Overcoming 100+ Rejections: How Arun Switched from a Service to a Product Company as a Data Engineer?
Discover the strategies that helped Arun transition from a service-based position and how tapping into his mentor's networks transformed his job search.
We recently connected with Arun Balaji who was preparing to transition from a service-based data engineering role to a product-based one.
While he had the required skills and credentials, Arun found it challenging to even get interviews with product companies in his domain.
After months of effort on job sites and LinkedIn with almost no responses, Arun connected with Preplaced mentor Nishchay Agrawal.
Nishchay offered strategic guidance on shaping his applications and outreach to stand out from the crowd.
He also helped Arun with job assistance via referrals, acing technical interviews and negotiating offers. ✔️
Within weeks, Arun went from struggling to get noticed to lining up interviews with his dream companies. ✨
With Nishchay’s help and his own dedication he successfully received great offers from ZScaler and Walmart for a Data Engineer II role. 🎉
We at Preplaced are thrilled to have supported Arun in achieving his goal of transitioning into a productive product-based position perfectly aligned with his skills.
Let’s hear from him.
📌 Background
I worked as a data engineer at a service-based company for about 2 and a half years.
I enjoyed the work but felt limited in terms of learning and growth opportunities.
Much of the exciting analysis happened directly with clients, while I was relegated to repetitive, boring tasks.
This prompted me to start looking for a role at a product-based company.
📌 Struggles and Challenges
I uploaded my profile on major job portals like Naukri but I used to hear back only from service-based companies.
The product companies I applied to never called me back, despite having relevant skills and experience.
After a month of this, I expanded my search to LinkedIn jobs.
Some interesting roles redirected me to lengthy company application portals—each one taking 15-20 minutes to complete.
I applied to almost 100-150 jobs and I got a call from only 1 or 2 companies.
And they also responded just to say my resume had been shared with HR. But then I would hear nothing further.
📌 Discovering Preplaced
I started browsing LinkedIn profiles of people who had successfully landed jobs at top product companies.
This is how I came across my mentor Nishchay Agrawal.
I messaged him asking about his interview process and experiences at top product companies.
He generously shared advice and insights from his own job search before mentioning that he is a mentor at Preplaced. He recommended I check it out.
And this is how I started my mentorship journey. 🙌
📌 Tackling Problems (With Referrals )
We all know referrals work, but nowadays even with referrals, you may not get too many calls.
I wanted a referral directly from HR so my resume would land in the right person's hands without any lengthy process.
Nishchay shared some internal contacts from his network and coached me on how to effectively request referrals myself.
I started applying his specific formula, securing several referrals from LinkedIn and other social media platforms.
There are countless playlists on YouTube to learn technical skills.
But unless you have connections with people already in the industry, it can be really tough to land the job you want.
📌 Post Interview Guidelines
Nishchay also helped me prepare for later negotiation stages.
After starting interviews, he gave tips on discussing compensation expectations with HR.
He shared approaches on how to negotiate if the initial budget is lower, driving the discussion in my favour. ✨
📌 Did the mentorship create a difference?
If I had continued my job search without structured guidance, I likely would have kept applying blindly, missing key strategies.
Nishchay kept me on track with my goals.
He was always available and I am really grateful for that. 🌻
Before any interview, I would text him and get an instant reply. Just 3-4 days into the mentorship and I had a series of interviews scheduled over the next week. 😁
📌 Thank you message
Initially, I felt confused and overwhelmed by the job search.
I was applying to 10-15 roles a day without a focused direction.
The interview preparation provided by my mentor was invaluable. He helped me in all aspects, be it technical or behavioural.
For example - Platforms like HackerRank often repeat similar patterns of questions. Nishchay shared documents with hundreds of unique, non-repeating questions spanning all concepts.
Solving those 100 questions allowed me to easily grasp everything I needed.
The proof is in the results—I received and accepted an offer from a top product-based company! 💯
Wrapping it up
Arun’s story highlights that switching into highly competitive product-based tech roles is achievable with the right strategic guidance.
Even applicants with strong potential can struggle for months without an industry insider in their corner.
If you can relate to Arun’s initial discouragement or frustration, don’t lose hope.
Consider connecting with a mentor who has walked in your shoes to accelerate your progress with custom-tailored training.
This hands-on approach could make a difference in finally landing your dream opportunity.
If you’re also standing where Anil was before, I urge you to not wait any longer.
Watch my interview here:
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