Ask HN: How do I prepare for an interview for AMZ/GOOG/APL/FB?

First, I don't know what attracts you to the BIG 4 tech companies and it would be nice for you to share more context and perhaps share a bigger overall picture. For example, are you excited about their backend and scalability or the amount of data they have? Do you think they can offer more money? I can share some my journey (graduated in 2012 with CS undergrad) and hopefully this can help you (or other HN readers) make better/more informed decisions. My primary motivation for picking and switching jobs is money.

To get my first job as a software dev, I prepared by doing algorithms (using cracking the coding interview book). You really don't need any other resource, I did every the problem in the book at least 5 times. The most important lesson I learned here is to constantly redo problems you struggle with until you know it like the back of your hands.

In my first job I realized that I like building tools that people use so I focused on learning front end development.

The next job was a front end developer and to prepare I just refreshed my algorithms using the same book and basic JavaScript knowledge. I negotiated hard because I had nothing to lose (the worst case scenario was sticking to my current job) and ended up with 200k total comp.

I recently interviewed for front-end roles and I've noticed a shift from algorithms to practical tasks (building x app). Out of the 9 onsites I did, I don't remember doing any complex algorithms, but instead there were alot of hands-on coding to make sure I can code up challenges on the spot. For front end engineers, I think algorithms is no longer a point of focus. I don't think there are any practice resources that focuses on front end development, but my friend is building https://jsstation.com to address this.

Dropbox, Amazon, Facebook offered separate interview tracks for front-end development and generic software engineering.

I ended up receiving a few offers and I was quite surprised by the numbers. The top 3 are all between 250k - 310k total compensation packages, the lowest base among them was 180k and the highest base was 210k. I'm quite surprised at the big difference between what Glassdoor shows and what my friends and I are making, perhaps someone here could shed some light.

I think you graduated 4 years after me, I hope you find some value here. Good Luck!

I received an offer from one of these companies not too long ago - here's my two cents on the subject:

• I was reached out to, rather than applying for a job. In the past I'd tried applying for jobs at some of the companies but didn't hear back - so I focused on going as far as I can without a job somewhere like this. Start a blog, create some great side projects that receive some attention, etc - eventually companies might start approaching you (and even if not, your resume will look more appealing, and you've grown/learnt a lot which is helpful for any job you're in).

• There's a lot of resources out there on interview type programming questions. Yeah, they're helpful, and you should do them - even if just to learn more and become a better developer. There's much more to the interviews than a binary yes/no whether you solved the question or not though: being able to share your thought process, quick thinking, showing creativity and good intuition etc are all just as important.

• Experience, great social skills, and in depth knowledge is worth more than a few days cramming for a coding interview. It shows during the interview process (especially architecture or cultural interviews). I think interviewers are looking for those things as much as they're looking for someone that's smart and can solve a few tough questions on the spot.

Summing that up - focus on being a better developer, learning more, and becoming an expert at what you do. Don't make your end goal a job at one of those companies. If you don't get a job at one straight a way, it's no big deal - who knows, in a few years you might, and if you didn't, you learnt a lot which will help you anywhere you are.

Besides all the tips you already got I also recommend pramp, I tried it a couple months ago and had a good experience.

https://www.pramp.com/

Besides the coding part you should also think about your non-coding interviews. There will be interviews where you'll be asked about troubleshooting and technology in general. I don't have a good source for that but you should think about that side that is just as important as your coding interviews.

I personally go from easy to hard, but for less time focus on the marked ones

From my perspective, I'd try walking before you run. You need to get the interview first.

Although you hear of Google hiring thousands of developers a year, and those that do get hired having a 5% chance of success or whatever, that doesn't mean that Google are guaranteed to offer you an interview. I've applied a handful of times, and despite having a Computer Science degree, startup, and small/large agency experience I've never managed to get past the application stage at Google or Microsoft. Microsoft and Amazon contacted me in the past, but neither actually resulted in an interview. Google rejected me within days of applying on both occasions I applied.

With that in mind I would recommend that you follow a loose curriculum, and just focus on becoming the best developer you can be. I'm currently working through John Washam's repo on getting a job at one of the big four, and it was good enough to get him through the door at Amazon.

https://github.com/jwasham/coding-interview-university

In general I think it's a good idea to rethink what your aims as a developer are every now and then, regardless of what company you want to work for. Recently, I was a senior .NET developer at a large agency working for big-name clients, but I often felt like I wasn't a "proper developer" because I worked on the .NET stack, and because for the past few years I've felt complacent in a senior-level role. To combat this, I started learning some new languages on the side, and eventually moved to a new job where I've switched from being the go-to guy for .NET to the goes-to guy for working on a Linux stack, and I hope that over the next few years I'll pick up enough knowledge that I can throw an application in again and not get immediately rejected.