Getting a job in tech is tough. Here's how to actually break in.

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⚡ Quick plug before we start — your Memorial Day offers have been extended through the weekend. View your offers here.

Today, I'm excited to feature Steven Bai, a computer science student at the University of Waterloo. Steven has spent the past few years navigating the tech industry during one of the most competitive hiring markets for junior engineers.

During his undergraduate career, Steven has interned at companies including Wealthsimple and Rundoo, a Silicon Valley startup.

In this issue, Steven shares the tactics he used to break into the industry during a challenging hiring environment, from getting interviews and passing coding screens to building real projects and managing the psychological pressures of a competitive field.

Now, over to Steven.

Hi everyone, I’m Steven!

I’m a 4th-year computer science student from Canada who started my career right after the post-COVID tech boom collapsed.

Headcount was shrinking.

Layoffs were imminent.

Junior roles were more competitive than ever.
AI was reshaping expectations.

Most of the advice today comes from engineers who entered the industry during the “golden era of tech”.

I didn’t 😭

But during my undergrad degree so far, I’ve managed to spend 2 years interning at several companies. You can learn more about my professional experience on my personal website, and check out my school + work vlogs and videos about competitive CS student psychology on YouTube.

If you’re a developer trying to break in or go for prestigious job openings right now, here are the pillars that actually mattered for me.

1. Getting Interviews

Sometimes the problem isn’t skill.
Its distribution.
Here’s what worked for me:

• Applying directly through company portals (GitHub repos exist that aggregate startup job boards)
• Using LinkedIn strategically for referrals before applying to those jobs
• Cold emailing founders at early-stage startups and small businesses - use a tool like hunter.io
• Network/make friends/”glaze” people: if someone has a previous/current position you want, get in contact with them!
• Improve your resume constantly; ask experienced engineers for feedback

For smaller companies, founders still read their inbox.
A cold email should take under 30 seconds to read.

It should show:

• Proof of competence
• Clear value
• Specific interest

For example:

“Hi [Name], I recently built a hackathon project that uses AI-based document parsing and scaled it to 3,000+ users on the App Store. I’m interested in backend infrastructure and noticed your team is hiring. I’d love to contribute to [specific product feature].”

That signals initiative, execution, and alignment.
Most students never try this.

You probably will go through hundreds of cold emails, LinkedIn messages and portal applications. But just remember that distribution is leverage.

2. Interviews do not evaluate for “nice to have” thinking skills.

They are filters.
You need:

• Data structures & algorithms (ideally Leetcode medium level fluency)
• Basic system design (e.g., design a URL shortener)
• Strong behavioral storytelling (tell me about something you’ve built)

The hardest part for me wasn’t solving problems.
It was explaining my past work in a way that sounded credible.
Interviewers don’t care that you “built a feature.”

They care about:

• Context + What problem it solved
• Scale it operated at
• What tradeoffs did you made
• What was the measurable impact?

Saying:

             “I worked on a backend import system.”

Is weak.

Saying:

             “I helped improve first-time import success rates from 60% to 90% by adding validation layers and restructuring async processing.”

Is a signal.

For coding interviews specifically, my strategy wasn’t grinding randomly.
It was pattern recognition.
Most coding interviews aren’t infinite in scope.

~80% of the problems I’ve ever been asked belong in only these categories:

• OOP design
• Two pointers
• DFS/BFS traversal
Extremely simple implementation that involves sorting or using a hash map

Instead of memorizing solutions, I focused on:

• Identifying which pattern a problem belongs to
• Getting fast at implementing the pattern from scratch
• Explaining why that pattern fits

Speed matters a lot more than you think! If you can implement the core logic quickly, you buy time to communicate clearly and perhaps leave time for bonus question(s).

I took this approach seriously enough to compete regularly and eventually placed in the top 1–2% on LeetCode contests.

At some point, I realized grinding random Leetcode questions wasn’t the bottleneck - lack of structure was.

What helped me the most was a patterns-first approach (the same idea behind Educative’s interview prep paths): learn a pattern → drill a small curated set → explain it clearly.

If interviews are your bottleneck, that kind of structured prep (coding patterns + system design + behavioral practice) saves you months of wandering.

3. Build With AI, Don’t Just Consume It

This is my biggest regret.
I probably should’ve built more real products earlier.
AI has lowered the barrier to building:

• MVP apps
• SaaS tools
• Automation workflows
• Chrome extensions
• Micro-products

When you build and get real users, even 50–100 users:

• Interviews become easier
• Cold emails become stronger
• Resume bullets become concrete
• You develop real system intuition

During interviews, I noticed something:

Talking about real systems you built and projects you owned end-to-end is far more powerful than discussing coursework or internships where you barely did any work.

If you're stuck trying to get interviews and having that first “win” to put yourself out there, build something and ship it.

It compounds in unexpected ways.

4. The Psychological Battle Is Real

The hardest part wasn’t technical.
It was comparison, self-doubt and ruminating on poor interview performances.
I watch friends around me make it to big tech companies and go to San Francisco.
I doomscroll LinkedIn and watch people land offers one after another.

Always felt one step behind.
For a while, I tied my identity to job titles and compensation.
That led to burnout, ego swings, and constant dissatisfaction.

What helped was shifting the metric:
Instead of:

“Am I ahead of them? Is my portfolio/resume impressive?”

I started asking:

“Am I building towards a life I’m actually proud of?”

That shifted everything.

Because for a while, I made software engineering my entire identity. Don’t get me wrong; it is still a huge part of my life. And it does do a pretty job at paying the bills!

But what’s not okay is when

• Every rejection felt personal.
• Every offer felt like validation.
• Every LinkedIn announcement felt like I was falling behind.
• Every LinkedIn announcement made me cope and think others just “got lucky”.

That’s a very dangerous place to live.

What helped wasn’t just “building leverage.”

It was:

• Building systems I genuinely enjoyed working on
• Creating content outside of school and internships
• Training physically and having goals unrelated to code
• Developing creative hobbies that had nothing to do with prestige

When coding stops being your only source of self-worth, interviews become easier.

You’re less desperate. You communicate more calmly. You don’t attach your identity to one outcome.

Ironically, that’s when performance improves.

Final Thoughts

The tech market isn’t dead.
It’s stricter.
The bar is higher.
But it’s still possible.

Focus on:

• Interview fluency
• Distribution strategies
• Real AI-powered building
• Mental resilience

If you’re curious about my full internship progression, projects, and detailed breakdown of what I did each year, I’ve mapped out my full SWE timeline publicly from the start of high school.

And if interviews are currently your bottleneck, structured coding interview preparation tools - especially ones that simulate real input/output and provide guided explanations - can accelerate that process.

The market may be different now.
But leverage still wins.