coding

Subterms

    Latest story

    138 Shares139 Views

    Dear Developers: Coding Languages That Will Set You Apart in 2023

    by

    Any software engineer will tell you: There are a plethora of coding languages out there and varying attitudes toward each at both the company and individual levels. To dive deeper, Hired’s 2023 State of Software Engineers report examines coding languages that set candidates apart from their peers and the preferences of developers.

    Which programming skills were highest in demand by employers? 

    In 2022, engineers skilled in Ruby on Rails received 1.64X more interview requests compared to Hired’s marketplace average. This year, Ruby on Rails moved up one position to take the top slot as the most in-demand engineer skill. Ruby and Scala came in second and third.

    Hired CTO Dave Walters said, “Ruby on Rails is a very mature and easy-to-use framework, which leads to its popularity among engineers and engineering leaders. It allows for faster coding (or increased productivity) which helps engineers deliver minimum viable products and features at a higher pace.”

    In 2021, the leading programming skill was Go. Larger companies such as Slack and Twitch rapidly adopted it last year. Its simplicity and power made it popular among engineers. Dave added, “While a favorite among engineers, Go may be less in demand by employers now due to a temporary shift in hiring needs.”

    Related: Inside the Coding Challenge: A Hiring Manager’s Perspective 

    How the engineers feel about coding skills

    Employer demands aside, developers themselves have their own opinions of the different coding languages. This is often due to how many resources there are for learning and development related to a particular language or how “fun” they are to use.

    In our survey of over 1,300 software engineers, we found engineers ranked Python as their favorite programming language. JavaScript and Java followed as the second and third choices.

    Beyond coding languages

    Knowing which languages will set you apart from the rest can help you make your profile more attractive to prospective employers. However, it’s just one piece of the engineering talent puzzle. 

    Related: Code Your Career: Staying Competitive in the Developer Job Market (VIDEO) 

    In addition to more granularity about coding languages and their competitiveness, the 2023 State of Software Engineers report dives into top roles, market trends, and salaries. The research gives you a better overview of:

    The state of the market

    Where the market is going

    How to best tailor your experiences and skills

    Originally written by Napala Pratini in March 2019. Updated by Hired Content Team in October 2023. More

    More stories

    • 100 Shares99 Views

      in Talent Acquisition

      Inside the Coding Challenge: A Hiring Manager’s Perspective

      by

      At Hired, we often have opportunities to share assessment insights with employers who review them to evaluate potential hires. It’s less common that we have the chance to share those with candidates. That’s why we dedicated a full webinar session to offer engineering talent some coding challenge tips from hiring managers.

      Related: Code Your Career: Staying Competitive in the Developer Job Market (VIDEO)

      What is a coding challenge? 

      Coding challenges assess your technical skills as part of the interview process. They are an excellent way to flex your coding muscles and solve a problem similar to one the company may be facing.

      Related: What are the Best Programming Languages to Get a Software Developer Job? (Video)

      Results overview: what hiring managers look for in coding challenges

      In this blog, you’ll hear from: 

      Prakash Patel, Engineering Manager at Hired

      Sumit Pal, former Sr Engineering Manager at Hired

      Related: Ace Your Engineering Manager Interview: A Comprehensive Guide to Prepare 

      Let’s walk through hiring manager expectations for assessments and the interview process.

      Sample Result 1 

      This is an example of a solution a candidate proposed that looks straightforward. They’re running the eval function doing a quick return. While this solution works and passes all the test cases, unfortunately, they didn’t read the directions completely.

      There is a note in the yellow box explaining you are not allowed to use any built-in function that evaluates strings as mathematical expressions, such as eval. The candidate didn’t read the instructions completely and for that reason, we had to pass on them. 

      Sample Result 2 

      What you see here is a little behind-the-scenes. As candidates are going through the interview process, they often run into these kinds of challenges. You might be presented with several test cases but you have to be aware of more test cases behind the scenes. You’ll be presented with a few test cases your code needs to pass through to be accepted but we might be checking for additional items:

      Are we checking for empty strings? 

      Are we evaluating for certain edge cases where we might have incredibly long strings? 

      In this case, we’re building out a basic calculator. The solution here is obviously very thorough. It passed all the test cases here. 

