11:14,760 to cut out all the weeds, hundreds and hundreds, sometimes 228 00:11:14,760 --> 00:11:18,000 even thousands depending on how competitive the position is to 229 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:21,920 weed out and choose you to have a conversation with at the table 230 00:11:21,920 --> 00:11:24,240 in the 1st place. Getting your foot in the door I 231 00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:27,720 think is very, very difficult, maybe even the most difficult 232 00:11:27,720 --> 00:11:30,840 it's ever been. Currently, as I'm recording this 233 00:11:30,840 --> 00:11:33,720 in July 2025, let's be, let's be clear about that. 234 00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:37,920 So likely, you're probably going to guess what I'm going to say. 235 00:11:37,920 --> 00:11:39,520 You need to build up a social presence. 236 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:44,040 I, I, I know, I know some people hate the word social presence. 237 00:11:44,040 --> 00:11:47,600 OK, it doesn't have to be social media, but you need to 238 00:11:48,160 --> 00:11:49,920 distinguish yourself from other people. 239 00:11:50,160 --> 00:11:51,760 And there's a few options. You can do that. 240 00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:56,280 OK, I'll talk about kind of an obvious one, which is writing. 241 00:11:56,320 --> 00:11:59,640 If you love reading, you might be excellent at writing. 242 00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:03,120 Start a newsletter. It can be a newsletter 243 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:06,480 internally, it can be a newsletter externally, whatever. 244 00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:09,640 Start writing, all right, Make material, get your thoughts in 245 00:12:09,640 --> 00:12:12,360 order. You can use AI because writing 246 00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:15,680 has become, I think, easier and harder. 247 00:12:15,680 --> 00:12:19,080 It's easy to create a lot of content, but then it's very hard 248 00:12:19,080 --> 00:12:22,680 to get to the essence of it. So if you love writing, get 249 00:12:22,680 --> 00:12:25,480 really good at writing. Specifically publish that. 250 00:12:25,480 --> 00:12:28,480 I would say definitely outside of your sphere of influence and 251 00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:30,240 that's where you build up your social credit. 252 00:12:31,040 --> 00:12:32,760 I know you're not going to be a content creator, you're not 253 00:12:32,760 --> 00:12:36,400 going to be a social media expert, but bit by bit, if you 254 00:12:36,400 --> 00:12:39,440 do that weekly, if you set your goals to write a blog weekly, to 255 00:12:39,440 --> 00:12:42,960 write out and send out a newsletter weekly continuously, 256 00:12:42,960 --> 00:12:45,360 you will build up this muscle and you will build up this 257 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:48,640 legacy of what you've done. And if other people don't do 258 00:12:48,640 --> 00:12:51,680 that, or if a few people do that, then that's at least one 259 00:12:51,680 --> 00:12:53,880 thing that makes you stand out from the crowd. 260 00:12:53,960 --> 00:12:55,720 All right? You will definitely get better 261 00:12:55,720 --> 00:12:58,160 at writing if that's what you do week in, wing, week out. 262 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:00,400 If you do that continuously, then all of a sudden you're a 263 00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:03,600 year further and you're going to have 52 newsletters. 264 00:13:03,720 --> 00:13:05,400 All right? The fact that people even can 265 00:13:05,400 --> 00:13:08,920 say that number, I've written 52 articles, 52 blog posts, 52 266 00:13:08,920 --> 00:13:11,400 newsletters. This is what I've built up is 267 00:13:11,400 --> 00:13:14,520 incredible. Through that, you might partner 268 00:13:14,520 --> 00:13:17,640 with other writers. You might ask for an opinion on 269 00:13:17,640 --> 00:13:20,120 software engineering at companies that you want to work 270 00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:23,520 with or work for, let's say. Let's say work with. 271 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:28,880 You might pair up with engineers from companies you want to work 272 00:13:28,880 --> 00:13:33,120 with to create and Co create articles that already is going 273 00:13:33,120 --> 00:13:36,680 to help your little network of people that you know, people 274 00:13:36,680 --> 00:13:38,640 don't remember what they do necessarily. 275 00:13:38,640 --> 00:13:41,840 If I look at my job experience, I don't know what I built 10 276 00:13:41,840 --> 00:13:44,880 years ago, five years ago, but I kind of know the people that I 277 00:13:44,880 --> 00:13:47,440 worked with. I know exactly which people I 278 00:13:47,440 --> 00:13:48,960 liked. I know exactly which people I 279 00:13:48,960 --> 00:13:52,960 didn't necessarily like anymore or not in the 1st place at all, 280 00:13:53,520 --> 00:13:55,040 but I remember those relationships. 281 00:13:55,040 --> 00:13:58,760 So this is a very simple thing. You can do that on the side 282 00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:02,240 writing, you can build up, reach out to people and say, hey, I'm 283 00:14:02,240 --> 00:14:05,440 interested in writing XY and Z. Can we pair up with each other? 284 00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:08,640 Can can I interview you? Can we make an article together? 