[Overseas Employment] Software Engineer’s Traumatic Interview Experiences That Didn’t Go Well [Ireland]

Title: [Overseas Employment] Software Engineer’s Traumatic Interview Experiences That Didn’t Go Well [Ireland]

I secured a software engineer role in Ireland with visa sponsorship. I’m sharing this record of roughly six months and over 100 applications in the hope it might help someone.
You can read all the articles in this series here.
Among them, I’d like to introduce the interviews that didn’t go well—or even became a bit traumatic.

Company A: Couldn’t Even Get a Foot in the Door

This company was one of the GAFA. I received a scout message via LinkedIn and progressed to the first technical interview for a Senior Software Engineer position. The technical interview was a 45-minute live coding session.

I joined the video call a bit early, and the interviewer joined almost immediately. The interviewer was very cheerful. My impression is that people at big companies tend to be bright and friendly.

“Is it a bit early, but shall we do a self-introduction?” they said, smiling.
Extremely kind. Probably trying to put me at ease. As expected of GAFA.

After the self-introduction, in this relaxed atmosphere, the problem began. The task was to solve a variable expression like “a+(a-b)”. There’s a similar problem on LeetCode. It looks simple at first glance, but having to calculate this from a string type is quite tough. As expected, I panicked.

Moreover, this was only my second or third technical interview in my life. I was clearly underprepared.

“Err… um… uh…”

I was supposed to explain my approach step by step, but I had no idea where to even start. Complete panic. The interviewer was kind and gave me hints from time to time. But in my panicked state, combined with everything being in English, I couldn’t understand what they were saying at all.

Then 45 minutes passed. I wanted it to end as soon as possible, but the interviewer showed no sign of wrapping up. Losing patience, I said:

“Um, isn’t it past the time? (I just want to escape this place.)”

“This meeting room is booked for an hour, so it’s still fine!”

Despair.

And so it ended after a full hour, with me unable to solve anything. The interviewer remained smiling until the very end. Afterward, I felt both relief at being freed and shame at how poorly I’d performed, and I cried. I cried twice in total during this six-month job hunt, and this was one of those times.

Of course, the result was rejection.

Lessons Learned

For GAFA-level companies, substantial preparation is honestly necessary. You won’t make it without solving plenty of LeetCode Hard problems. At the time, I had only just started on Medium-level problems, so I was clearly underprepared.

I thought, “Since they reached out, it’s a good chance to practice,” and took the interview, but this isn’t something to treat as practice. If you don’t go in fully prepared, it just damages your self-esteem and ends there. Really. It was a bit traumatic.

If you’re planning to apply to GAFA, prepare thoroughly before going in.

Company B: Rejected at the Final Round

This company contacted me via LinkedIn for a senior position when I was still in Japan at the start of my job hunt. In terms of scale, it was a mid-sized company, larger than a startup but not a giant. They have their own office in Ireland and are fairly well known.

The recruiter at this company was extremely diligent and very supportive.

“How much salary are you considering?”

“Um… around XXX euros…”

“Eh!? That won’t do. You’re undervaluing yourself. You need to show what you’re capable of, even as a woman. If you’re job hunting as an engineer in Ireland, you must say at least 70K euros.”

I had simply stated a figure slightly above what I was earning in Japan, but somehow they interpreted it as me lowering myself because I’m a woman, and gave me this advice. It was so unexpected that I was shocked. Incidentally, they said this company would pay around 90K euros. That’s high.

The interview steps were:

• Take-home tech test
• Three technical interviews
  • Algorithms
  • JavaScript
  • System design
• Final interview

Let me explain what each round involved.

1. Take-Home Tech Test

The recruiter briefly explained the content. When I checked Glassdoor, there were a few leaks about the format, so I used those to prepare. I asked ChatGPT to generate similar problems and practiced with predicted questions.