      However, we don’t only look at the percentage or a particular grade or if all the test cases passed. We take a look at the code too. We were able to identify that this code is unfortunately not written by the engineer. This was taken from an online search and brought to our platform. It hits all the benchmarks, but it’s not genuine.

      Sample Result 3 

      This is an example of someone implementing comments. This code is similar to the previous example. The candidate took an online submission and claimed it as their own.

      For that reason, we disqualified them. In this type of solution, engineering managers and hiring managers consider: 

      Have candidates used appropriate variable names? 

      Is there an appropriate structure to the code? 

      Are there functions called appropriately? 

      What does the runtime look like for the code? 

      Obviously, it’s an idealistic solution they copied over, but we will notice aspects like good comments. 

      In this case, you’ll notice that while there are comments, they don’t add value. BC II and BC III, aren’t helping a hiring manager understand your thought process or the code you’ve written. 

      Sample Result 4 

      Here we have several different functions. While it’s not perfect, you’ll notice there are some comments missing. There are some generally good structures with several functions being defined. Many of the edge cases are handled here and overall it is a good solution, despite missing comments.

      Sample Result 5 

      This is really well-structured code going in-depth with the comments. There is a healthy balance of too many comments and not enough. This leans a little bit on the higher side but these comments are more helpful. 

      They guide the hiring manager in understanding the thought process. They also help the candidate keep track of how they handled this scenario. Overall, it has a cleaner and more useful presentation for the hiring manager. 

      SQL-Based Questions

      Sample Result 6 

      This question intends to assess your confidence and comfort with SQL-based questions and data problems. This example presents an easy SQL question. 

      The candidate tried to solve this problem using the “group by” statement and “order by” clause. It worked sufficiently for this problem statement but it would immediately fail once we start getting three or more records for each gender. We encourage candidates to read the problem statement first which is really important in a very simple SQL problem. 

      Also, we encourage candidates to not start writing solutions immediately. Think through the problem and all possible age cases. Consider how your solution might handle null values once you start getting the records. 

      Sample Result 7 

      This SQL problem can be solved with different approaches. In this example, the candidate tried to use the max aggregate function and a subquery. 

      To further improve answering SQL questions, I recommend candidates consider adding human-readable aliases. Additionally, putting your queries in a readable format before you submit them is really important. 

      Data engineering interview process

      Data engineering interview processes are robust. We take a similar approach in sending out an assessment. Once the candidates complete it, we take it back to the team and review it. Then, we provide feedback to the candidates on where they could improve. 

      Related: Want to Ace Technical Interviews? A Guide to Prep Software Engineers

      We evaluate submissions to determine the level. Sometimes we’ll receive candidates who may be on borderline level two or mid-level or borderline senior. We can use those submissions to help gauge what the next steps should be. 

      From there, we’ll have the hiring manager screen to understand what a candidate is looking to do in their next role. What are the interesting things they do on the side? Why do they want to work at this company? What are they looking to achieve in their career? 

      Related: Want to Ace Behavioral Interviews? A Guide to Prep Jobseekers

      Following that step, we continue with the assessment – that original take-home assessment, similar to the coding challenges completed here. We have the candidate build on an additional feature in the original assessment. We walk through the process live with an engineer (or engineers) on the team. 

      Next, we have a systems design portion. Candidates design a system and walk through different edge cases. Candidates will offer insights into why they made design decisions and made certain tradeoffs. 

      Later, we have a cross-functional interview to ensure the candidates have some comfort working with the product or design team.

      Following that, we regroup should we need to have additional discussions. We follow up on those on a case-by-case basis and come to a consensus. 

      I do want to highlight that the interview process may vary from company to company. At Hired, we have a 3-4 round process. 

      Candidates have the take-home assessment, hiring manager screen, and virtual on-site consisting of the cross-functional interview and the systems design portion. The process isn’t necessarily the same at larger organizations. You may do one take-home assessment and have another waiting for you on the other side. You may do a live coding challenge where you get on the phone and speak with the technical recruiter. 

      In those instances, I think you would approach things the same way. Make sure you think of edge cases and are thorough in your approach. It’s easy to get nervous but you have to remember to break things down and take it from there.