285 00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:11,800 People are usually very up for that because that also helps 286 00:14:11,800 --> 00:14:14,920 their social credit with regards to content creation and 287 00:14:14,920 --> 00:14:17,720 distinguishing themselves as engineers in the market 288 00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:19,560 nowadays. So people are very, very open to 289 00:14:19,560 --> 00:14:22,520 that and those relationships you can build up on. 290 00:14:23,080 --> 00:14:26,040 Now writing is not the only one since we're talking about 291 00:14:26,040 --> 00:14:28,280 software engineering, contributing to open source, 292 00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:31,000 working on your own GitHub profile, creating little 293 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:33,360 projects. Honestly, what is your passion? 294 00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:35,040 What do you love with regards to technology? 295 00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:37,400 What what are your fundamentals? What do you want to learn? 296 00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:41,960 Learn out in the open, create as many things as you can to learn 297 00:14:41,960 --> 00:14:45,720 from and show what you're proud of when you actually have an 298 00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:47,920 interview, when you're trying to get your foot in the door. 299 00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:51,360 I saw that recently it was a question in a job application 300 00:14:51,360 --> 00:14:55,040 forum that said what is exceptional work that you've 301 00:14:55,040 --> 00:14:57,400 done? And they really distinctly said, 302 00:14:57,400 --> 00:14:59,320 if this is empty, we will not consider you. 303 00:14:59,320 --> 00:15:02,600 So think of what exceptional work that you've done, all 304 00:15:02,600 --> 00:15:04,680 right? If you have a legacy of writing, 305 00:15:05,160 --> 00:15:07,360 then that's exceptional. That will definitely make you 306 00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:10,120 stand out from the rest. If you have a legacy of 307 00:15:10,120 --> 00:15:12,960 beautiful open source contributions, if you have many 308 00:15:12,960 --> 00:15:15,680 projects on GitHub, things that you think are exceptional, 309 00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:17,840 things that you are proud of, you don't have to think they're 310 00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:20,120 exceptional or they make you look like an expert. 311 00:15:20,120 --> 00:15:22,800 Honestly, if this is what you're proud of, that's what you 312 00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:26,080 communicate specifically. And it's beautiful that with 313 00:15:26,080 --> 00:15:27,640 software, you can put everything on GitHub. 314 00:15:27,640 --> 00:15:30,320 You can build up your GitHub profile with really cool and 315 00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:33,040 awesome projects. And honestly, I think people 316 00:15:33,040 --> 00:15:34,280 will definitely look towards that. 317 00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:37,760 With regards to how does this person stand out compared to 318 00:15:37,760 --> 00:15:40,000 another person, That's definitely one way. 319 00:15:40,440 --> 00:15:44,640 Now an easy 1 and that's it's, it was never really the intent. 320 00:15:44,640 --> 00:15:46,200 The intent was always to share knowledge. 321 00:15:46,200 --> 00:15:49,600 But podcasting makes you really, really good at communicating. 322 00:15:49,960 --> 00:15:51,120 All right. And this is similar to a 323 00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:53,480 newsletter. If you love listening, then you 324 00:15:53,480 --> 00:15:56,040 might be really good at starting a podcast. 325 00:15:56,040 --> 00:15:59,000 I know that's a bigger leap than reading and writing, but follow 326 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:01,360 along with me because kind of that's what happened with me. 327 00:16:02,160 --> 00:16:04,840 Inviting people and building up your network through a podcast 328 00:16:05,360 --> 00:16:10,640 is, I wouldn't say easy, but it gets easier and and easier, all 329 00:16:10,640 --> 00:16:12,080 right? If there's a testament of work 330 00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:14,960 that you've done, if you've done many episodes, you build up this 331 00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:17,440 legacy and the people see that and it builds credibility. 332 00:16:17,440 --> 00:16:20,360 So it makes them easier, makes it easier for guests to say, 333 00:16:20,360 --> 00:16:22,760 yes, That's the stage I am in now. 334 00:16:22,960 --> 00:16:25,640 It's taken four years to get there and it was definitely not 335 00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:28,560 there the first year. However you put in the effort, 336 00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:30,480 it's not an easy path. It definitely requires 337 00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:32,600 discipline. You build up your network and 338 00:16:32,600 --> 00:16:36,640 you can use that potentially to get a job in the future, not 339 00:16:36,640 --> 00:16:38,840 just locally but definitely also internationally. 