Working at Accusoft (My
first Software Engineering job)
I started at Accusoft January 2, 2014. I had been pursuing
them well before Thanksgiving (2 months).
I had read the type of projects they did, and found it to be interesting. Is it
making games? (which is why I got into
software engineering to begin with) No… but then again, I can always make
games on the side, right? (I’ll talk more
about that later) Back to my timeline, I graduated November 1st
2013. After I graduated I just wanted to go to bed early and wake up late. Final
Project is no joke. (Final Project is a 5
month project at the end of the Game Development degree.) I try and explain
it to my friends and family, but honestly only Full Sail Students can relate. So
it just comes out as, “yea it was tough.” So those from Full Sail that made it
and are reading this, “Rock on!” Where
was I? Oh, going to bed early and waking up late, yes that is exactly how I
felt when I finished. So I took a couple weeks off. The first week I took my
family on a Disney cruise, and the second week, I did in fact go to bed early
and woke up late… guilt free! After a couple weeks of this however, I knew life
had to resume. So… job researching, filling out applications, taking coding
tests after tests, phone interviews, long nights, early mornings, updating my
media information, and so on was my life for the next 2 weeks. (basically getting off my butt and looking for a job)
During this time I had gotten a request to take an ASP.NET
test, and a C# test. For those that don’t know, these tests (language specific) are pretty standard before
getting that phone interview and / or before that face to face interview. I
had taken a ton! So this request was nothing shocking, or out of place.
However, I had never seen ASP.NET and I was rusty at C#. Sooo… I really thought
I had bombed it. A couple days later I received an email stating Accusoft would
like to move forward with me. Ok, maybe I wasn’t as rusty as I thought. Fast forwarding
to the phone interview, I had prepared pretty good for it. I had studied the
topics at hand, I knew all about the company, and I was ready for any technical
questions they could toss at me. I even had my second laptop to the side, and
was dressed up, just in case they wanted to do a surprise google hangout call
with me (this actually happened, I was in
a T-shirt and my underwear, I won’t mention the company, cause one of my
friends works there, I’ll just say it didn't go very well) So phone rings,
I go thru the interview with ease. However ten minutes into the interview the
dreaded question was asked. “How much experience do you have with X, or Y?” Now,
I had already gone thru this with Booz Allen, and Disney Interactive. I make it
to the phone interview, and the lack of experience kicks me between the eyes. I
knew the best course of action was to lie. No, was to be honest. I explained to
them all my experience was academic, except for one small game me and my
friends made. About 5 minutes later the interview was over. A total time of 17
minutes, this was the shortest interview I had ever had. (even the google hangout call was longer, and I was in my underwear!)
Two days after Thanksgiving, I get another email, stating
that Accusoft would like to move forward with me, that an email will follow.
(How the… What the…???!!) OK. Well, I really didn't think I did very well, but
OK. Side note: Let me also state that I was interviewing with other companies
and had made it pretty far in the process. So the fact that Accusoft was still
interested in me was surprising. So the email that followed was another test. This
test unlike the first two had no deadline, and little to no instructions. Without
saying too much, it stated I could use any resource other than another person.
(ok fair enough) It had 5 tasks for me to complete using C#
framework, and using one of their SDK’s.
(repeat, using one of their SDK’s…
great!) (SDK = Software Development
Kit) This meant I would be trying to code something with an API (syntax) that I had never seen before. I
mention this to Heather, as I am semi-freaking out. Heather tells me, “Treat it
like a Full Sail lab”. Never thought of it like that. You mean trust in my
education, and use the skills that was ingrained in me from day one of class?
What the hey! Again I’ll fast forward it a bit; I was able to complete four out
of the five tasks. I got really close on the fifth, but couldn't finish it. Two
days later, another email, stating Accusoft would like to move forward with me,
and had requested a face to face interview. Side note: I should have called
this blog, “Would like to move forward”.
Luckily my brother and his family lives in Bradenton, FL. (just
an hour south of downtown Tampa) one of the reasons I looked for jobs in Tampa.
After purchasing a new suit, and preparing myself, I drove to my brothers the
night before. This interview should be a piece of cake, right? I mean, I had
now taken 3 tests and hopefully all technical questions will be off the table. Haha!
That was not the case. Four hours of question after question, most were technical,
some personality. Without going into too much of the process, I’ll just say I
was tired after I left. Driving home to Orlando, gave me time to reflect on the
interview, the questions and the answers I gave, and I’ll be honest… I NAILED
IT! For the first time of the whole process I felt that I did pretty well. It
just so happened two days later, I got an email from Accusoft stating… would
like to move forward? Nope! They would like to offer the position to me. Looking
back real quick, four years ago I decided Civil Engineering was no longer my
path. Too be honest ten years ago I decided that, four years ago I decided to
act on it. It’s been a long and unconventional road. Career gear shifted. Back
to Accusoft’s crazy interview, the more I thought about it, the more I was
happy they were tough on me. They were making sure this would be a good fit.
Accusoft was kind enough to give me the holidays and I
started January 2nd. The first week was kind of slow. I guess this
would be normal for any job. Lots of paper work, meet and greet everyone, pretty
standard stuff. Here’s where you’ll be sitting, this is the kitchen, free soda,
and snacks, wait what?! Soda I can live without, but snacks.. I could live off
just snack food. Oh boy this isn't going to end well. Remember I said I would
get to making games later? Well, my first day I had to sign a no moon lighting
agreement. I could go into more detail, but basically I can’t make money from
coding, as long as I work for Accusoft…. yea… my thoughts as well. However, I
can ask my manager to sign off on a project if he thinks it’s far enough
removed from what we do here at Accusoft, this is good, because we certainly
don’t make games. I haven’t tested this yet; however I plan to very soon. I’m
not sure why Accusoft gave a gamer a chance, but I am glad they did. Only 2
weeks in, and I am very happy with my career shift. I look forward to the
future here at Accusoft.
P.S. I saw dolphins this morning on the way to work. That
can’t get old.
I write code, I don’t write blogs. Please forgive my awful grammar,
sentence structure and spelling.
Fill free to post your thoughts.
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