Neviara
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Cycle 35-6: The Interview
🕑 Added 2024-08-03 03:12:36 +0000 UTCKaitlyn sat alone in her dorm room, the small space quiet with an anticipatory air. On the desk before her rested her laptop, a small webcam plugged in and clipped to its top. The blue glow of a link displayed on-screen reflected in her eyes.
She cracked her neck. Alright. Here we go. Get ready.
With a final calming breath, she clicked on the link. Her screen filled with a new window of her own face staring back at her. After a few moments, her picture minimized as a new figure filled the frame—a middle-aged, grizzled man with a scratchy beard and deep frown.
"Hello. You're Kaitlyn, I assume?"
She put on her friendliest smile and nodded. "That's me."
The man's expression didn't change. "Good. You're on time. My name is Hans, and I'll be interviewing you on behalf of Nile today."
Dang. First impressions suggest this isn't going to be easy… Despite Hans's complete and obvious lack of enthusiasm, Kaitlyn kept her own smile defiantly intact. "Great to meet you, Hans. I'm looking forward to it."
He snorted almost imperceptibly. "Well, lets get started."
Kaitlyn listened as the man began to speak. After a few interviews with different places, she was getting used to the familiar structure of the things. First, he'd briefly talk about Nile and his own personal background at the company. Then, they'd get to the personal and more standard fare of interview questions. Only then would they get into the real meat of things: the technical questions.
Between her experiences at Hartland's career fair and the other interviews, she felt pretty confident in her ability to breeze through the interpersonal stuff. But the coding stuff was her real concern. Nile was well known as a tough company to get into, and there was only so much she could find online about their standard interview questions.
"I found out about the job listing directly from your website, actually," she answered one of Hans's questions. "I've been interested in algorithms, particularly XXX and XXX, for a long time. In particular, I'm interested in using those skills in a practical setting and seeing how they can be used to build such incredible tech as Nile's made."
"Right. I see on your resume that you've already taken a number of CS classes?"
"That's right. Not officially, but…"
The interviewer's face finally changed to a look of dubious suspicion. "I see."
She suppressed a wince. I can't say I blame him, really. I wouldn't believe me, either.
The sheer ridiculousness of her situation had quickly become evident when she'd tried to put together a resume. Considering that most of her experience came from college classes—ones that couldn't even be enrolled in yet, much less have completed as a new freshman—it really did sound far-fetched. She'd ended up fudging quite a few dates and details to compensate. Luckily, she didn't have to make her story bulletproof.
Philip really was right. In software, they don't really care about the credentials. They care about what you can do.
"Alright. Let's move on to the coding questions."
As they moved onto the most important part of the interview, Kaitlyn subtly straightened in her seat. This was it. So far, the companies she'd interviewed for were on the lower end of her list. They weren't quite as prestigious or selective, and she'd actually felt pretty confident on her performance in most of them. But Nile would be a real test.
Time to see where I'm really at.
"You are trying to build a URL shortener. Walk me through it."
She frowned, processing the question. On its face, it was deceptively straightforward. But the more she thought about it, the more difficult it became.
"Alright. Well, I have some questions… How long are the URL's we're starting with, and how short do we want to make them? Do we have a standard format…? "
She began to talk through the problem, working toward a solution as her mind raced through different possibilities and pitfalls. Occasionally, Hans stopped her to ask a pointed question or clarify something, and she'd do her best to answer. Still, when their time was up and she came out on the other side, she couldn't help but feel like it hadn't been her strongest showing.
"That's all the time we have," Hans concluded unceremoniously. "It was nice to meet you."
"Thanks," Kaitlyn said. Based on the man's face, she seriously doubted the sincerity of the sentiment. "When should I expect to hear back?"
"2-3 business days. If you've moved on to the next round of interviews, then we will contact you to schedule them. The next round will also be remote."
"Alright. Thank you, and hope you have a great day!"
They both logged off. With a sigh, Kaitlyn slumped back in her seat. The question and the stress of the interview had left her pretty exhausted, more so than usual.
Pulling a notebook toward her, she clicked a pen and noted down the interview question alongside the others. A few notes and follow-up questions quickly resolved into a bulleted list underneath while they were still fresh in her mind.
That could've gone better. It wasn't bad, per se, but I think I can do that better…
Based on Hans's reactions, she had a sneaking suspicion that she hadn't exactly impressed the man. If he even could be impressed, that was. Still, she reminded herself that it wasn't that big of a deal. Even if she didn't land a position this time, intel gathering for future loops was incredibly valuable in itself.
Not to mention that I'm actually getting in some good practice doing this. I mean, these interview questions are even better than some of the CS assignments I've gotten. Especially that last one…
Resolving to work on it more later, Kaitlyn checked the time. It was just after 11 AM. A little too early for lunch still. But after spending the whole morning on applications and interview prep, she kind of wanted a break.
Kaitlyn closed her laptop and leaned over to the side of the desk. The long, black and white form of a dated electronic keyboard leaned against the wall there, its surface freshly dusted and wiped clean. She pulled the instrument onto the desk and adjusted it. The ends extended out over either side, but not too far.
Kaitlyn quickly plugged the keyboard in and fished out her earbuds. Her hands hovered above the long keys, then started on her familiar routine of warm-ups as she considered what to play.
Let's see… There's that Kingdom Spades song I've been working on. I think I'm really close to nailing it. There's just that one section I'm not super satisfied with…
It wasn't a particularly easy piece. It alternated between long, lyrical passages and intensely driving ones with altogether too many flourishes. However, after a lot of time and effort, she was finally almost satisfied with it. Almost.
Kaitlyn frowned slightly as she played through the piece once, evaluating her performance. It wasn't quite as expressive as she'd like. The fast parts were better now, and she even got the right kinds of accents on the notes. But…
…Now I feel like the slow parts are just boring. Seriously. How do they make it sound so good?
She tried a few more times, struggling to match the soaring progressions and emotional qualities of the original song. She even listened to it again a few times to really lock in the example. However, each time, her own efforts fell a bit short.
Maybe it really is the keyboard holding me back. I mean, it's pretty clear that there's limits to what I can do with something like this… is it worth investing into something better?
For a moment, the thought of buying a full piano flashed through her mind. The idea made her chuckle a little. Even if getting something like that would be in her budget—which it most certainly was not—there was still the matter of where to put it. Something that she suspected Heather would have rather strong feelings about.
I could maybe get a bit better quality keyboard? If I can find one, that is. This one's useful because it's dirt cheap and one of the few used options I can find. I could consider getting something new, but… do I really want to spend that much? Especially when this is just a fun hobby…
True, it was a hobby she'd taken up with a purpose. Learning music might help her out with Elliot's route, considering that he was in a band and everything. But whether or not that was true still remained to be seen.
She continued playing for a while longer, taking her time to ensure she missed the tail end of the lunch rush. Once she was satisfied, Kaitlyn cleaned up her things and stood. I really don't know what I'm going to do about that ending. I'll probably have to get some more info there, too… Not today, though. Next loop.
Pulling on her hoodie and pocketing her phone, she headed for the door.
