Fellow Spotlight: Adam Zhu — How I Learned That Interviewing Is A Skill And Landed An Internship At Nextdoor

Welcome to Formation’s Fellow Spotlight, a new blog series designed to introduce you to former Formation Fellows who have landed their dream jobs. Today we’ll meet Adam Zhu, a Software Engineer Intern at Nextdoor. As a student at San Jose State University, Adam was determined to land a dream internship in engineering to set himself up for success after graduation, so he turned to Formation for support. Here’s Adam’s story.

Background

What is your educational/professional background prior to Formation?

Prior to Formation, I was a junior at San Jose State University studying Computer Science.

What made you want to uplevel your career? What problem were you facing or what opportunity did you want to pursue?

Following my junior year, I did not have an internship lined up for the summer. I knew that for Computer Science majors, getting an internship was one of the most important steps towards becoming a software engineer. Since I didn’t have any plans for the summer, I decided to spend the summer learning what I needed to nail down a job I loved by joining Formation.

How did you find Formation? What other kinds of training did you consider, and why did you end up choosing Formation?

I was introduced to Formation by my brother, who previously mentored at Formation. At the time, I was considering taking a couple of Udemy courses to add to my very limited tech stack. I ended up choosing Formation because I saw how successful the alumni of the program were in securing great jobs. I also was excited about having access to real mentorship from engineers from impressive tech companies, and I wanted to be in an environment where I was pushed to become the best version of myself. Formation seemed to be the perfect fit.

If you're looking to pass technical interviews at top company standards, I couldn’t recommend Formation more highly!

Experience

How did you work with the mentors during the Fellowship?

I worked with the mentors in many ways. I had one-on-one mock interviews with the mentors where I received valuable and actionable feedback on how to improve. I also attended small sessions ran by mentors on various topics. Finally, I got code review on production code I wrote. All three helped push me forward towards improving my skills and landing an internship.

How did you measure your progress/success through the program?

I measured my success throughout the program based on my mock interview performance and my confidence when writing full-stack apps. I could see the progress I was making over time as I worked through the program and eventually landed my internship!

Interviewing/Placement

The actual job interviews went almost exactly like what I had been practicing for a while in Formation!

How did your interview skills improve with your Formation training? How did you benefit from practice interviews?

I learned how to pass the behavioral and technical portions of interviews. Prior to Formation, I didn’t know about the behavioral section, and I was clueless about how to present myself. I also learned techniques to approach algorithmic problems more methodically, allowing me to become better at the technical aspects of interviews. These practice interviews gave me confidence going into interviews with real companies.

What was your actual job interview process like?

The actual job interviews went almost exactly like what I had been practicing for a while in Formation! Going into each interview, I knew exactly what to expect and what to prepare for due to the technical training, mentorship, and mock interviews. I felt very prepared.

How did Formation help you prepare for your new role?

Formation prepared me for the role by allowing me to work on an actual codebase that used one of the most popular tech stacks that companies utilize.  They also prepared me for standard industry practices like code review, which was new to me.

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

If you're looking to pass technical interviews at top company standards, I couldn’t recommend Formation more highly!

Interested in becoming an engineer at a top tier company?

Work amongst the most driven and talented engineers in the industry at Formation to uplevel your career. Apply here to get started.