340 00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:42,080 Because especially if you do remote podcasts, then you can 341 00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:44,080 just talk to someone that's completely in a different 342 00:16:44,080 --> 00:16:47,000 country, create an episode together, share knowledge from 343 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:50,280 their perspective, either internally or externally, again, 344 00:16:50,600 --> 00:16:53,520 with regards to an organization or just who they are as a person 345 00:16:53,520 --> 00:16:55,840 and their career path. It makes you a better 346 00:16:55,840 --> 00:16:58,120 communicator. Again, going back to English as 347 00:16:58,120 --> 00:17:01,240 a main language, likely you'll want to choose English if you're 348 00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:04,200 going to create a podcast. But in the end, you can leverage 349 00:17:04,200 --> 00:17:06,960 those net, the network that you build up, the people that you 350 00:17:06,960 --> 00:17:09,720 interact with. Always be kind, always be 351 00:17:09,720 --> 00:17:12,560 empathetic, always be kind of try and be the best version of 352 00:17:12,560 --> 00:17:14,720 yourself. Make it a pleasant experience 353 00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:16,560 for people that you work with. Even though it's a small 354 00:17:16,560 --> 00:17:20,200 interaction, collaborating on an article or creating a podcast 355 00:17:20,200 --> 00:17:21,760 episode together, people will remember you. 356 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:23,960 So make sure they remember it in a good way. 357 00:17:25,920 --> 00:17:31,920 So I hit on blogs, GitHub profile, podcasts. 358 00:17:32,160 --> 00:17:35,920 Now funny thing is, a lot of networking also happens in 359 00:17:35,920 --> 00:17:39,280 person locally, meetups. They can also happen remote 360 00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:41,720 nowadays. But finding community, either 361 00:17:41,720 --> 00:17:44,120 through meetups or conferences or online. 362 00:17:44,360 --> 00:17:46,720 There's a lot of forums still, people trying to help each 363 00:17:46,720 --> 00:17:49,960 other, Discord servers about very specific things, AI being a 364 00:17:49,960 --> 00:17:53,200 big topic, but finding your community, engaging and 365 00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:56,320 interacting and helping people. You can even try and mentor 366 00:17:56,320 --> 00:17:58,840 other people or guide them with regards to career path and 367 00:17:58,840 --> 00:18:02,440 fundamentals and educate. You can try and create trainings 368 00:18:02,440 --> 00:18:05,240 or give trainings or explain technical concepts on YouTube if 369 00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:07,640 you want. Finding and building community 370 00:18:07,640 --> 00:18:10,240 is one of the best things you can do because that in essence 371 00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:12,960 is going to have the biggest reach with regards to people 372 00:18:12,960 --> 00:18:15,960 that you interact with. Again, the news article, the 373 00:18:16,320 --> 00:18:18,240 podcasting, it's usually one-on-one. 374 00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:20,920 It's very specific with a person, but if you interact with 375 00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:23,480 the community, if you go to meet up with like minded people that 376 00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:26,440 have the same fundamental knowledge as you, you learn not 377 00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:28,800 just about the fundamentals, but also how they are applied in 378 00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:31,160 different organisations. And you sure, that might be a 379 00:18:31,160 --> 00:18:34,360 local thing, but you never know. Those people might move abroad 380 00:18:34,360 --> 00:18:35,840 and then you might see them elsewhere. 381 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:38,120 Or you can go on Twitter and build your own or find your own 382 00:18:38,120 --> 00:18:39,800 community. And those are definitely 383 00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:42,600 international. I think it's a really, really 384 00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:46,000 great idea from a networking perspective to communicate, to 385 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:50,160 try and help, honestly, to still be kind of your version of you 386 00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:53,480 with regards to kindness. Never be an asshole. 387 00:18:55,040 --> 00:18:59,320 People also remember assholes. But yeah, it's this mindset of 388 00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:01,520 abundance, right? It's not dog eat dog. 389 00:19:01,520 --> 00:19:03,080 There's enough knowledge to go around. 390 00:19:03,080 --> 00:19:06,280 So share as much as you can and you pay it forward in that way. 391 00:19:06,280 --> 00:19:07,560 You never know what's going to come back. 392 00:19:07,560 --> 00:19:10,320 It might not ever come back, but hopefully it does, especially if 393 00:19:10,320 --> 00:19:12,280 you keep at it with regards to your discipline and your 394 00:19:12,280 --> 00:19:14,640 efforts. Let's say you've done all of 395 00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:18,320 that, all right, your craft is really good, great fundamentals, 396 00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:20,400 your English is great written and orally. 397 00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:24,440 You are at a company or not necessarily, but you're ready 398 00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:26,720 for that step to move internationally or look for a 399 00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:30,600 remote job specifically and you have social proof. 400 00:19:30,840 --> 00:19:33,120 All right, you can say this is what I'm most proud of. 401 00:19:33,120 --> 00:19:36,960 A legacy of articles or blogs, a legacy potentially on YouTube, 402 00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:39,880 legacy with a podcast legacy with regards to projects you've 403 00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:42,040 contributed to or you've created it yourself. 