      Traditionally, after that first step (whether it’s an assessment or live coding challenge) is some form of an on-site. It could be a virtual or in-person on-site. Some large organizations even bring people on for an entire day. 

      As you’re speaking to the technical recruiters, ask about those processes. Usually, companies are open about informing you.

      Ready to complete your free profile and find your next role in tech? Sign up today! More

    • 125 Shares129 Views

      in Talent Acquisition

      FAQs from Jobseekers: Approaching the Technical Interview with Confidence (VIDEO)

      by

      Technical interviewing takes skill and is actually a skill in itself. In this AMA-style discussion (now on-demand!), experts helped jobseekers problem-solve their way to nailing their next technical interview. Keep reading for candid and actionable advice from the experts.

      You’ll hear from:

      Sophia Koehl, Partnerships, Hired

      Omkar Deshpande, Head of Technical Curriculum, Interview Kickstart

      Nate Becker, Candidate Experience, Hired

      Read the beginning of the conversation here and scroll down to access the full webinar. 

      What are the fundamentals of a technical interview? 

      Nate

      I think it’s important to note this is a multi step process. It’s not a one and done situation. I would read and reread the job description, do some research on the company, and review the fundamentals of your own technical specializations. For the more personal side, practice talking about your professional background. I recommend Interview Kickstart’s Technical Interview Checklist. 

      Consider the stages of the interview ahead of time. First, you have a phone screen, a sort of a “tell me about yourself and why are you applying.” Then, there’s usually a take-home assessment, which is preliminary and usually done through a test coding platform or a shared doc. From there, you’d have an on-site or in-person evaluation where your programming skills are assessed in real time by an interviewer. 

      If you are on the Hired platform, you could take advantage of assessments to showcase your skills to employers. A lot of the companies on our platform prioritize candidates who have taken these Hired assessments. Keep in mind that this doesn’t replace a coding interview and is more of a preliminary screen. 

      Omkar

      In an ideal coding interview, you are given a problem, or an unseen question. The interviewer wants to see whether you can design an algorithm or a recipe that correctly solves the given question by relying on fundamental computer science principles and problem solving strategies. Your solution also needs to run fast, take the least possible time, and use very little space.

      Once you have designed a correct and efficient algorithm, you have to implement it in the programming language of your choice with a high probability that the code would run correctly the first time you execute it. They’re testing your problem solving ability and your coding fluency. Both of these depend on knowledge of computer science fundamentals. That’s how I look at the structure of a coding interview. 

      Why is it worthwhile to spend more time on interview prep instead of jumping straight into applying and interviewing?

      Nate

      It would be to your advantage to consider the state of the market. Look at the time we’re in right now. This is a great time to take advantage of the downtime and prep. Take the time now to land an interview you really want. It may benefit your career in the long run to invest time and energy up front. When I say timeliness, I’m talking about the recent layoffs folks have been experiencing and the impact of that. Really consider if you have free time and do the prep work. We have a great eBook on layoffs and how to bounce back better than ever.

      Omkar

      The reality is that competition is high. People share frequently asked questions online on platforms like Leetcode. Everyone knows what questions are likely to be asked and they’re not easy to solve. Prep is necessary, otherwise you’re going to stumble on the spot. 

      There’s a misconception that interview prep is a waste of time because you basically have to memorize the solutions to those frequently asked problems. If you prep the right way, it’s an opportunity to relearn the fundamentals of computer science. Preparing properly increases your chances of getting multiple offers and thereby a significantly higher salary.

      When you start a new job, you have that confidence in yourself because you cracked the interview based on your understanding of computer science principles. You become a better engineer as a result of preparing in the right way.

      Other key topics from the conversation include: 

      Which programming language to use for a technical interview 

      How to create a study plan

      Technical interviews at FAANG companies vs smaller companies

      How to present your tech experience 

      And more!  More

    • 150 Shares119 Views

      in Talent Acquisition

      What are the Best Programming Languages to Get a Software Developer Job?

      by

      Hired & Exponent partner for engineering career advice video series

      Hired, along with our partner Exponent, recently completed a video series exploring such as what the best programming languages for software developers to get a job. The series featured three of our talented engineers: Nico Thiebaut, Prakash Patel, and Dan Baker, discussing subjects such as:

      How to Become a Machine Learning EngineerTop Programming Languages to Land a Job (in 2022).Engineering Manager vs. Individual Contributor (IC) Path

      Dan Baker is a former boot camper, now an Engineering Manager at Hired, a tech marketplace that matches talent with employers for roles around the world. He’s currently leading the work on the Hired Assessments product, helping candidates show their skills and find their dream jobs. 

