~ 4min read
Chaimaa Frouni graduated in Computer Science & Software Engineering at UQÀM, Montréal and is now a Wiley Edge Alumni and Java Software Developer at a leading investment bank in Montreal.
Houda Chraibi sat down with Chaimaa to ask about her career journey and tips for aspiring junior software developers, engineers & analysts. Houda is Team Lead and Senior Talent Specialist for Wiley Edge in Canada.
After graduating in Computer Science, I knew I wanted to work in the financial industry and saw the mthree job posting on LinkedIn. The recruiter was hiring for both Canada and US, which sparked my interest, so I decided to apply and reached out directly to the recruiter. It felt like the perfect opportunity for me.
When the recruiter called me, we had a great conversation. They explained the whole process; the way mthree works and about the training and the next steps. I felt a bit stressed but they reassured me by being confident in my potential and telling me I only needed to do my best.
This whole process was very clear, helpful and comfortable. I enjoyed the experience of feeling supported and I reached out to my talent representative multiple times with my questions.
The first time I was selected by the client for a technical interview I struggled with my self-confidence. I was very anxious and my mind went blank every time someone asked me a technical question, which made me even more stressed.
To be honest, it took a couple of interviews before I developed my confidence and speech. This helped me manage my stress and anxiety, and I eventually got an offer.
Every interview was different because all the interviewers and teams assess and ask questions differently, and obviously, you feel more comfortable with some people than others.
At the end, I felt like the whole experience had been useful as the more interviews I did, the more confident I became. I got used to the type of questions frequently asked and I simply started to become a better version of myself.
My last interview was the best interview I have ever done in my life! I felt comfortable - not stressed at all. I had a great conversation with the manager. I was able to express myself pretty easily and elaborated on my ideas in a structured way.
Yes, very! Soft skills and the ability to show professionalism, communication skills and assurance; they all matter a lot! And not only during interviews but also during your job. It is important to be able to build rapport between you and your interviewer, and also with the team you’ll be working with.
Even now, my manager pays a lot of attention to people being able to integrate and adapt well to the team. The big factors are productivity and also how you interact with your colleagues.
Fortunately, as soon as I started working as an mthree Alumni in partnership with their client, my manager was very understanding, empathic, easy to speak to and made me feel comfortable. My manager is amazing, we have bi-weekly meetings where he makes sure that everything is in place for me so I can succeed, and I am very grateful for that.
I currently work as a Java Software Developer, working on a big project and I am one of only three people in the growing team.
I code mostly with Java, and absolutely love the tasks assigned to me. I really appreciate the fact that I can immediately ask my supervisor for clarification or help to finish tasks.
The tasks are assigned to my team by the sales/desks team. I really enjoy talking to them (even if it’s over email) - they are not software developers, but we are closely collaborating.
Most of the time it's going to be the Vice President of the project who is coordinating with other departments but on one occasion I was working on a feature that generates reports for specific desk location and had to speak with the salespeople. The new feature required a report to be generated every single day at 4pm. There was a little issue that we had with our program: our system doesn't support holidays or weekends, so we wouldn't be able to generate that report for the next working day. I reached out to this person who created the task to let her know.
I think LinkedIn is an amazing tool to use. It helps you search and find job postings and you can connect with interesting people who might be able to give you advice. I recommend reaching out to recruiters and having a chat with them. Most people on LinkedIn are very, very friendly and you can keep contact and build a network like that.
A lot of people suffer from impostor syndrome where we feel like we don't really belong. I think it’s a totally normal feeling to feel like a fraud at times. Even experienced people who join a team or start a new job are going to fail at the beginning and learn from their mistakes before becoming better. With time, these feelings eventually go away.
To women, I would say: ‘Step up and be confident in your potential’. I’m one of two girls in my current team and we both started at entry-level. We could definitely include more women in our team and our department.
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