Prioritizing Your Mental Health During a Software Engineering Job Hunt
We're joining the movement to raise awareness about mental health during Mental Health Awareness Month.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Here at Formation, we have Fellow Resource Groups (FRGs) which are affinity groups our Fellows can join to connect with each other and expand their community. One of our Mentors, Tony Nguyen, a Senior Software Development Engineer at Oracle, spearheads the Mental Health FRG. We asked Tony why he leads the FRG and to share a few pieces of advice he’d give software engineers to prioritize their mental health during a job hunt.
What inspired you to spearhead the Mental Health FRG?
It was important to me to make sure our Fellows know mental health is something we take seriously. We understand that part of helping you be successful in your career means making sure you have a healthy mental state to focus on critical thinking. I wanted to let people know they’re not alone in having mental hang-ups, that we all have them, and that we can work through them together. Having a place to come together with people who may be struggling with something similar allows you to get that off your chest and let your mind focus on building your skills and experience without being distracted.
What advice would you give engineers in order to take care of their mental health while applying to jobs and interviewing?
If you feel like you’re not prepared or there’s some disruption that would keep you from showing your best potential, reach out to the recruiter. They’re happy to help you manage those things; it’s in their best interest to get you hired, so they’re going to do what they can to accommodate you. From a company’s perspective, candidates shouldn’t be worried about any adverse consequences of rescheduling. An interviewer is only focused on the one-hour block on their calendar. Employers are juggling so many balls that it’s not a big deal if you reschedule—they’ll just focus on that one-hour block when it appears on a different day on their calendar. Just make sure to reschedule in a professional manner and within a reasonable timeline.
What can engineers do in the days leading up to an interview to gather themselves and get their minds in a good place?
- Exercise!
- Write down the list of things you have to do and prioritize them. How important is this to me? Is this something I need to address right now? This can give you a sense of how much time you have (and it may be more than you thought).
- If there are non-urgent things (mowing the lawn, laundry, etc.), try to spread those out over time. It can help you not feel so overwhelmed and give you time to focus on preparing for your interviews with less stress.
- If you just have an hour or two before your interview, take lots of deep breaths, however many you can allocate.
- Get lots of sleep, eat your favorite foods, and listen to your favorite music. Try to compartmentalize by not allowing other parts of your life to affect your ability to focus on doing this high-performing, high-stress thing. It’s important to be able to put borders around these things and not let buckets bleed into each other.
- Remind yourself that it's okay to fail; the path to success is paved with failures. My own success rate is less than 50% and I've only learned more things from those blunders.
- Similar to athletes who are, let’s say, competing in the Olympics, you’re not trying to cram and get your training done the day or night before. You’ve done all your training and should feel reasonably prepared in the few days leading up to your interview. This is the time to relax and let everything kind of consolidate mentally. Do whatever helps you ease your mind.
What if an engineer isn’t prepared for their interview?
If you’re not prepared, it’s good to be realistic with yourself. Don’t panic, just ask yourself if you truly feel like you’re ready to go into the interview. If you’re not and it’s a company that you're striving to break into, really consider pushing it off until you’re ready. Otherwise, you can use it as a way of forcing yourself to practice and see where your gaps are. If you're okay with messing up with that company, treat the interview as live practice and be okay with facing some difficulty during it. It won’t be a big deal a month or even a week from now if you don’t pass, and you may walk away with some insight into which areas you should focus on for your next interview.
Ultimately, taking care of your mental health will positively contribute to all aspects of your life, including interviews. The next time you’re on the job hunt or preparing for interviews, take a few moments each day to check in on your mental health and use some of these tips to get your mind in the right place.
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