A lot of our graduates here at Careerist found jobs in the tech field a couple of months after graduation! One of them is here to share his inspiring stories with you. It’s time to meet Jarred!
Tell us a bit about yourself... Where are you located in the US? When did you graduate?
I’m living in southern California right now, and I’m about 40 minutes away from LA.
I did have a background in tech, but I’d never worked in computer science before graduating from my course. I’m now a techie and I like working with the hardware.
I graduated in March from Careerist. I wasn’t able to start studying for my interviews until around May time, and I started looking for a job on June 1st, 2021.
Did you apply for jobs by yourself or did you use our Job Application Service?
I applied by myself for about 30-40 jobs per day, this was recommended to me. My career coach helped me with my resume and LinkedIn profile. And all the rest I did on my own.
I applied for jobs in and around different states. I considered remote work and jobs that were close to my house.
After a couple of weeks of actively applying I got an offer. But I was actually receiving phone calls after just one week of applying for roles.
I talked with around 9 recruiters during my job search, and I had one successful interview. Recruiters are still calling me up and inviting me to interviews today.
What was the interview you attended like?
I applied directly for this role, and somebody called me and we had a chat on the phone. I talked to two different people from the company, this included my future career coach and a fellow engineer.
They asked me to tell them about myself, what my average workday was like, and they asked me to tell them about my internship. They also asked me how I would go about testing a pen. I did have some questions about writing documents too, and they wanted to know what I knew about their company.
The second interview I attended was with an engineer. He showed me a picture of a robot and asked me how I would test it. It was a totally unexpected turn.
He wanted to see what I thought. I said that I would test whether it worked without the internet and without a signal. I said I’d look at the way it rolled around, I’d examine the way it goes in/out and whether the robot would bump into other robots. I also said that I’d test the battery power and look at the way the robot grabbed things.
They asked me about Linux too, but they didn’t go into detail.
I’m now actually testing robots - how they go to grab canisters and how they move canisters around the factory. Working with robots came as a big surprise to me. Interviewers noted that there may be a possibility of me learning some automation skills in the future.
You work with robots - that’s amazing! Regarding the interview questions, how did you prepare for them?
I watched class videos over and over again, but the information didn’t stick in my head. The information only started to stick in my mind when I watched the videos, and read the notes out loud many times.
I think people who practice in this way will be well-prepared for the interview questions, and they’ll go on to get multiple job offers because they’ll be more confident.
In the tech industry, it’s more about the way you think and your confidence. I noticed that companies prefer to pay more money to individuals who are extremely competent.
Do you work remotely?
The job is 25 miles away from me, so I actually go into the office.
They offered me a yearly salary of $93,000 originally. I countered this offer with $97,000. Then they met me in the middle and offered me a salary of $95,000 a year. There are also some additional bonuses with this job too.
Do you want to share any words of wisdom with your fellow graduates?
The only thing that really matters is how you answer questions in an interview. Talk and joke around, these are vital because they show a recruiter what type of person you are, and it’ll highlight your personality.
We’re so excited and proud of you. We hope to hear from you in a couple of months, so you can tell us what it’s like to work in the industry, and more than anything, what it’s like to work with robots.
Thanks for sharing your story with us. We really appreciate it.