How did it go?

Last week I attended a group meeting in UT Austin for who is looking for SDE jobs. This meeting was held by the students of SES majors in ECE College, which aims to improve particpants’ algorithms, data structures, and interviewing skills. I am currently looking for an SDE internship for next summer, so learning data structures and algorithms is very important to me. The speaker was a senior who is already working at Apple, and about 50 people attended the online meeting.

What did you learn?

This meeting mainly uses LeetCode, a platform with many different types of algorithmic problems. This week’s main topic is Union Find. Since my programming language is Python, my seniors who also uses Python helped me to quickly get familiar with the codes in Python, and then we practiced on LeetCode by picking out related types of problems.

Would you find value in this kind of event after class?

I am currently in the process of looking for an internship and doing a code assessment and virtual interview。 I have encountered a lot of algorithmic questions. I am familiar with some of questions, but some confused me. Attending this meeting will give me a deeper understanding of these algorithms, which will help me a lot in my interview.

How was the experience different from your expectations?

Attending this meeting is fun and motivating because learning algorithms is boring, but when a group of people with the same goal get together, it is beneficial to share one’s unique experience with a particular algorithm to others. It is also a very valuable opportunity to have working seniors teaching us at each meeting.

Could you see yourself becomming a member of a professional community like this in the future?

Definitely. I would like to be a member of a professional community like this in the future. If I find an internship or full-time job in the future, I would like to share my experience with other people who are looking for a job.