404 00:19:42,640 --> 00:19:46,520 What is next? This is enough in my opinion to 405 00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:49,000 get your foot in the door and it's not going to be a 406 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:51,480 guarantee. All right, It's still statistics 407 00:19:51,480 --> 00:19:53,600 in the end, you still have to try many, many times. 408 00:19:54,040 --> 00:19:57,800 However, you can apply on websites and not just websites. 409 00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:01,480 If you see a position that you think you're a great fit at with 410 00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:03,480 regards to your craft, with regards to your domain 411 00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:07,440 experience, with regards to your career experience so far, you 412 00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:10,200 know exactly what you need to do with regards to applying to that 413 00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:14,120 job at the company's. Profile page, the company's 414 00:20:14,120 --> 00:20:17,480 career page, that is one thing. I think usually that's what 415 00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:18,800 people do and they leave it at that. 416 00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:22,960 However, in the age of LinkedIn, I used the age again. 417 00:20:23,360 --> 00:20:26,640 Nowadays with LinkedIn, it's very easy to see who's 418 00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:30,040 recruiting for which company. So if you really think you're a 419 00:20:30,040 --> 00:20:34,080 perfect fit, feel free to send that recruiter a message and 420 00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:37,800 tell them exactly why. Why they should choose you over 421 00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:39,720 anyone else. Don't be an asshole about it. 422 00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:42,200 Be very kind about it. Talk about your excitement 423 00:20:42,200 --> 00:20:44,760 finding this role. Talk about why you would love to 424 00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:47,000 work at this company, specifically why you would be 425 00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:49,800 the perfect fit. Don't try and be cocky. 426 00:20:49,880 --> 00:20:52,600 Try and be honest with regards to your experience and where it 427 00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:55,920 matches on a skill level and on experience level. 428 00:20:56,280 --> 00:20:58,680 And then also share what distinguishes you from anyone 429 00:20:58,680 --> 00:21:01,960 else because usually that contributes to why you would be 430 00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:04,480 perfect for the job. Have you done something similar 431 00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:07,760 with regards to a project that you can see on GitHub that you 432 00:21:07,760 --> 00:21:10,680 can share to this recruiter? Have you written something that 433 00:21:10,680 --> 00:21:13,760 is very specific to this domain, the domain of the company that 434 00:21:13,760 --> 00:21:15,840 is very relevant? Have you done the same with 435 00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:20,120 regards to podcasting that shows your communication skills as 436 00:21:20,120 --> 00:21:21,920 well as your experience within this domain? 437 00:21:22,160 --> 00:21:24,840 Share that with the recruiter in that intro message. 438 00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:27,760 That's it. They might look at your profile, 439 00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:31,440 you might see that they might not ever reply, but when they 440 00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:34,040 do, they are interested and you have your foot in the door. 441 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:37,040 That's it. All right, where everyone goes 442 00:21:37,040 --> 00:21:39,560 to the career page of a certain organization, fills out their 443 00:21:39,560 --> 00:21:41,560 resume. They might not ever hear back, 444 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:44,480 but when you speak to a person, when you're honest and authentic 445 00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:47,880 about yourself, why you can actually communicate why you 446 00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:50,560 think you're great for the job or why the job really excites 447 00:21:50,560 --> 00:21:53,880 you and how you've distinguished yourself online that people can 448 00:21:53,880 --> 00:21:56,800 see without even having a conversation with you. 449 00:21:57,440 --> 00:22:00,120 For me, that is right now the best way to get your foot in the 450 00:22:00,120 --> 00:22:02,160 door. I'm not saying spam recruiters. 451 00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:04,440 I'm saying bring something to the table, all right? 