      Based on the Hired State of Software Engineers report, these “top” skills or languages are taken from data on more than 360,000 interactions between companies and candidates on the platform. 

      Here’s a quick summary of the conversation Dan Baker had with Lucas from Exponent. To watch the full interview, scroll down to the bottom of the article.

      First, what are the top programming languages for individual contributors (IC) in software development? 

      Based on the report data: Go, Ruby on Rails, Scala, Ruby, and React Native. 

      What are the most in-demand programming skills for managers?

      Ruby on Rails, Scala, AWS, Google Cloud, and Ruby. 

      What are engineers’ favorite programming languages and skills?

      According to survey data of tech talent on the Hired platform, it’s Python, Javascript, Java, Typescript, C-Sharp, and Go.

      What did you find the most interesting about the top programming languages among developers this year?

      Well-established technologies valuable to new programmers due to their staying power

      When I got started, Ruby was the main language that was normal. It was easy for people to understand. It was the first language for a lot of people. It’s no surprise to me that Ruby on Rails, as the first usable framework, has so much popularity. 

      Today there are probably not that many projects getting started in Ruby but there are many being maintained in it. That really speaks to the legacy nature of coding. 

      Trendy or not, programming languages on the rise help employability

      What stands out to me are languages like Go and Scala because they seem to be newer languages on the rise. People aren’t learning Go and getting Go engineers because they have to. It’s because they want to build new things with Go. 

      To an extent, that’s the truth with React Native but it’s more so the nature of React dominating the front-end framework landscape.

      Do you encourage your team to regularly learn new technical skills? What skills specifically? 

      I frame my advice to my direct reports around:

      How we can position the story for the resume for their next job? What’s the best way to sell this for you to get a promotion internally? How can you sell this for yourself for your next role? 

      Usually, it’s less about the technology and more about solving a business case. That’s what will matter to the hiring manager in the future. The technology is usually secondary. 

      One of my engineers is deep in Terraform right now, another knows more about React than anybody it seems, and then another knows the ins and outs of Django in a way that probably very few people know. When I’m suggesting people learn new skills it’s really catered to the use case, 100%.

      What programming language is best for someone just learning to code?

      If I was speaking to somebody who is just starting to code, I would recommend learning Rust. It’s exciting because it’s a new language approaching programming from a very type-centric point of view and is very low-level control while having high-level usability. 

      Insight from Exponent 

      There are often technologies probably best suited to solve a particular business case and are extremely important to learn for that reason. There are also technologies probably always very popular amongst engineers, maybe because they scratch an itch and they’re kind of technically interesting but maybe they are the wrong puzzle piece or are a bit too new for whatever you’re trying to solve on the job. 

      What’s a programming language mistake?

      Many times I’ve seen companies make the wrong decision by supporting engineers to do things they’re curious about that don’t align with the business case. Then, the current business case they need to move forward is not addressed so they have to pivot to something that does make sense. The engineer maybe gets a skillset but it isn’t even that sellable – why? It never was usable at the business.

      What about jobseekers who don’t know these ‘best programming languages?’ How do you recommend they stay competitive in their job search?

      The top five skills are interesting because you get an idea of the heavy hitters and what languages people for the most. It depends on where you are in your career and how much you understand about where you want your career to go. 

      For an engineer who has a little bit of experience but has a good idea of what they want to do, I would say, look in that subset and maybe it doesn’t matter which is the top language.

      Maybe it’s more so, which programming language do you have some experience in – and will it be viable to enough potential employers? Looking at this list, I guarantee the people who are best at Scala don’t know much about React Native. 

      Tip from Exponent

      Most engineers won’t become an expert in all of these. You definitely want to assess where your own experience is and take it based on that. 

      Can you describe how Hired Technical Assessments are designed to assess a candidate’s technical ability? How can jobseekers do well in technical assessments?

