How I landed a senior engineering position at a hyper-growth startup

Here’s the story of how I beat out hundreds of other applicants while interviewing for a startup in 2020

In 2020, I landed interviews at several startups and tech companies. I was nervous because I had never done an “official” interview in my life 🤯

Yes, you read that right…. 7 yrs in software engineering, and I’d never been through an official interview. All my other jobs had come from word of mouth referrals.

Going into these interviews I knew I might not be the most experienced candidate at interviewing… So I knew I would have to stand out from the other candidates some other way. 🤔

I would need to stand out based on my research, skills and preparation.

One of the startups I applied for was named Wisely. It was a restaurant tech startup I found on AngelList.

They were remote, used technologies I had a lot of experience with (Vue.js/Node.js/SQL), and they paid more than some other companies I was looking at.

I wasn’t sure how large they were, but their products looked super innovative, so I went in thinking their open position would be pretty competitive.

I decided to go all out during their 7 rounds of interviews. 💪

Research phase

I dove into researching the company before my first interview round, and put some of what I learned into a cover letter I submitted with my resume.

I researched:

• The founders’ background, contact info, and what they were passionate about

• The startup, their current employees, their positions

• Their apps, and what unique needs their products were solving

• Their funding rounds, and what kind of runway they might have

• The actual job, what the expectations were, comp, benefits, etc.

I learned as much as possible about the company so they could tell I did my research, and I would be able to speak their language. I wanted to stand out from others who were simply applying without researching the company extensively.