452 00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:08,120 If you're not going to do it authentically, then honestly, 453 00:22:08,120 --> 00:22:09,360 recruiters will not want to talk to you. 454 00:22:09,360 --> 00:22:12,440 Also for the future, if right now it's a good time, they might 455 00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:14,080 reply and say now is not a good time. 456 00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:17,240 They might still say it's really cool what you've done and that's 457 00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:20,200 really good for your confidence. But reaching out to people 458 00:22:20,200 --> 00:22:23,280 nowadays on LinkedIn, if you're doing it the right way, 459 00:22:23,280 --> 00:22:26,840 authentically, what you think is a great fit, Honestly, I think 460 00:22:26,840 --> 00:22:29,600 that's a really good approach. I've seen it work. 461 00:22:29,720 --> 00:22:32,000 I've seen it work with myself, even though I haven't landed any 462 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:34,240 other job, but still interview because I think the skill of 463 00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:36,480 interviewing is very, very important. 464 00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:38,600 And that's what I used to get my foot in the door. 465 00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:42,680 It has worked more often than I would think otherwise for jobs 466 00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:45,560 that I think are incredibly highly competitive. 467 00:22:46,120 --> 00:22:48,320 And still, you might get a reply, you might get a reply. 468 00:22:48,320 --> 00:22:52,000 And honestly, that's nowadays the best thing you can hope for, 469 00:22:52,040 --> 00:22:55,360 either a +1 or a -1, even if it's a -1, you never know for in 470 00:22:55,360 --> 00:22:58,240 the future. So that would be my advice to 471 00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:01,120 distinguish yourself from the herd getting your foot in the 472 00:23:01,120 --> 00:23:04,400 door. Now lastly, there's many, many 473 00:23:04,400 --> 00:23:08,720 resources when it comes to how to get hired, specifically about 474 00:23:08,720 --> 00:23:11,760 the interview process. Way much more than I can 475 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:15,240 actually share with you in this episode today. 476 00:23:15,680 --> 00:23:19,400 So definitely do your research with regards to how you should 477 00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:21,480 prepare for an interview. When it comes to software 478 00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:24,280 engineering, I think it has evolved. 479 00:23:24,360 --> 00:23:26,600 It used to be traditional league code exercise. 480 00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:29,760 You do it in your own time, then you come in for a system design 481 00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:33,280 interview and then maybe a few more rounds with the teams. 482 00:23:33,280 --> 00:23:35,480 It can be up to five to six rounds is what I've seen. 483 00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:40,240 However, I think with AI and with tooling nowadays, lead code 484 00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:42,640 exercises become more and more easy to solve. 485 00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:45,400 So companies are pivoting to see what works for them. 486 00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:48,520 They are putting more focus not just on the hard skills, but 487 00:23:48,520 --> 00:23:51,480 also on the system design and also on the collaboration 488 00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:53,840 aspect. It's not just I recently had a 489 00:23:53,840 --> 00:23:55,840 conversation with the CTO of Polar Steps. 490 00:23:56,240 --> 00:24:01,000 They do a full day in office exercise, 8 hours, 491 00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:05,800 collaboration, communication, trade-offs, being pragmatic with 492 00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:09,520 the regards to the work that you do and also executing and being 493 00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:12,240 very commutative about it. Very, very challenging 494 00:24:12,520 --> 00:24:14,280 internationally. They're not going to fly you 495 00:24:14,280 --> 00:24:16,320 over to do that. They might do the same thing 496 00:24:16,320 --> 00:24:17,320 remote. All right. 497 00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:20,160 I know a person that's interviewing, they have exactly 498 00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:22,800 the same, but then remote, which is incredible to me. 499 00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:25,600 But also this is a remote job. So in the end, that's what 500 00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:26,680 you're going to do in the 1st place. 501 00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:30,080 So it makes it a really good process and part of the 502 00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:33,000 interview to actually go through and and evaluate. 503 00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:35,960 So more and more companies are trying to go beyond just this 504 00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:38,200 lead code, especially when it comes to software engineering. 505 00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:41,320 But system design, I think it's quite established. 