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Ask HN: Senior Positions Interview Prep Resources?

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Re: Ask HN: Senior Positions Interview Prep Resources?

#11
I know you said you are good at system design, but I'd still recommend you read Designing Data Intensive Applications book and read through https://github.com/donnemartin/system-design-primer.

If you do those and cracking the coding interview you should be good to go.

Re: Ask HN: Senior Positions Interview Prep Resources?

#12
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…

You can’t be serious. It’s not that hard.

Re: Ask HN: Senior Positions Interview Prep Resources?

#13
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.

I wouldn't say that's necessary.

I've been in a senior role for 5 years and I somewhat recently interviewed at Google for an SRE/SW position with basically no prep (did maybe two practice exercises) and passed it no problem. I turned them down for a variety of reasons, but if I were to interview again I might even spend less time practicing.

It's true, however, that at some companies, performance impacts leveling and compensation, so there's surely value in being (possibly even over-) prepared.

Re: Ask HN: Senior Positions Interview Prep Resources?

#14

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…

It's almost like it's easier to start your own company than to get hired at one of these places and actually be happy.

Re: Ask HN: Senior Positions Interview Prep Resources?

#15

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…

> we use recursion and trees, for example, so we ask questions about those.

Could you provide some examples of questions you ask (or perhaps point to similar types of questions)?

Re: Ask HN: Senior Positions Interview Prep Resources?

#16
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…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Senior Positions Interview Prep Resources?

#17

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…

levels.fyi is currently showing $466k median offer total comp for L6 (staff SWE) at google. Who is paying $395k-$420k to IC hires without FAANG style interviews? The only other companies paying that to IC hires that I know of are in the financial industry and that interview process is even worse.

Re: Ask HN: Senior Positions Interview Prep Resources?

#18

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…

Can confirm. I get FAANG pay as a remote worker in a low COL state. It's a cool place.

Re: Ask HN: Senior Positions Interview Prep Resources?

#19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I wouldn't say that's necessary. I've been in a senior role for 5 years and I somewhat recently interviewed at Google for an SRE/SW position with basically no prep (did maybe two practice exercises) and passed it no problem. I turned them down for a variety of reasons, but if I were to interview again I might even spend less time practicing. It's true, however, that at some companies, performance impacts leveling and…

You sound like an outlier, I routinely interview senior engineers applying to Google and a massive majority do not pass the coding test. I would say half are not even in the ballpark of passing.

Re: Ask HN: Senior Positions Interview Prep Resources?

#20
post #18

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…

Can confirm. I get FAANG pay as a remote worker in a low COL state. It's a cool place.

Working for whom?
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