Many dream of landing a job at FAANG companies, and Sonakshi Pandey did end up getting hired by not only one but two of them—Google and Amazon. According to reports, her two-page resume helped her get a job at Google and receive an offer from Microsoft.
“I was very shy, very introverted,” Sonakshi Pandey told Business Insider. “I used to wear my headphones and code for eight hours straight,” she added while explaining how she landed the role of a software engineer at Amazon right after completing her master’s degree.
What prompted her to change?
Sonakshi Pandey told the outlet that one day, she watched a video of a tech expert talking about databases. The person’s passion and confidence motivated her. “I want to exactly do what this guy is doing: I want to go on a stage and I want to talk confidently in front of a bunch of people,” she added.
Her career trajectory took a significant shift when she decided to invest in her professional growth. She transitioned from software development to Amazon Web Services, a role that involved networking and public speaking. After five years at Amazon, she seized an opportunity at Google and even received an offer from Microsoft. As per Pandey, her two-page resume played a pivotal role in her landing the jobs.
According to Business Insider, Pandey shared that the two sections of her resume that she thinks helped her stand out from the other candidates are her work in writing company blogs while at Amazon and her volunteering work.
What else helped her?
According to the outlet, Pandey credited a mentor at Amazon with helping her shape her professional self. “She recommended books to read and podcasts to listen to, and it eventually got me to killing it at my job,” she told the outlet.