506 00:24:41,640 --> 00:24:44,760 It's quite trainable as well. There's a lot of content online 507 00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:46,040 on YouTube. Definitely check it out. 508 00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:47,880 Become really, really good at that. 509 00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:52,400 It is this rhythm and this muscle building a system, 510 00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:54,320 testing and validating assumptions, having a 511 00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:57,360 conversation with someone for a few minutes, then putting some 512 00:24:57,360 --> 00:25:00,000 stuff on paper, having a dialogue, making it very, very 513 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:03,240 simple, very, very pragmatic. Making some trade-offs with 514 00:25:03,240 --> 00:25:06,480 regards to why we do XY and Z, why we scale, what are still 515 00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:08,600 assumptions and why does it matter or why does it not 516 00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:10,600 matter? Can you still pivot or is this a 517 00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:12,880 hard lock in? Why does that matter in the 1st 518 00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:14,720 place for the domain and the customer case? 519 00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:18,240 That whole thing. Go through it, go through it 520 00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:20,680 over and over and over again. Use ChatGPT and just talk to 521 00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:24,240 your phone and ask them to evaluate you as an interviewer 522 00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:26,360 would. It makes you become better at 523 00:25:26,360 --> 00:25:28,040 this process. All right, once you get your 524 00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:30,480 foot in the door, it is nailing the interview. 525 00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:33,840 You might not nail every interview, but the more you do 526 00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:36,520 it, the better you get at it. The conversations you're going 527 00:25:36,520 --> 00:25:39,200 to have with many, many people, those you can also practice for. 528 00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:42,520 So definitely do it in advance to an interview and don't be too 529 00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:46,240 harsh on yourself when you fade an interview, likely it's going 530 00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:48,840 to be inevitable. It might not even be you, all 531 00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:50,560 right. They might just say, well, we 532 00:25:50,560 --> 00:25:53,240 thought we needed this role and this person, but in the end we 533 00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:55,440 decided we don't need it. We don't have budget anymore. 534 00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:58,840 We're we're in the middle of a reorganization. 535 00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:01,880 All right, there's no more role. Basically, you could have done 536 00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:03,560 nothing. It's just part of the 537 00:26:03,560 --> 00:26:07,600 organization that changed, but you still feel bad and you have 538 00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:09,680 to be able to cope with that. All right, this is a long and 539 00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:11,480 hard path. You're going to have many Nos, 540 00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:14,040 some part of it in the organization, some part of it 541 00:26:14,280 --> 00:26:15,880 how you could have done better in the interview. 542 00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:18,160 Don't sulk. Don't sit too much on it. 543 00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:21,360 I know it hurts, especially when you find your dream job and you 544 00:26:21,360 --> 00:26:23,560 don't nail it. I've also had that. 545 00:26:23,600 --> 00:26:26,320 It sucks. Play that over and over and over 546 00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:29,720 in your head with regards to the interview process and in half a 547 00:26:29,720 --> 00:26:33,040 year or a year from now that usually have this, you can apply 548 00:26:33,040 --> 00:26:36,640 again policy and do it again. Do better, practice more, 549 00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:39,800 practice harder, learn from your mistakes, do it again and do it 550 00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:43,000 over and over and over again. That is the only way basically 551 00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:45,280 to get a yes in this interviewing game. 552 00:26:46,120 --> 00:26:48,080 Now, there's one recent experience which I've had with 553 00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:50,720 regards to product and I've never gone through many, many 554 00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:52,880 product interviews. The funny thing about product is 555 00:26:52,880 --> 00:26:55,560 it's very specific and especially at this company, 556 00:26:55,760 --> 00:26:59,200 again, highly competitive. Definitely if I were to pick a 557 00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:02,400 few jobs would definitely be up there with regards to my dream 558 00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:04,600 jobs. And I biffed the interview. 559 00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:09,320 I was incredibly sad honestly. I still feel a little bit salty 560 00:27:09,320 --> 00:27:12,600 with regards to the conversation and how much I could have 561 00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:14,160 practiced more and more in advance. 562 00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:16,600 But the fact that I've gone through this, that I exactly 563 00:27:16,600 --> 00:27:19,280 know where things went well, where things did not go well. 564 00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:22,560 Honestly, it was mainly getting my thoughts in order, likely 565 00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:26,400 because I've never done this type of interview, but now I 566 00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:28,440 know exactly how I would get my thoughts in order. 