Another Failed Technical Evaluation: Keeping the Right Mindset
Failure after failure. I keep pushing but keep finding myself back to where I started. Am I good enough? Should I continue?
How does one find motivation, let alone maintain it?
Passion is typically one of the first things that people mention. Whether it’s a new career choice, a new hobby, etc. — it’s easy to be motivated if you love what you do.
But what if we constantly fail at the thing you love?
Today marks one year since I’ve received a paycheck as a full time employee. Since then, I made the decision to transition into software engineering and have grown tremendously — learning some hard skills that I had sorely lacked as well as meeting incredible people in the industry during my time at a coding bootcamp and on my job hunt.
I certainly have no regrets. But I would be lying to you if I never considered whether I would be good enough for this industry.
I’ve had my opportunities & I’ve gotten those by leveraging my soft skills; connecting with people in the industry & re-connecting with old friends.
But once things got technical, my weaknesses start to show.
Eight technical evaluations — all have resulted in a rejection.
And they weren’t close either.
There is nothing worse than sitting in front of your interviewer & not know what the hell to do next — and it happened to me in all of my interviews.
Part of it is my nerves, part of it is my lack of knowledge. But once I encounter something during the interview that I’m not sure about, everything seemingly goes downhill in a hurry.
I felt crushed after each interview.
Don’t get me wrong — I feel fortunate even having the opportunities, but the number of times I’ve fallen flat has been adding up & taking its toll on me.
It got so bad that I broke down after my seventh failed technical interview.
But we have to pick ourselves up and be at our A game — we never know when our next opportunity will present itself.
So how can we overcome adversity & stay motivated?
- Treat every step as a lesson
Failures are hard to accept, but if we treat them as just steps in our journey to get to where we want to get to, then it doesn’t have to be so bad.
Journeys rarely go from point A to point B in a straight line. We all face roadblocks, adversity, etc. but it’s how we handle our adversity that will be the most important factor. Do we let it affect us for too long and focus on the negatives, or do we pick ourselves up and focus on the positives and learn from our mistakes?
2. Measure your progress
It’s easy to get lost in our work. The grind is real — and it’s easy to lose track of our end goal. However, one of the most important things we can do is to measure our progress.
It’s important to note, however, that progress doesn’t necessarily mean progressing in the direction that we intend to go. Does that mean it’s a bad thing though?
There will be days where you feel like everything is working in your favor, you feel like you’re learning & getting closer to your goals. However, there will be days where it’ll feel like you’re progressing backwards & getting further away from your goals, whether that’s making silly mistakes or forgetting concepts that you feel like you should know.
For the longest time I thought that progressing backwards was a bad thing, but I’ve slowly realized that it can be a good thing if we learn from our mistakes. It’s rare for any person to be on their A game each and every day, but as long as we’re progressing and not staying still — we’ll get to our destination sooner or later.
3. Celebrate small wins
Obviously, the big fish is getting that job offer — and once we get it we should celebrate it as one of our greatest achievements.
But what about all the little things that got us to that job offer?
Perhaps it was solving a question that you were stumped on for a couple of days, or connecting with an old friend who has been working in your industry that you’ve lost touch with.
All these little things, while seemingly insignificant when viewed separately, suddenly feels significant if viewed altogether as factors that led to your success. Each small achievement deserves its recognition.
So take those breaks — celebrate your small wins & pour yourself a glass of wine or two.
Speaking of breaks…
4. Make time for what matters in your life
Yes, work is important — but it shouldn’t be the most important task you complete in your day.
Allocate time in your days for what matters most in your life; your friends & family, cooking, video games, knitting, working out, your dog — whatever it may be. Your personal life and well-being deserves your attention as well and shouldn’t be neglected.
Remember, whatever work is in front of you will be better accomplished with a healthy mental state. Without a healthy mental state, it’s easy for one to lose their way, lose focus, and get burnt out.
5. Enjoy the process
This last one might be the most important point I want to make in my article.
Enjoy the process. Yes — it can be stressful. Yes — it can be hard. Yes — it can be demoralizing.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the job search process. Think of all the knowledge you have gained since day one. Think of all the wonderful people that have been there for you, that have offered a helping handing, that have lifted your spirits when all hope seemed to be lost.
One day, we’ll all look back & think to ourselves how much we grew from this, and how much adversity we overcame to get to where we are.
One day, it’ll all be worth it.
Conclusion
I mostly wrote this for myself to get myself in a better mental state after my latest rejection after a technical evaluation, but I hope that it has also helped you get in a better mental state as well.
Keep pushing. Keep fighting, But ultimately, keep learning & progressing and you’ll find yourself at your dream position in the very near future.
Until next time!
