How I prepared myself to work at Cubos and what I learned in the process

Working in the technology field for almost six years, there came a time when I had to reflect on my professional moment. I believe we will go through this at least once in our lives. And when that moment arrived, I had to make a big decision, where I found myself with the following doubt: would I stop being in the technology area or would I study to learn everything again from scratch to become a programmer?

Due to several factors, including the large number of opportunities in the programming area, I decided that now would be my moment to be what I always wanted: a programmer! 👩🏻‍💻✨

After 10 intense months of studying, I felt I was prepared to take a step further in my career and go in search of the desired company. Because I'm not from Salvador, I didn't know people who could refer me and I didn't know companies. With that, my search had to be completely from scratch, with the mission of finding a company where I could feel happy and develop the best that could be in me, as a person and as a professional.

I believe that this is one of the most important decisions we have to make and sometimes, due to certain circumstances, we choose a company that is not always at the level we would like to be, which is a company where we have a common cultural fit.

In this process, I learned a lot, in which I realized along the way that job interviews and the search for a worthy company are perfected with time and practice. With that, I will list some learnings I had throughout this process and I hope I can help you on this journey.

1. The network is very important

There was a time when we programmers and technology people in general were seen as anti-social or people who didn't have, let's say, “the gift of communication”. However, having already worked for almost four years in the process area, where I dealt with the client on a daily basis to survey requirements or provide training, I learned that communicating and knowing how to communicate clearly and effectively was essential.

With that, I learned that networking (the ability to create interpersonal relationships or work on your network of contacts) was of paramount importance. It was a contact with a now co-worker that opened the doors for me to be at Cubos today.

This friend went through Cubos' selection process for a junior front-end developer and from there I started to know a little more about the company through his reports. If it weren't for this networking, maybe I wouldn't have discovered this fantastic company.

2. Study the company you want to work for

So, after discovering a possible company that could give me all the experience I needed and also provide me with a great working environment (since we spend, sometimes, more than 10 hours a day there), I started to study what this company was like.

Cubos is very active on their social networks, so I didn't miss the opportunity and started following them on LinkedIn. I accompanied them daily, to the point of knowing even the time when the posts were usually made.

From that, I began to know what the company's cultural fit was like, which business fronts they followed, the values that the company had and even the values that were most absorbed by employees. Among the company's values, what caught my attention the most was: being a hub of knowledge (I will explain this term later).

3. Study hard and let your efforts show

We programmers have the opportunity to have experience without necessarily working in a company. But how does it work?

The courses we usually do always have a little project at the end, projects that can sometimes seem silly to us, but it is extremely important to make them visible on our Github, which is an open source, free platform that serves as a a great portfolio for us developers.

It is certainly very satisfying for a company to enter our Github and be able to see how we are working, training our code and acquiring more knowledge, even if we don't know much at first. Demonstrating that we want to learn and that we are making an effort to do so may be more important than effectively mastering the technical part.

A good tip is to put Readmes in our repositories on Github, so that other developers/companies will be able to know a little more about that little project we are developing.

4. Get noticed by the community

As the saying goes, "unseen, not remembered". Well, he is very truthful. Before deciding to be a programmer, I couldn't see the value in being on top of what was going on in the technology community, perhaps because I thought only programmers benefit with these events. However, I was very wrong.

Our community is great, both in size and in shared wisdom and knowledge. Being at events, meetups and lectures is very important, both for you to meet other people and to acquire knowledge and learn a little more about the new technologies that emerge every year.

And, if you feel comfortable, expose your thoughts and opinions, speak, write articles for the community, because when we share what we know, we learn again, in addition to becoming more visible so that companies also know us.

With the above steps being taken, you will certainly be more prepared to apply for the much desired vacancy. So I did, I prepared myself, studied, participated in events and believed that it was time to launch myself in the company that I wanted so much to conquer: Cubos.

On a daily basis, I also watched the vacancies that were posted on the company job portal, until my possible front-end vacancy was opened.

When I applied, I was able to visualize a roadmap of steps to win the position, among them: CV analysis (LinkedIn and Github), logic challenge, group dynamics, technical interview and, finally, the result.

I don't know if it was noticeable so far, but everything in our life comes through the efforts and dedication we put on the goal we want to achieve and with a job vacancy we must have the same commitment.

After seeing all the steps I had to go through, I went back to my studies and looked on YouTube for videos of job interviews, group dynamics and technical tests, because my goal was to be hired at a company that I could identify with. I had already found the company, so at that moment I would need to dedicate myself even more to reach the desired position.

The selection process I went through was very extensive and with many developers competing. In the final phase, there were 10 selected for the group dynamics and from there there would be another selection for the final interview (technical interview with the leader of my future team).

In this dynamic phase, I was the only woman who reached this stage, in which there are mixed feelings: the fear of not achieving what I wanted so much x developers who seemed to be much more competent than me in the technical sense. However, the fact that I had studied and prepared myself for that moment comforted me.

With my studies and preparation, I was able to demonstrate that I knew the company, I knew its values and projects, what the environment experienced by employees was like and I was also able to show that despite not having all the technical knowledge that might be necessary at that time, I had the willingness to learn and share the knowledge I acquired throughout other work and personal experiences.

Therefore, it is very important to be prepared for the events in our lives, especially decisions that will affect us so directly, such as, for example, choosing our future workplace. It is important to know what that company expects from its future employees and what we can also expect from the company.

And well, with each passing day I see that I am very happy for having chosen Cubos, because I am in a company that calls itself a Hub of Knowledge (which is the fact that I want to learn every day and share the knowledge acquired), cares about its employees down to the smallest detail, promotes well-being and happiness at work, which is often not so visible in other companies, but which we have here and which make us love even more for everything we create and develop.

So if you want to be here at Cubos or at another company that makes your heart beat faster, get ready, do your best, because I'm sure you'll be able to achieve your desired position and you'll still have a work environment that will make you feel integrated with the company's values and your personal values.

Hope you enjoyed the tips! 🙌🏻

What are you doing to get the job you've always wanted? 🚀