      Benefits of Hired Assessments

      My advice to any potential client using the product is to understand what an online technical assessment can do and what it can’t. The biggest value add is not that you’re going to get an automated answer to whether this candidate is right for the role. 

      You’re going to have an asynchronous interaction. A candidate’s going to do the assessment when it makes sense for them. The employer is going to review their work when it makes sense for them, that’s first and foremost. 

      Employers can review their work, and playback how they completed it. They can see if the candidate is within an acceptable range of performance, and how they executed problems. See what kind of approaches they took and if it makes sense to you (the employer). See if they are using coding patterns successfully demonstrating a level of expertise. 

      Benefits to jobseekers

      Candidates have the opportunity to show their thinking more than simply trying to solve the problem. In some cases, employers are looking, getting so many good candidates that they’re only able to look at the top one percent of them. 

      However, in these cases, no one really enjoys or does well in a game where only the top 1% are winning. You want to find a smaller pond where you can actually show a connection to the employer and show that you thought out your work. 

      For candidates, unfortunately, with the state of the industry and in online assessments, LeetCode reigns supreme. I recommend brushing up on that because that’s what most of these products are geared towards. 

      I do see a trend slowly moving away from purely LeetCode questions to framework-based questions that include a file system to find the bug, fix the bug, create a new file, and add a new pattern. 

      That’s where we see candidates thinking creatively and how they actually interact within an existing structure. That’s going to be more valuable – showing employers how you’re going to actually perform in the role. rather than you can do Fizz-buzz or bubble sort.

      Insight from Exponent

      In my own experience, I have seen more interviews where the company crafted a test case that more closely mirrored a real-world coding situation in which you had to diagnose a bug in a code base that probably looked like their actual code base.

      With that comes the impression that they care about your time and like to test skills that closely match what you’re going to do on the job. This is a bit different than the more esoteric LeetCode tests that you may be doing. I think it feels more valuable from a candidate’s perspective.

      Interviewing advice for software developers

      I think that’s something candidates need to be aware of as they choose which companies they engage with. As somebody interviewing a candidate I know I am selling as much as I am evaluating. Candidates should get a sense of how well the company they are interviewing with is selling them. 

      If they’re not selling you at all, what does that tell you about the company and the culture you’d enter? On the other hand, if they’re selling you 100%, they’re not really evaluating. What does that tell you about the mess you’d enter? 

      There’s a healthy balance where employers care about you and the experience you’re having, while also asking meaningful questions relevant to the role.

      Candidates should know who they want to interact with but it’s also really important for employers to ensure they’re creating an experience that makes a candidate feel safe in the context of their whole life cycle, from candidate to employee, to ex-employee. 

      Tip from Exponent

      The technical interview experience you go through is, to some degree, a proxy of the engineering culture you may enter. It can be the best signal you have before you sign the paper.

      Ask, where is the demand?

      One takeaway from looking at this is to understand where the demand is and how important it is to find the right demand/supply ratio. That could be one. If there’s one person that needs one engineer of one type, then there you go. You can get that role and you can be happily ever after at that company. 

      If you just choose the one most in demand, it also might be the most candidates going after that skill set as well. What you see yourself doing matters most because ultimately when you get the role you have to show up and do the work. So find something you’re interested in. That’s where you’re going to thrive and succeed long term.

      Insight from Exponent

      If you have spent the last five years working in databases and think you need to learn React to be employable but your passion is databases, then that might not be the technology to learn.

      Learn more languages 

      It’s easy to think back on when you learned the language that you actually made your bread and butter with, it was hard to learn and you probably don’t want to do that again. The truth is that with every year that passes, the way people learn coding languages is better and easier than it was the year before. Remember when Stack Overflow changed the game? There’s a time that didn’t even exist. You couldn’t ask a question – you’d get an odd forum and esoteric responses or you’d have to open a paper book. So, learn a little bit about more languages and realize you’re never pigeonholed to one.

      Tip from Exponent

      The first language you learn is going to be the hardest but after that, you establish mental models and understand how to read documentation. It’ll be much easier to pick up new technologies after mastering one or two.

