Hi again everyone! As I hinted in the previous post, I wanted to share not only my journey of re-learning to love learning, but also my “landing my first proper job” journey—while I’m still navigating through it. So, let’s start from the beginning.
Yeah, it’s what you would expect: I couldn’t land any job openings
A little context: during my last CS semester, I was working on a project at UFCG in partnership with Nubank, which was honestly really great. But on my final months there a little alarm went off in my head:
“I’m graduating this semester, man—I gotta land a job ASAP.”
I started by asking a friend who works at Google for her CV (I thought that if she landed a job at GOOGLE with that CV format, it must be a great one, idk, as if that was the decisive factor haha). Then I just started applying to every job opening I could find, even ones I didn’t really want. I was desperate.
Then something caught me off guard:
Barely any company replied…
I was devastated. No, seriously—back when I started college, people were landing jobs after doing a bootcamp for a month or so. But the market had changed, and over the next few months, it showed me just how wrong I was for thinking it would be easy.
That hit me hard. I couldn’t land the jobs I wanted, so by the end of last year I figured—if it’s going to be this hard, might as well dream big.
What if I aimed for the stars?
Since my very first week in college, I’ve always dreamed about what it would be like to work at Google. In my CS baby brain, the work they did always seemed so magical and effortless.
The magical fog faded, but the dream stayed.
The thing is, I never really saw myself as the kind of person who gets hired by big tech companies.
I wasn’t the kind of person who could express themselves clearly in English (so writing this in English is already huge progress for me!). I didn’t know advanced algorithms inside out. I thought that kind of thing was just for outliers—and I never saw myself as one.
But something changed in November 2024…
No, I didn’t suddenly believe in myself—I got desperate 
Just kidding, I actually got desperate—but I also started to believe, just a little.
Seeing people close to me land jobs at these Google like companies made me realize: I might not that special… but I do need to start working toward what I want.
So, I got myself enrolled in an English course (which I’m loving!) and started studying LeetCode problems. I’ve been doing that for the past six months, and honestly? It’s been a surprisingly fun ride.
Yes—I got into AA (Advanced Algorithms). I know, wild. But I’ve actually started to enjoy it, and NeetCode’s website has helped me a ton.
Turns out, I’m a spreadsheet geek
Quick break in the story: to track my progress and figure out what kinds of problems I should target next, I created this Questions Tracker Sheet, where I log every question I solve and how much time it took.
I’ve solved a fair bit, which is far beyond what I thought I would get. I think I may write a whole post about this LeetCode thing any day soon.
Okay, let me wrap this up
No, I haven’t landed a position yet. But I’m working on it, you know? And the feeling that I’m doing everything I can — that’s been a really comforting one to hold on to.
The truth is: I’ve learned more than just English and algorithms.
I’ve learned that I can do this. That I am capable of learning and committing to something I truly want.
I also realized that yeah, working at Google would be amazing—but what I really want is to work somewhere that makes me feel good, where I earn my own money and feel like my work matters. But still, Google could probably be this place for me… so Google, please hire me haha.
Thanks so much for reading! Hopefully one day I’ll write a post here explaining how I landed a job at <company's name> and why I love working there.
See you soon.
Xero