567 00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:30,120 I know exactly how I would prepare for that. 568 00:27:30,120 --> 00:27:33,920 I would go again in a year if they'll have me because of this 569 00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:37,040 experience. So even though the no hurts, it 570 00:27:37,040 --> 00:27:39,800 is a lot of experience and experience is still experienced. 571 00:27:39,800 --> 00:27:42,520 It's like XP points in a game, in a video game. 572 00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:45,800 Level up and keep doing that. There's no Max level here. 573 00:27:45,800 --> 00:27:48,480 You can always get better. I think that's the best advice I 574 00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:50,320 can give you with regards to interviewing. 575 00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:54,920 Now to conclude, build up your craft. 576 00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:56,840 Get really, really strong fundamentals. 577 00:27:56,840 --> 00:27:58,280 Pick one thing, pick a few things. 578 00:27:58,280 --> 00:28:00,000 Doesn't matter. Become really, really good at 579 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:02,840 that in an organization. It's not going to happen 580 00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:05,920 magically that you get a remote job or an international job 581 00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:09,800 without any job experience. Build up that experience. 582 00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:13,320 Secondly, look for opportunities in your current company 583 00:28:13,560 --> 00:28:16,400 internationally. Are there opportunities? 584 00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:19,520 Talk to your manager, your skip level, vocalize what you want to 585 00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:21,120 do. You want this international 586 00:28:21,120 --> 00:28:24,080 career path or you want these remote opportunities? 587 00:28:24,440 --> 00:28:26,400 Talk about them. See if there's a path for you 588 00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:29,720 within that company. Build up your social presence. 589 00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:34,520 Blogs, articles, podcasts, YouTube content, community 590 00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:39,920 online meetups, conferences, speak, engage, find your 591 00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:42,800 community, Discord, service, anything you can do to build up 592 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:45,680 social presence. It will answer the question, 593 00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:49,120 what exceptional work have you done that I can actually see 594 00:28:49,120 --> 00:28:52,880 online that you can point people to that will help you get your 595 00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:55,960 foot in the door. Become really, really good at 596 00:28:55,960 --> 00:28:57,800 English. That will be the spoken 597 00:28:57,800 --> 00:28:59,720 language. When you collaborate 598 00:28:59,720 --> 00:29:02,040 internationally, it will be the written language. 599 00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:05,120 You will have to be really, really good at English, all 600 00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:07,920 right, That will distinguish yourself from other people. 601 00:29:08,720 --> 00:29:12,480 Now use all of that to get your foot in the door, don't you? 602 00:29:12,480 --> 00:29:15,840 Supply companies, look for people, look for great matches, 603 00:29:16,120 --> 00:29:18,040 talk to them. Bring something to the table, 604 00:29:18,040 --> 00:29:20,440 though if you don't, you lose credibility. 605 00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:23,880 Be yourself and be your best in every interaction with people 606 00:29:23,880 --> 00:29:27,000 from the company or with any people in your network. 607 00:29:27,520 --> 00:29:30,320 Now, once you have your foot in the door, nail the interview 608 00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:35,120 process and this will not be 100% nailing every single time. 609 00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:38,600 All right, you will hear no. It is inevitable. 610 00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:41,560 It might not be you, but it can definitely still be you. 611 00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:44,880 And when it is you, work on why it was the case. 612 00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:47,720 Get better at the next time. Don't be afraid to reapply at 613 00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:51,480 the same company, but apply and keep applying and don't take no 614 00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:53,520 for an answer. Keep getting better at the 615 00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:55,800 interview process, no matter which role you want. 616 00:29:56,960 --> 00:30:00,280 Continue and do this over and over and over again until you 617 00:30:00,280 --> 00:30:02,680 land that job. That is my advice. 618 00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:04,120 That's my thoughts and perspectives. 619 00:30:04,120 --> 00:30:07,440 I think this episode was way longer than I intended it to be, 620 00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:09,880 but I hope you enjoyed it. See you next time.