Career Playbook cheat sheet

• One page. A few best achievements beat many average ones. Students and under 3 years: Education first.
• Design for a short, distracted read. No symbols in headings.
• List only skills you could discuss for ten minutes.

[Accomplishment]: [Action]
  that resulted in [outcome]

Check: Action + Scope + Result

Tip: Use only numbers you can explain: how measured, when, compared to what. Prefer before and after. No metric? Use scope. Never round up.

• Write in Word or Google Docs, export a PDF with selectable text. No headers or footers, 0.5 inch margins.
• Fonts: Arial, Calibri or Garamond, 10 pt or more. No design tools or online builders.
• Spell out abbreviations once (Amazon Web Services and AWS).

1. Plain-text test: copy all text, paste into a plain file.
2. Missing points, wrong characters or sections out of order mean you fix the file.
3. Repeat on every export.

• Keep the best 3 to 5 bullets per recent job.
• Cover letter: under one page, do not repeat the resume, tell one relevant story.
• Links must open when logged out. Have someone else check spelling and dates.

• Breadth-first: revise all topics, then mix. For about a month.
• Depth-first: one topic at a time, high priority first. For short time.
• Depth, then breadth: for more than a month. It keeps earlier topics fresh.

Watch out: Aimless grinding (30 minutes a question, 160 questions in 3 weeks) may not build retention. Keep estimates conservative.

Tip: Working full time? 6 hours a week for 6 months can beat 11 for 3. The shape matters: topic, practise, mix, mock.

1. Learn the idea; trace the example by hand.
2. Solve one question cold with a 30 to 40 minute timer, thinking aloud.
3. Stuck: smaller example, then a hint, then the solution. Note the hint.
4. Read a good solution; compare time and space.
5. Write a one-line pattern note, e.g. "sorted + pair sum: two pointers".
6. Re-solve it days later without looking.

Tip: Three of four are about how you work, so they can be practised. Bands: strong hire, hire, no hire, strong no hire.

Before

Clarifying questions, more examples, pick an approach

While

High-level structure first, narrate decisions, not keystrokes

After

Test with your examples, state time and space cost

Stuck: 1

Draw the problem and its states

Stuck: 2

Solve by hand, then turn the rules into code

Stuck: 3

More examples, split the problem, try common tools

Tip: Last ten minutes: test two normal and two edge cases (empty, one element, duplicates, huge). If unfinished, explain the missing parts.

1. Take turns as interviewer and candidate; use an unseen problem and the real time limit.
2. Interviewer stays silent while you think, and counts the hints given.
3. Score on the sheet in writing, then talk for 10 minutes.
4. Write the lessons in the mistake log.

14 Oct  Merge intervals
Went wrong:  forgot to sort first
Root cause:  jumped to code
Next time:   plan first: "sort?" step 1

• Fix the lowest line on the sheet this week.
• Record yourself once: you hear silences and "um".