Third time’s a charm: Passing Codesmith admissions with Sean Kelly

A high bar to entry is an indicator of the strength of an educational organization, and for Codesmith the tough admissions process is a cornerstone that our resident’s success is built upon.

With traditional education often failing to provide both accessibility and rigour together, Codesmith was founded to bridge the two by maintaining both a high admissions bar and a truly accessible pathway for anyone willing to do the hard work.

Ensuring that Codesmith is inclusive, while also rigorous, meant designing an admissions system that supports aspiring residents to learn and build their capacities through the process, including those who are unsuccessful in their first, or even second attempts. 

Applying for Codesmith—and going through the technical interview process—is all part of the growth and it makes candidates stronger.

While it can be disheartening to fall short the first time around, the fact is many of Codesmith’s strongest alums took more than one shot before being accepted into the program. Working on weak areas and demonstrating the resilience to continue trying are traits shared by the very best technologists.

Sean Kelly was one of those alums. In addition to overcoming the imposter syndrome that may develop with having to retake the admissions test, Sean also began his coding journey in earnest aged 49. Like many people undergoing a professional pivot following a long career, Sean also questioned whether a life in tech was possible for him. 

Now a software engineer at McGraw Hill, the storied American publishing company of educational content, Sean is in a position to help others understand the value in embracing the hard learning needed to pass the admissions test and also to assure people that it’s never too late to begin coding.

As COVID put the brakes on his career in the car industry, Sean started surveying the landscape for a new career that would give him more flexibility.

“I wanted to achieve that Holy Grail of work-life balance and coding was always an interest. I did a year of it at college but didn't finish and life took me in a different direction.”

The pandemic provided the perfect opportunity to revisit a dormant passion and build a new life around it.

“I self taught for about a year and got to the point where I was making some decent apps. But I also had bad habits. The job market was sliding. Credentials were starting to be more important,” Sean says. I was drawn to Codesmith from the testimonials, the curriculum, and the high bar admission process. Codesmith made sure people had this foundational skill set and what they teach is a little bit further ahead.”

Convinced this was the right path for him, Sean started the application process in March 2023. Despite some strong coding skills, it took Sean three attempts to pass admissions, and while tough he gained useful insights.

“I had a reasonable skill set, so I wasn't failing on the technical side, but on technical communication and being confident enough to code in front of people—I hadn't done that before.”

“In my first interview I froze pretty badly and was kicking myself afterwards. But the Codesmith admissions team suggested I book another test right away.”

Unfortunately his second attempt didn’t go to plan either.

“I probably went through Codesmith interviews as fast as anybody has. It was a complete disaster. I froze and sat there staring at the first problem for 40 minutes. The longer that I stalled, the worse it got.”

It was telling that the problem, or prompt, that he got stuck on was something he was very familiar with. 

“Build an object during the object oriented programming portion. That was it. They asked me to do something I’d been doing easily for over a year. So naturally, I was gutted by the experience and disappointed with myself.”

But confident in his desire to move into software engineering he signed up for a third application. 

“Codesmith allows people that are committed and putting in the effort to go past that third interview. There is an option for people having anxiety issues where the interviewer can act as a pair programmer.”

Pair programming is core to the immersive program, and is an effective way to activate people while also giving them support. 

“They lined me up with Amanda who was awesome. She put me at ease right away and it just flipped a switch in my brain. I blew through the remaining interview stuff in 10 minutes, then we knocked out a leet code problem.”

Technical skills are perhaps one or two of the five markers that admissions are looking at in candidates, Sean explains, other factors include whether candidates are socially well balanced. 

“Can you work well on a team or in a cohort? What’s their attitude like? What got me through admissions and ultimately got me my job after Codesmith was my ability to communicate and be social.”

These ‘soft skills’, which are often hard skills for many technologists, pay dividends in the job search. 

“If you want to be a senior engineer, a staff, or principal engineer, you need to be able to have more than just technical skills. You have to be able to work with people at different levels.”

Today, Sean is Software Engineer II at McGraw Hill and also continues to help Codesmith residents through the admissions process in the same way he was assisted years before.

“I had three interviews before McGraw Hill. Going into that interview process, I looked at it like the Codesmith interviews. Take the first interview and at the very least you're going to get a good yardstick of where you're at, get the jitters out, and get useful feedback. 

By the time I did the McGraw Hill interview, I had a few under my belt and knew the experience well.”

Sean’s advice for Codesmith admissions and job interviews

Get comfortable with being wrong and not knowing what you're doing. “Whether it’s the Codesmith interview process, the program, the job hunt, or in your professional career, it’s going to happen—don’t let it throw you off.”

Don’t get caught off guard by simple questions. “In my interview for McGraw Hill I was caught out by a very basic question. I tried to come up with answers that were more than they were looking for when they just wanted me to demonstrate I could talk about technical topics at a high level.”

Don’t build up interviews in your head. “Interviews aren't as bad as people think but they get built up so much in a person's head.”