Landing a Senior Software Role at Oracle with 1:1 Mentorship

Nirvi, an experienced software engineer has been hustling in the tech world for the past 6-7 years.

She hit a major roadblock while working in a startup in Singapore.

She wanted to switch but as a foreigner but struggled to even get interview calls, let alone crack coding interviews at the big tech firms.

Lacking clarity on how to crack coding interviews at top tech firms, Nirvi knew she needed guidance.

That's when she discovered Preplaced and connected with mentor Neetesh Mittal, an SDE III @Microsoft, who could provide personalised support.

Through consistent mock interviews, study plans, and 1-on-1 preparation, Nirvi improved her skills and landed an impressive role as a Senior Software Engineer at Oracle. 🎉

We sat down with Nirvi to learn more about her inspiring journey and how mentorship made all the difference.

Let's hear from her. 👇

📌 Introduction

I am Nirvi and I've been working as a software engineer for the past 6-7 years now.

I did my undergrad at Mody University and graduated with a Computer Science degree back in 2016.

Right after that, I joined Oracle and spent a little over 2 years there as a Software Engineer.

Then I switched to a startup in Singapore and worked there for 4 and a half years.

During this time, I was also doing a part-time Master's program in Computer Science at NTU Singapore.

📌 Struggles and Challenges

In early 2023, I started looking for a new job but was not getting any interview calls.

You see, Singapore is a pretty small place and there weren't that many opportunities, especially for someone like me who wasn't a local resident.

The job openings were mostly for Singaporeans, which made things tough for a foreigner trying to find work.

On top of that, I was working and studying at the same time, so it was just really difficult all around. That's actually why I ended up coming back home.

Once again I started job hunting, but I faced challenges here as well.

Firstly, MAANG or other top product companies ask DSA (data structures and algorithms) questions during interviews - the bar is high.

And I wasn't strong in that area.

I tried watching tons of videos online of people talking about how they cracked interviews at big tech companies like MAANG (Meta, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google), but I could only gain so much from that.

I got the general idea but still lacked clarity on what exactly I needed to do to target those specific companies.

That's where getting personalised guidance from a mentor became so valuable for me.

Another major hurdle was simply looking for a job itself - it had been 5-6 years since I last did this.

I was just a campus hire straight out of university, so I had zero experience in actively job hunting.

Basic things like using LinkedIn for job search was new to me. This is why I needed someone who could walk me through the entire process.

📌 Finding Preplaced

I really wanted a mentor who could guide me on DSA, system design, and backend development.

On Preplaced, I filtered for mentors who worked at my target companies.

After going through some profiles, I got a good feeling that Neetesh would be the right fit for me as a mentor.

📌 How My Mentor Helped Me

My mentor structured everything based on my personal strengths and weaknesses, creating a customised plan for me.

He started by giving me a problem to gauge where I was at on a scale of 1 to 10, then tailored the whole approach from there.

He'd assign me weekly and monthly tasks.

Whenever we'd meet up, he'd conduct mock interviews and we'd discuss any issues I was facing along the way.

The best part was he was always available on chat too, so if I ever got stuck on something I could just ping him about it right away.

Even after I landed the job offer, I was facing problems with negotiations and Neetesh helped me with that.

📌 How Mentorship Made a Difference

To be honest, I don't think I could have made it through this process without the mentorship.

As I mentioned, trying to self-learn from random YouTube videos and hearing about other people's experiences was helpful to an extent, but it would have taken me forever to understand what I specifically needed to do.

Having a mentor made such a big difference - it was good to have that one reliable place where I could ask any and every question and get solid answers.

📌 Future Plans

Growth is important, and I am looking to improve my skills in Java and DSA further.

My short-term and long-term goals are to become a proficient software engineer and slowly move into leadership roles.

For now, though, I'll be sticking with the mentorship program for sure.

My mentor and I have already discussed a couple of key areas I want to get stronger.

📌 Thank You Message

Thank you so much Neetesh and Siddharth for being such awesome mentors throughout this whole journey!

Before meeting you two, I struggled in many areas - DSA was challenging and system design was pretty much new.

But you gave me that structured plan and I felt so comfortable just opening up to you guys about any problems I was facing.

It was like having two people in my corner who were actually listening and understanding my situation.

Hearing about your own experiences made this whole process so much easier to understand.

Consistency is something I struggled with but the plans and tasks you assigned kept me motivated to show you that I had made progress each week.

Working with both of you has been a great experience. 🌻

Wrapping it Up

At the end of the day, Nirvi's amazing journey is proof that with the right mentor by your side, no career hurdle is too big to overcome! 💪

Her perseverance coupled with her mentor's guidance helped her upskill herself and land her dream role as a Senior Software Engineer.

If Nirvi's story has got you feeling fired up to level up your own career, why go at it alone?

Book a free 1-on-1 session and connect with a mentor on Preplaced today.