Thinking back, this company was a bit unusual: instead of using coding platforms like HackerRank or Codility, they used a test they built in-house. The task was to fetch data via a REST API, extract it, and return it. If you returned the correct value, the screen displayed “Success!”

When I first saw it, I honestly thought, “Ah, I can’t solve this…” but I decided to do my best within the time limit anyway. I thought it was impossible, but I ultimately managed to solve it, so I need to have more confidence in myself.

A few days later, the recruiter contacted me with “Congratulations,” and I moved on to preparing for the next step.

2. Three Technical Interviews

The reason this recruiter was so supportive was that, before each interview, they told me in detail what to study. It was to the point where I wondered, “Is it really okay for them to tell me this much?” Maybe they have some kind of quota? Anyway, I strongly felt that the recruiter genuinely wanted the candidate to succeed.

Of course, they didn’t tell me exactly what questions would appear, but they advised me to study the JavaScript category on LeetCode, among other things.

Each test was one hour. There were two interviewers each time, one of whom seemed to be in a trainee role. I focused my preparation mainly on what had been leaked on Glassdoor. Some questions appeared almost verbatim. JavaScript and system design were reasonably challenging, but for algorithms, due to nerves and insufficient practice, I couldn’t tackle them at all. I believe the problem was to merge two arrays of numbers into a single array.

After the interviews, I thought, “Ah, I’ve failed.” But I switched gears, telling myself it was still a good experience. Then I received a message from the recruiter:

“Congratulations, you’ve been selected to move to the next step! The next one is the final!”

I was utterly astonished. Admittedly, my performance in the tests wasn’t great, but it seemed they attributed it to nerves and decided to let me through. Also, my system design seemed to have been very strong, so perhaps that saved me. It was too lucky.

3. Final Interview

They asked about the projects I’d worked on to date and about myself. The recruiter told me in advance what kinds of questions to expect. They mentioned I’d be asked about conflicts with colleagues, so I recalled relevant past incidents and prepared to talk about them.

This was also one hour, with one Hiring Manager and one trainee. I did my best to talk about my past experiences, but I got the sense that my answers weren’t meeting the interviewers’ expectations.

“Hmm… don’t you have any more complex projects?”

The stories I’d prepared weren’t enough, and the interview ended without much challenge. Of course, the result was rejection.

Most companies’ recruiters simply send a templated “You were not selected” email and that’s the end of it, but this company was truly supportive. They called me directly and gave feedback on why I wasn’t selected.

In my case, they said they’d like me to gain another two or three years of experience and then apply again. Honestly, I myself felt I didn’t yet have senior-level skills, so I was convinced.

Lessons Learned

Looking back, the technical interviews were saved only by Glassdoor and luck; in terms of ability, I was completely underprepared.

As for the final interview, my self-analysis was far from sufficient. I should have prepared around three projects I could speak about confidently and responded calmly, but I couldn’t do that at all.

Since it was early in my job hunt, I think it was unavoidable, but I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I had taken this interview at the very end of my job search.

Also, honestly, the technical interviews weren’t that difficult. (Even though I couldn’t solve them.) I did wonder slightly whether it was really right to be paid 90K euros for that. I’m not sure.

Company C: Rejected at the Final Round

This company I applied to in the middle of my job hunt. I’d known the name since I was in Japan and had wanted to work there. In terms of scale, it was on the larger side. The recruiter was kind, and my impression was nothing but positive. It was a mid-level position with a salary around 75K euros.

The interview steps were:

• Technical interview
• Three technical interviews
  • Frontend
  • Explanation of past projects
  • System design
• Final interview

1. Technical Interview

The task was to debug a web app through pair programming with the interviewer. There were about 10 bugs to fix within an hour. Since I didn’t have much experience with web apps, I could only solve around three of them.

However, I verbalised my thinking, admitted when I didn’t know something, and at least left some impression.

I honestly thought I’d failed, but for some reason, I passed. Maybe speaking my thoughts aloud worked in my favour?

