Leizle Ho: Perseverance Got Me to My Dream Job

Welcome to Formation’s Fellow Spotlight, a blog series designed to introduce you to former Formation Fellows who have landed their dream jobs. Today we’ll meet Leizle Ho, a Rotational Software Engineer at Facebook. Leizle knew she wanted to be an engineer several years before she ever got the opportunity to make it a reality. Here’s her journey of never giving up on her dream.

What was your educational/professional background prior to Formation?

I studied a few years of computer science in college in the Philippines, but I didn’t finish my degree. Then, when I moved to the U.S., none of my credits transferred and I had to start over from scratch, back to zero. So, I turned my focus to earning a degree in business management instead and I got hired at a semiconductor company shortly after graduating. The job helped me establish myself, but it wasn’t my dream.

What made you want to up-level your career?

While I was working at the semiconductor company, I found myself trying to build things to fix problems the company had. I clearly still had a passion for engineering, and I knew that one day I wanted to be a software engineer; I just didn’t know how I was going to get there. My skills weren’t up to the level they needed to be to get hired at a top-tier company, so I quit my job, traveled around Europe for a few months, and then decided to join Hackbright Academy.

How did you find Formation and why did you end up choosing it?
I met Sophie through Hackbright and she told me about Formation. I learned that it would not only prepare me for the interview process at top-tier companies but would also give me access to supportive Mentors who could help make me a stronger engineer. The fact that I could defer payment until after I got a job minimized the risk for me, so I applied to become a Fellow.

I wouldn't be at Facebook if not for Formation.

What was your specific goal in becoming a Fellow?

I was kind of skeptical that Formation could help me level up my skills, so I just went into the program with the goal of getting a job.

How did you work with the mentors?

What I loved the most was the guidance and the mock interviews with Senior Engineer Mentors; I don't know if any other programs do this. The Mentors made me want to do better, and they provided feedback I could use to do so. I had two mentors [before Formation] but never felt their impact on me. At Formation, I learned something in every 1:1 meeting, mock interview, and session I had with Senior Engineers.

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

Before Formation, I had difficulty explaining algorithms. It was a bit intimidating at first to do mock algo interviews with Senior Engineers during my Fellowship, but their feedback and support were essential. Throughout the program, I saw my confidence and skills grow to the point where I was no longer nervous during mock interviews and I could actually pass them. I wouldn't be at Facebook if not for Formation.

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

Formation helped remove my nervousness during the interview process and drastically improved my algo explanation skills. I learned the classic technique in solving algorithms which helped me focus on the individual steps I needed to take to solve them instead of being overwhelmed by the question.

What was your actual job interview process like?

Call with the recruiter: Formation helped prepare my personal pitch for this call. They took my pitch, analyzed it, and gave me feedback on how to improve it.
Technical phone screen: I had a coding interview with two algo questions.
Onsite: I had a total of 4 interviews. Two algo interviews, a product design interview, and a behavioral mix of algo questions.

How did Formation help you prepare for your new role?

Formation went heavy on letting me study algorithms, and it prepared me to be a good engineer at Facebook by giving me a strong foundational understanding.

What team are you on in your new role?

I’m a Rotational Software Engineer on the Recruiting Scheduling team.

What is a project that you’ve shipped / or are working on at your new role?

The first one I shipped was a chatbot for reminding interviewers to prepare for their upcoming interviews. A major project I'm working on is an automated booking system for training interviews.

Quick Fire Questions

Proudest moment?

Getting into Facebook! Before I joined Formation, I decided to post everything that I wanted up on my bedroom wall. One of my biggest goals was to work at Facebook, so I printed out the Facebook logo and framed it. Every time I looked at it, I told myself that someday I would work at Facebook even though I didn’t have any idea how or when that would happen. I never expected to be here now!

Favorite Formation “Lunch and Learn”?

Amber Feng from Stripe

Favorite group session?

My favorite session was one where the Fellows had 1 hour to build a web application and at the end, we compared which code was better and which looked the best visually. It was so much fun!

Biggest surprise about Formation?

I was very skeptical when I joined because I came from a bootcamp. The biggest surprise was just how much Formation improved my algorithm and interviewing skills.

Interested in becoming a Fellow like Leizle? We accept Fellows on a rolling basis. Apply on our site and get ready to level up your career.