Earlier this year, I flew to Italy to visit my Dad for a couple of months. In that period, I also went to Málaga to see an old friend and to the UK to see my family.
A day before going back to Brazil, I got an unexpected invite: my friend called me to live with him in Málaga. I cancelled my flight back home and two weeks later I was back in Spain.
As I settled in, I realized that I had around a month to:
- Find a job that sponsored a visa; or
- Marry a European woman; or
- Exit Europe
Here is a timeline for one of the hiring processes I took part in.
Applying
For the first time in my life, I successfully applied to a position via LinkedIn Easy Apply. I shared my CV with the recruiter, she sent a message and we scheduled a talk.
This was a Frontend Developer hybrid position in Malaga, exactly what I was after.
Tip: I usually search for positions posted in the last 24h.
Recruiter Conversation
This was 30 minutes where we went over introductions, some questions such as "Talk a bit about yourself and your professional experience"
She asked how much experience I had with the stack (React, React Native, TypeScript and GraphQL). I mentioned that I had personal projects in production with TypeScript and React. Namely, my website css2wind and phived.
Tip: Ask a question. I default to "What is the size of the developer team?" or "What is the happy path for this hiring process?" (as in, if everything works out perfectly, what will happen).
Coding Assignment
After the meeting ended, she sent me a coding assignment due in a week:
- It was a JavaScript, React, and Redux Toolkit website
- It had only one commit, with (frankly) pretty terrible code
- I had to review the code as if it was a regular pull request. Here is my review.
- I had to refactor the code since the initial state wasn't functional
I was also asked to implement three features:
- Display movies in a grid and make it responsive
- Implement infinite scroll for the Home and the Search page
- Implement a modal to display the movie trailer
This is what I delivered.
Tip: Take home projects are about prioritizing correctly. Make the requirements work first. If you have time to spare, add enhancements.
Technical Interview
For this stage I talked to two Software Engineers. There was no live coding or review of the code I delivered in the previous stage. They mentioned that they were impressed with the attention to detail of my delivery.
It consisted mostly of questions about the technologies I worked with in the past, such as "what are the differences between React Context API and Redux?", while outlining strengths and downfalls of both approaches.
I felt very comfortable with this since I had been studying a lot of React and Redux. Here are two resources:
Tip: Search the people that will interview you. Look into their carrers, articles, and open source contributions.
Technical Interview II
This stage took place with an Engineering Manager and focused on my experience with developer teams. She asked what industry and size of teams I had worked with and if I aspired to move into Fullstack or continue focusing solely on Frontend Development.
She also asked "What was the last big technical mistake you made?". This question caught me off-guard, even though it is very common. Luckily, I make a lot of mistakes and comfortably shared the last time I had broken prod and what I did wrong.
Tip: Be prepared to talk about soft skills. Questions such as "What is a difficult professional situation and how did you overcome it?" should be rehearsed and ready.
Final Offer
After a week, I got the positive feedback from the company and a final offer: €50000/year, with some perks:
- Reduced work day during August (9-4 instead of 9-5)
- Twenty days of "work from anywhere" per year
- Cost assistance of €1500 per year
I moved onto the onboarding: documentation, signing contracts, and more.
Tip: Always ask for a bigger salary than your expectation. If you are participating in multiple hiring process, use that as leverage.
Bad Ending
As the onboarding progressed, the elephant on the room was addressed: the Visa. As a Brazilian-British citizen, I am not allowed to work in Europe without it (thanks, Brexit!).
The visa they were applying for me was a Highly Skilled Professional Visa, which is needed for a foreigner earning above €40000/year in Europe.
A week went by, I signed more contracts and had more meetings. In one of these meetings, they disclosed to me that they couldn't hire me.
Amongst other things, this Visa demands a University Degree. Or 3 years of proven experience in the field. Unfortunately, I had neither.
Even though I have the years of experience, a lot of that is freelancing, which isn't valid for this Visa.
I was heartbroken. I gathered myself to thank everyone involved and then exited gracefully. So close, yet so far.
After I recovered, I had a big decision to make again:
- Go back to Brazil and call it a day, after all I had already overstayed my welcome
- Fly to the UK and try to find a job, since I wouldn't need a Visa to work there (I'm a British Citizen)
I bought a ticket to the UK, with a few plans in mind.
To be continued...