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Ask HN: Senior Positions Interview Prep Resources?

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Ask HN: Senior Positions Interview Prep Resources?

#1

Post by scalar-moose »

Hello,

Context: - Dev with 10+ years of experience - Last 2 years in an architect role with technical leadership responsibilities - Planning to apply for senior roles at FAANMG

Question: I am fairly good at solving system design and scenario based questions, but I am confused about what resources to use to prepare for whiteboard/programming questions (not 100% sure if these are relevant at senior level?). Below is the list of resources I was suggested:

1. Cracking the Coding Interview 2. Elements of Programming Interviews 3. Online Judge - LeetCode, HackerRank etc.

I have used cracking the coding interview for my interviews right out of school, but I was told that it is not relevant anymore and I should focus on Elements of Programing Interviews.

Same with Online Judge, I was told to use an online judge (LeetCode, HackerRank) over books.

Re: Ask HN: Senior Positions Interview Prep Resources?

#3

Post by rvz »

You are on the right track in terms of preparing for a FAANMG-level interview. But it pains me to say that this just only meets the bare-minimum that they are looking for as in to prove that you can 'program' as the other thousands more candidates will be applying too.

What you need to differentiate yourself is to learn the undocumented dark arts for whiteboard interviews that the FAANMG are really looking for in a technical interview.

Firstly, [0] explains where these data structures are used in Computer Science and should be a start on implementing them and understanding their complexities and use-cases. The rest from [1 - 4] goes straight into the advanced details of areas like competitive-programming which will give you explanations and clever solutions which are better than the typical DS and algorithm answers that even the interviewers will suggest.

Some of these resources might even give a walkthrough of a proof of these complexities if you really need to convince the interviewer who wants to rigorously test your understanding.

[0] - https://cstheory.stackexchange.com/questions/19759/core-algo...

[1] - http://courses.csail.mit.edu/6.851/

[2] - http://jeffe.cs.illinois.edu/teaching/algorithms/

[3] - http://cp-algorithms.com/

[4] - https://concatenative.org/wiki/view/Exotic%20Data%20Structur...

If you really don't know where to start, you can search and pick a specific topic here to study it in depth: https://github.com/jwasham/coding-interview-university

Personally, If I were preparing for a FAANMG interview, I would contribute to widely known open-source projects that utilise these concepts such as compilers like LLVM, Rust or V8 and operating systems.

Re: Ask HN: Senior Positions Interview Prep Resources?

#4

Post by JMTQp8lwXL »

There are companies that will pay near FANG levels (maybe 10-15% haircut) without subjecting yourself to onerous completion of hundreds of LeetCode problems. There are other options, and we should be aware of them. You'll still need to prove you can code, but the questions we ask have practical application to our codebases: we use recursion and trees, for example, so we ask questions about those.

Other companies will treat you as more of a human, and less as a cog. In my current job, I asked to see production code when interviewing. I flipped over every stone I could, to know what I was getting into. I saw the good and the bad. FANGs? You must prove yourself to gatekeepers before even knowing if there are teams with personalities you will agree with. You have no guarantee there's something on the other side of the gatekeepers, that you're even remotely interested in.

Money is important, but for a small haircut you can have better WLB, less competitive peers (though still be growing in your career: you can challenge yourself, without being surrounded by hyper-competitive personality types), amazing culture, and a greater level of transparency.

Re: Ask HN: Senior Positions Interview Prep Resources?

#5

Post by el_benhameen »

JMTQp8lwXL wrote: post #4

There are companies that will pay near FANG levels (maybe 10-15% haircut) without subjecting yourself to onerous completion of hundreds of LeetCode problems. There are other options, and we should be aware of them. You'll still need to prove you can code, but the questions we ask have practical application to our codebases: we use recursion and trees, for example, so we ask questions about those. Other companies will…

Do you have any favorites, or any places to look?

Re: Ask HN: Senior Positions Interview Prep Resources?

#6

Post by JMTQp8lwXL »

el_benhameen wrote: post #5
JMTQp8lwXL wrote: post #4

There are companies that will pay near FANG levels (maybe 10-15% haircut) without subjecting yourself to onerous completion of hundreds of LeetCode problems. There are other options, and we should be aware of them. You'll still need to prove you can code, but the questions we ask have practical application to our codebases: we use recursion and trees, for example, so we ask questions about those. Other companies will…

Do you have any favorites, or any places to look?

Categorically, (and this is part personal experience, so sample bias), the kind of companies I'm talking about in my parent comment are about to go public (multiple rounds of investing), recently went public, etc.

They have a good amount of process to them, but not too much. Silos aren't fortified. There's less direction, but more personal ownership. For someone like me, who doesn't have the most polished communication skills (but is technically proficient), I'm in a position where I can make an impact -- whereas at FANG-type companies, I'd just get ignored because there were too many cooks in the kitchen; too many A-type personalities.

At these slightly smaller places, you have a better chance of getting a seat at the table, and you have more opportunity to contribute to projects that play to your strengths.

Re: Ask HN: Senior Positions Interview Prep Resources?

#8

Post by akoumis »

Leetcode premium -> do all the problems for the company you are targeting, sorted by most frequently seen in the last 6 months. Then, you will know what your weak points are (mine were minimax and disjoint set problems), and you can go through questions tagged with those topics. Aim to complete at least 60 problems, you should feel fairly comfortable with any Leetcode medium grades, and DFS implementation. Leetcode hard questions are good challenges which could expand the way you approach problems, but in my experience, did not show up much during onsite interviews.

Also, "completing" one problem in the context of the above does not mean being able to solve it the first time without checking the solution. It means possibly struggling with the problem for 20 minutes, checking the answer, and making sure you can do it the next day without looking at the answer. YMMV.

Re: Ask HN: Senior Positions Interview Prep Resources?

#9

Post by usaar333 »

JMTQp8lwXL wrote: post #4

There are companies that will pay near FANG levels (maybe 10-15% haircut) without subjecting yourself to onerous completion of hundreds of LeetCode problems. There are other options, and we should be aware of them. You'll still need to prove you can code, but the questions we ask have practical application to our codebases: we use recursion and trees, for example, so we ask questions about those. Other companies will…

Great post, though a few nits.

> There are companies that will pay near FANG levels (maybe 10-15% haircut) without subjecting yourself to onerous completion of hundreds of LeetCode problems.

Some even pay more. I wouldn't say FAANG companies even have the highest pay - a lot of the top-tier unicorns are in the same ballpark range.

> FANGs? You must prove yourself to gatekeepers before even knowing if there are teams with personalities you will agree with.

This is not universally true. From experience, while Google does this for their HQ, they don't for remote offices (where there's more risk you can't find the right personalities). Amazon's Principal Engineer interview loop is conducted by the targeted team. (I actually think this is true for other levels as well).

> Money is important, but for a small haircut you can have better WLB, less competitive peers

Might I ask what companies fit this profile? It seems like a rare find for any company to both pay a lot but not be competitive.

Re: Ask HN: Senior Positions Interview Prep Resources?

#10

Post by scalar-moose »

rvz wrote: post #3

You are on the right track in terms of preparing for a FAANMG-level interview. But it pains me to say that this just only meets the bare-minimum that they are looking for as in to prove that you can 'program' as the other thousands more candidates will be applying too. What you need to differentiate yourself is to learn the undocumented dark arts for whiteboard interviews that the FAANMG are really looking for in a t…

Thank you for such a detailed response.

Looking at the content it seems like I will have to basically jump through all the hoops that are required for a new grad interview.

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