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Show HN: Onsites.fyi - Curated Big Tech Interview Experiences

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Re: Show HN: Onsites.fyi - Curated Big Tech Interview Experiences

#71

Post by jrockway »

DanAtC wrote: post #22
vitus wrote: post #11

Do note that these interview slates will vary depending on level of candidate experience. At Google, we generally do not ask system design interviews of new grads / entry-level candidates. It's pretty rare for mid-level candidates (L4), and expected for senior and up (L5+). Also, there are situations where candidates may have an extra interview added to their slate. One common reason for this: the hiring committee do…

Nice, make your problem the interviewee's problem and waste more of everyone's time.

Google gets away with this because they pay so well. An hour of extra interviewing gets you an extra $400,000 a year. Show up to a 1 hour zoom meeting instead of having a long lunch, then put the money in your savings account (or in the stock market when savings accounts stop being so good) and retire at 35.

I left Google for a startup and got basically half the total compensation. 6 years after leaving, I am making about what I did at Google 5 years ago and 2 "levels" lower. If I stayed at Google, I'd be making about $800,000 a year.

You should really really ignore the distasteful feeling about being grilled by a bunch of strangers and just do it. (I actually really enjoyed my Google interviews. Problems I hadn't seen before that I came up with interesting solutions to.)

Re: Show HN: Onsites.fyi - Curated Big Tech Interview Experiences

#72

Post by [deleted] »

ldjkfkdsjnv wrote: post #36

To reiterate: Ignore all study materials. Go to leetcode.com and literally memorize the most common questions for the company you are interviewing at. This is what your competition is doing. DO NOT LEARN THE MATERIAL. Just memorize it Do the same thing for system design. Memorize the answers word for word. DO NOT LEARN THE MATERIAL. The highest paid tech jobs go to candidates that regurgitate perfect answers to inter…

[deleted]

Re: Show HN: Onsites.fyi - Curated Big Tech Interview Experiences

#75

Post by ldjkfkdsjnv »

paulddraper wrote: post #64
ldjkfkdsjnv wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People need to know the truth that these "genius" engineers at Meta/FAANG are mostly getting in by memorizing. They try interviewing at five top companies. One of those interviews they will absolutely crush, and then will get an offer at 400k+.

When you say "memorize" what do you mean? You mean that they remember common patterns to solve problems? Or they memorize questions verbatim?

People are going on leetcode.com, they find the company they are interviewing for, they remove all questions more than a year or two old, then they sort by frequency. They start memorizing the most frequent questions first. Then they pass the interview. There are other forums with question banks, but I wont get into that

Re: Show HN: Onsites.fyi - Curated Big Tech Interview Experiences

#76

Post by ldjkfkdsjnv »

_dark_matter_ wrote: post #70
ldjkfkdsjnv wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm telling you, most candidates at Meta that got in and are making 400k+ sat in a room and memorized question by question. People need to know how they are getting hired. They are MEMORIZING the question bank.

This happened to me for meta. Saw the qs on Glassdoor, memorized, and passed with flying colors. Did not take the job. I was astounded that they asked the same question, word for word.

Yeah its appalling the general software engineering population doesnt know this yet

Re: Show HN: Onsites.fyi - Curated Big Tech Interview Experiences

#77

Post by ldjkfkdsjnv »

Denzel wrote: post #68
ldjkfkdsjnv wrote: post #36

To reiterate: Ignore all study materials. Go to leetcode.com and literally memorize the most common questions for the company you are interviewing at. This is what your competition is doing. DO NOT LEARN THE MATERIAL. Just memorize it Do the same thing for system design. Memorize the answers word for word. DO NOT LEARN THE MATERIAL. The highest paid tech jobs go to candidates that regurgitate perfect answers to inter…

While this advice may work for some FAANG companies, I can assure you this won’t work for Google, especially at higher levels. You won’t find their questions in any public test bank online (trust me, I searched after my interviews). Also, a good system design interview isn’t about designing a “perfect” system (hint: there isn’t one), it’s about defending a reasonably considered design. Google’s system design intervie…

Google I have heard is a bit tougher. No worries, theres ten other companies that just want memorization that pay better than google.

Re: Show HN: Onsites.fyi - Curated Big Tech Interview Experiences

#78

Post by inhumantsar »

taw1516 wrote: post #52

I am very comfortable with algorithmic and system design questions. However, what I am struggling with is articulating past experiences. Throughout my last 5 years at my previous employer, I didn't jot down in my personal notes any accomplishments or technical designs. And my memory is so rusty now that I have a hard time reciting them. I understand this is squarely my fault. Wondering if you have any advice on appro…

write them down before you start interviewing. flesh them out over time as you remember more details. focus on the most valuable experiences, ie the ones that had the most challenges (organizational > technical for senior/management roles) or were the best learning experiences.

taking the time to do this ahead of your job search will help you surface those memories when you need to talk about them, much like the leetcode grinding people talk about.

Re: Show HN: Onsites.fyi - Curated Big Tech Interview Experiences

#79

Post by airstrike »

ldjkfkdsjnv wrote: post #40
CalRobert wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is true. And it's a bit frustrating because I have to take care of two young children when I'm off work, not grind leetcode. But maybe that's the point.

Its not as bad once you accept its memorization, and treat it like that.

Sadly not everyone is equally adept at memorization, so if you're solving for that as a hiring manager, you will only (mostly) appeal to this subset of people

Re: Show HN: Onsites.fyi - Curated Big Tech Interview Experiences

#80

Post by VirusNewbie »

ldjkfkdsjnv wrote: post #62
paulddraper wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone is going to take you seriously. Don't memorize it, learn it, become good at it. No matter how much you memorize, there's going to be something you don't. But I think you know that.

People need to know the truth that these "genius" engineers at Meta/FAANG are mostly getting in by memorizing. They try interviewing at five top companies. One of those interviews they will absolutely crush, and then will get an offer at 400k+.

Lol wtf are you talking about. There is no way you can memorize 2000 Leetcode questions.

When I interviewed at a google and netflix, not one of the coding questions were on any site (leetcode or hackerrank). After the interviews I wanted to look at the solutions afterwords so I searched for them, couldn't find anything.

It was only microsoft that would ask the common canned questions.

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