How Ruxandra landed her Graduate Software Engineer role at Booking.com
Meet Ruxandra, Graduate Software Engineer at Booking.com, where she's just started a graduate program that lets her rotate between back-end, front-end and other teams. Her path there started at a HerFuture App Testing and Pizza Night, and a "Kickstart Your Career" webinar where Booking.com panelists made her dream company feel within reach. With no internship on her CV, she prepared hard, leaned on her school projects and a personal app, and landed the offer. It's a story about believing you're capable and putting in the work to prove it.
How she found HerFuture
When Ruxandra moved to Amsterdam for uni, it was a new world. She found comfort in seeing a community like HerFuture, because being amongst fellow women in tech felt like a safe place to be, to grow, and to learn.
Her first HerFuture event was the App Testing and Pizza Night. "It was an environment that showed me my opinion matters," Ruxandra says.
The connection
Ruxandra had dreamt of applying to Booking.com, but it also felt so far out of reach... until she attended the HerFuture "Kickstart Your Career" webinar earlier this year. There, she heard from panelists who actually work at Booking.com, helping her better understand the hiring process.
"Hearing their stories in detail made me realize that I am capable of this. It gives the brand a face, and that face is telling you: this is possible, you can do this."
After a Shadowing Day with a mentor and a successful interview round, Ruxandra got the offer to join Booking.com's Graduate Program!
Her role today
Ruxandra just started her graduate program this September at Booking.com. What she loves about it is the rotation system: you can do six months in back-end and then move to front-end or a different department to see what you like better. "It's a company that values the principle of 'learn forever'," she says. "You feel supported and valuable even in such a big company, which is rare."
Her advice to women who want to land a career in tech
"Believe you can do it, believe you're capable, and be even overly confident if you need to. But you also need to put the work in. I 'grinded' LeetCode for a month and a half and made my friends do mock interviews with me using the STAR method. Also, don't give up if you don't have an internship yet. I had no prior practical experience, but I used my team projects from school, my teaching assistant roles, and a personal app I started building to prove I knew how to work. Have a portfolio, no matter how small, to prove you can work by yourself."
Ready to start your journey?
Join the community and put yourself out there: your next big opportunity might just start at a HerFuture event. Sign up at app.herfuture.nl.
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