Week 2 : Women Who Code Mentorship Program 3.0
In the second week of this program my mentor Mansi, answered some of the questions which I had in mind and also shared a list of open source programs and scholarships which one can apply for! It was a great session and I have tried to cover everything she shared here.
When to apply for jobs?
People who are just getting started with their job preparation might wonder what is the best time to apply for jobs — right away grab the opportunities or wait till you are completely prepared. To this, she said that it depends on the kind of companies you’re aiming for. If it’s a big product based company then you might want to wait till you’re well prepared because if you don’t make it through the first interview then you’ll need to wait for about 6 months before you can apply again. And this time they will already know that you didn’t make it previously hence, it might be a little tougher to get through this time. So first one should get some interview experience through mocks or by interviewing for small scale companies. Once you feel confident enough, go ahead and apply!
Topic-wise plan for DSA preparation
The next topic of our discussion was whether to go for a weekly topic-wise plan for DSA preparation or do random questions from any topic daily. She suggested that it is good to aim 2–3 topics per week since continuously studying one topic for a week might feel boring. Moreover, you may forget the topic learnt in week 1 by the time you reach week 4. So study 2–3 topics every week and revise those topics following a couple of weeks.
Also, don’t get discouraged if you aren’t able to solve the Hard level questions. It takes time and most frequently it is the Medium level questions which are commonly asked in interviews.
Opportunities
Here is a variety of some amazing scholarships along with tips on how to apply for them. It covers academic, professional and conference scholarships mostly for women in technology.
To be aware of such scholarships and opportunities, Mansi suggests that it is good to be actively part of community groups. There are Telegram groups, Slack channels (for WWC as well) where such opportunities are frequently shared, and you can also find other applicants and mentors to help you along the way. You might also find some of these communities in your own college.
There is also diversifytech.co where you can subscribe to the mailing list and receive regular updates on jobs and other programs for underrepresented groups in technology.
That’s all for week 2, stay tuned for the next one. Thank you! :)