      Understand concepts in programming  

      Learning more languages also speaks to how much you start understanding real, valuable concepts in programming. I recommend the book, Learning Javascript Design Patterns. It reviews what you need to do to write really complex code. There is the specific stuff like hoisting but also polymorphism, ways to curry different functions to build into other ones, and there’s direct inheritance.

      Understanding deeper patterns will make you a stronger programmer and enable you to do more powerful things. When an interviewer looks at a submission and says, “Oh they’re currying a function. That’s an interesting approach.” Even if you aren’t able to do it, if employers watch it (which we really encourage our clients to do), they’ll see you know your chops. At the end of the day, no business is making money by having a programmer who can write fizz-buzz the fastest. 

      Ready to complete a free profile and sit back while employers search for you? Learn how Hired works for jobseekers!

      Click below to watch the full interview, including when Dan and Exponent’s Lucas fall down a rabbit hole discussing the relationship between javascript, cryptocurrency, and building blockchain. 

      [embedded content] More

    • 113 Shares169 Views

      in Talent Acquisition

      Tech Candidate Spotlight – Graham Hensley, Senior Engineering Manager

      by

      Hi Graham! Can you tell us about your educational background?

      I got a traditional degree in Computer Science several years before the introduction of the first iPhone. I taught myself Android application development through reading the books of Reto Meier and attending conferences and meetup groups. I naturally found my way into leadership over the course of my career because I never had a problem explaining tech to non-tech people. 

      Which, if any, educational opportunities, have made the biggest impact on your tech career?

      I have learned the most from meetup groups and gathering with fellow hobbyists and professionals. Passion can be contagious, so hanging out in groups where everyone is motivated to learn and develop a skill will give you the energy to keep going. 

      What would you like to learn more about?

      I’ve been pushing myself to better understand the crypto field and writing smart contracts in Solidity. 

      Related: What’s the Deal with Web 3.0 & How Does it Affect Tech Talent?, Partners for Upskilling

      What led you to pursue a career in tech?

      My parents were both in the field and understood how much it would be a part of the future. They made sure I was always exposed to tech. My first computer was an IBM 386. My parents showed me how I could use code to make the computer play guessing games with me.

      How has your skillset evolved over the course of your career?

      I wouldn’t say I’ve chased fads, but as the world has changed from Windows apps to websites, mobile apps, and crypto contracts, I have been following along and trying to adapt to what companies and consumers want. 

      Is your new role different from previous ones?

      This new role is a change of industry. I went from being the manager of a team of Application Developers to being a manager of a team of Hardware and Firmware Engineers. 

      What are some of the things you’re most excited about in your new role and company?

      The opportunity to learn new things. After 3 years at my last gig, I didn’t feel like I was growing and I felt that I was just maintaining the status quo. It’s great to be outside of my comfort zone and learning new processes and acronyms. I was also worried that my skills would not transfer over and that somehow I had plateaued. However, it’s been very reassuring to change companies and still feel like I know how to make an impact.

      What was your job search experience like before you joined Hired?

      It was slow. I was searching over the web, looking for job descriptions that felt right. I was constantly writing intro letters and dealing with no or slow responses from companies. 

      What’s your best advice for job seekers registered on the Hired platform?

      Follow the site guides to get your profile in good shape – and then relax. The process works and you will start hearing about really interesting opportunities.

      What would you tell someone who’s curious about Hired?

      Try it!! 

      About Mason America

      Mason America is a software development company transforming mobile deployments the same way AWS transformed website development, making it easy for anyone to turn an idea into a smart product and ship it to anywhere in the world. Mason has between 51-200 employees and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.

      Tech Stack

      Android, Node.JS, AWS, Python, AOSP, Git, Terraform, Ansible, Kubernetes, Docker

      Benefits

      Health/dental/vision/life/disability insurance, maternity and paternity benefits, fitness reimbursement, mental health benefits, flexible working hours, matching charitable donations, and more. More

    • 113 Shares199 Views

      in Talent Acquisition

      Tech Candidate Spotlight – Sabarish Subramanian, Principal Software Engineer

      by

      Hi Sabarish – thanks for sharing more about your career path with us! Can you share a little bit about your educational background? 

      I have a Masters in Information Technology (Translated to Bachelors in US) from India. The majority of my engineering experiences are from the companies I worked for. I have not attended bootcamps but have contributed to open source tools and have personal projects that helped me gain experience with the latest cloud technologies.