2. Technical Interviews

More technical interviews. Again, each was one hour. I didn’t feel particularly challenged, but I didn’t do terribly either. In fact, I was complimented in parts, so perhaps that gave me some false sense of security. The problems weren’t extremely difficult either.

3. Final Interview

Steps 2 and 3 all took place consecutively.

For the behavioural interview, since Company B hadn’t gone well, I had done a lot of self-analysis since then and practised extensively with mock interviews. I was able to answer with a bit more composure than at Company B, so I felt I’d improved considerably. I felt reasonably challenged.

The interviewer and recruiter told me they’d send a response within 48 hours, so I waited excitedly. As they said, I hadn’t made any major mistakes, so I had some confidence and felt reasonably challenged in the final interview. I was completely convinced I’d got the offer.

However, two days passed with no response. The recruiter always replied promptly to emails and was very kind, so I wondered, “Hmm, what’s going on?” Moreover, at that time I had already received an offer from another company (I’ll write about that in a separate article), and I had told the recruiter I’d appreciate an early response. Losing patience, I sent a follow-up email on around the third day. In response, I received a templated rejection email.

I was truly shocked. This was the second time I cried during this period. This time, my sadness turned into irritation: “You said you’d reply within two days, so reply promptly!” Looking at reviews on Glassdoor, quite a few people commented on how their attitude changed when delivering rejections, so I realised that was just the kind of company they were. Incidentally, this company provided no feedback, so I don’t know why I was rejected.

Lessons Learned

As for the interviews themselves, I think I did well. If I were to reflect, it would be that I had too high expectations. This applies to any interview, but if you get your hopes up, the crash when you’re rejected is severe.

So after this, whether I felt challenged or not, I immediately switched to “I’ve failed, okay, next.” I learned from this failure how to protect my mental health.

Also, don’t rush for a response. If I had waited a bit longer for their reply, perhaps they might have offered me a different position—that’s what I sometimes think now. If there’s no response, it simply means you weren’t the candidate they wanted, so it’s better to switch off, forget about it, and prepare for the next interview. If a company really wants you, they’ll contact you promptly.

Company D: Terrible Fit All Round

This company was a large IT firm. The position was a beginner-level full-stack role. My experience was mainly six years in frontend, so I applied as a beginner in full-stack.

The recruiter was kind, but I was rejected at the technical interview stage.

The first behavioural interview was with the Hiring Manager. Our conversation just didn’t click. It was hard to talk. I always try to keep a smile, but I got tired and ended up with a straight face. I didn’t feel particularly challenged, but somehow I passed.

In the second technical interview, the first half involved answering React-related technical questions, and the second half was live coding to build a React app. This interviewer was a bit intimidating. They told me to relax, but I felt some pressure and panicked a little. I couldn’t even answer what I wanted to answer properly.

Dragged down by the first half, I couldn’t finish the second half either. I was completely overwhelmed by the interviewer’s pressure.

The result was, of course, rejection. Well, as expected, I thought.

Lessons Learned

Somehow, I felt scared and conducted the interview with too much awareness that they were my senior. Well, that’s true, but it’s important to remember that you’re also interviewing them. Even in front of such people, I need to take a deep breath and stay calm.

It’s difficult, though. I guess the only way is to gain experience through many interviews.

Wrap-Up

I’ve introduced the interviews that remain in my memory as ones that didn’t go well or became traumatic. There were many other rejections, but I focused on the ones that stuck with me. These experiences were truly unpleasant, but I learned a lot from them, so I now think they were necessary failures.

If you’re feeling down after an interview, I want to say: I’ve been through this too, but I did get a job, so let’s switch our mindset and move on. Conversely, there’s a lot we can learn from failures, so think of it as a good opportunity and move on to the next.

And if you do get rejected from an interview, it’s never your fault. In this vast market, it just means someone slightly better than you happened to be there by chance. Timing matters, and so does fit with the company. Of course, it’s still disheartening. But the only thing you can do is keep challenging yourself.