applying to Databricks new grad SWE and i'm kind of spiraling a bit. i see people on here and elsewhere saying the technical bar is insane and that they expect you to know distributed systems at a senior level even for new grad roles.
is that actually true? i did a Spark course and i've built some small pipeline projects but i'm nowhere near 'i understand Kafka offset management' territory.
also the recruiter hasn't responded in 2 weeks. is that normal or should i assume i'm already ghosted? i applied through the careers page not a referral.
2 replies
careerveteran
the distributed systems depth is real for experienced roles, less so for new grad. they calibrate to level. for new grad they're mostly looking at: can you code cleanly, do you reason through problems out loud, do you understand basic data structures. the spark/pipeline stuff is a differentiator, not a baseline requirement.
the 2-week ghosting is extremely normal. many companies batch applications. follow up once around the 3-week mark.
bootcamp_bri
don't let the seasoned-engineer posts scare you off before you even get a screen. i've seen people talk themselves out of great applications because the forum posts were from L5+ folks who were comparing notes on a totally different loop. apply, prep for medium-level coding, and see what happens.