      Which, if any, educational opportunities, have made the biggest impact on your tech career? 

      My Masters degree helped me land in software engineering after graduation. I believe there are many institutions today that train software developers to improve their coding skills and I would strongly recommend that. 

      What would you like to learn more about?

      Like everyone else, I’m a big fan of cloud technologies. I like to keep myself updated with the newest tech and I do that through reading articles, tech blogs, LinkedIn blogs, Youtube videos and so on. While most companies today lean toward cutting edge technologies, this gives me an opportunity to explore a new area. I still try to keep up with my reading for general awareness. 

      Software security and other programming languages, such as Go Lang, are next on my list. If my schedule frees up during the weekends, I will spend time on these two.

      What led you to pursue a career in tech?

      After graduation, I wanted to pursue software engineering since it better aligned with my long term goals. With the cloud making innovative changes, I started to gain more interest. With software engineering being more than just development, the learning curve associated with it in terms of technical and non-technical is huge. I fully realized after the first few years in my career that I wanted to be a part of this industry. 

      How has your skillset evolved over the course of your career? If you choose to specialize in one area, what was it and why?

      I started my career as a contractor in software engineering, then moved to frontend, mobile, and finally, full stack. I’m thankful to the companies I have worked for, which gave me the opportunity to learn across all areas and contribute to company success.

      I prefer full stack with a 50-50 combination of frontend and backend, which gives you strong exposure to the systems involved and helps you design scalable softwares. 

      Is your new role different from previous ones?

      Yes, it is in a new industry – fintech, which is one of my favorites. I couldn’t be more excited to become a Principal Software Engineer with added responsibilities. 

      What are some of the things you’re most excited about in your new role and company?

      The technology stack, amazing team, and work culture were so impressive that I couldn’t wait to accept the offer. Becoming a principal engineer is the dream of a lifetime and I was super excited to see Mission Lane offer everything I asked for. I’m excited and eagerly waiting for more opportunities in the future.

      What was your job search experience like before you joined Hired?

      Other job search platforms lack an effective communication paradigm between recruiters and candidates. Often, recruiters do not have complete knowledge of the candidate’s expectations since there is not a way to share those factors on your profile. Today, candidates expect more than a “job offer,” whether it is anticipation around work authorization sponsorship, job industry, or company size. Simply exchanging messages back and forth via chat has proven to be inefficient and a waste of time.

      I’m amazed by how Hired has addressed this key problem by providing all information about the candidate beforehand. When a recruiter contacts you, it means the company is the best match for your expectations. 

      What’s your best advice for job seekers registered on the Hired platform? 

      Mark your preferences precisely to land the best offer. 

      Rejections are a part of life, but it is not the be-all and end-all. I have been rejected many times and at one point, I stopped counting, but remember – the best offer is yet to come! 

      Keep learning new things with each interview and improve yourself for the next.

      What would you tell someone who’s curious about Hired?

      Hired is one of the best platforms for the job search. Given the number of preferences that are geared toward candidates and recruiters, it stands out from the competitors. 

      Any advice you’d like to give other tech professionals?

      Keep learning about what interests you and keep yourself updated with the latest tech. 

      About Mission Lane

      Mission Lane is a financial technology company revolutionizing access to financial tools in credit, debit, and beyond to pave a clear way forward for millions of Americans. Founded in 2018, Mission Lane has between 201-500 employees and is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia.

      Tech Stack

      React, React Native, Java, Kotlin, TypeScript, Node.JS, Google Cloud Platform, Kubernetes, PostgreSQL, Python, Machine Learning, Data Warehousing

      Benefits

      401k matching, health/dental/vision/life/disability insurance, maternity and paternity benefits, mental health benefits, volunteer time off, mentorship opportunities, and more. More

    • 188 Shares139 Views

      in Talent Acquisition

      Hired Tech Candidate Spotlight – Paula Muldoon, Senior Software Engineer for Zopa in the UK

      by

      We understand you started in a different field or pivoted from a different type of degree and education, tell us about it… I had an international classical music career, having toured over 20 countries, recorded at Abbey Road, performed at the Royal Albert Hall. I spent way more than the vaunted 10,000 hours practising the […] More