I've recently had a string of 'positive but not quite enough' interviews which has been quite discouraging.<p>Bit of background about me, I finished a CS related master's degree. Have worked (just over a year) as a software engineer with very very specific languages in a legacy codebase, rendering it quite irrelevant for most jobs. The only thing I can mention about is my dissertation, some python automation/scripting I have done as part of my job.<p>I'm finding it difficult to learn at a reasonable pace outside of work due to lack of time outside my job. If I optimise hard every day I can put in 2 hours per day + 12 at the weekend into learning. I'm interested in entry level backend engineer/ml engineer roles. What are the key skills I need to show/develop, given I'm quite proficient in Python?
It's a challenging situation you're in. As a hiring manager, I often find people who've done a lot of outside learning don't stand up to interviews because they often haven't really internalized the material.<p>What could maybe make it easier is to actually DO something with this knowledge. That could mean building a small service (or even library) that scratches some itch you have and hosting it somewhere cheap. That will be a lot closer to the type of learning you get on the job. As a potential employers, I can load it up and click on it and actually see what you can do. This gives you something very concrete to discuss with interviewers.<p>Best of luck to you!