What I've learned from 100s of interviews with candidates at top tech companies
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Re: What I've learned from 100s of interviews with candidates at top tech companies
#2I'll try to stay active on this thread if anyone has any more specific questions. (Context: I'm the author of Cracking the Coding Interview)
Re: What I've learned from 100s of interviews with candidates at top tech companies
#3I'll try to stay active on this thread if anyone has any more specific questions. (Context: I'm the author of Cracking the Coding Interview)
I've tried getting interviews at Google and the only time their recruters have contacted me back were from internal referrals (none of those worked out in the end as they wanted me to move to SF, and I wanted to work from Canada).
How would one go about getting your foot in the door at such companies (I've had similar experiences with both Microsoft & Facebook as well) ?
Re: What I've learned from 100s of interviews with candidates at top tech companies
#4I'll try to stay active on this thread if anyone has any more specific questions. (Context: I'm the author of Cracking the Coding Interview)
I've tried getting interviews at Google and the only time their recruters have contacted me back were from internal referrals (none of those worked out in the end as they wanted me to move to SF, and I wanted to work from Canada). How would one go about getting your foot in the door at such companies (I've had similar experiences with both Microsoft & Facebook as well) ?
Referrals are honestly a great strategy.
Often employees will be open to referring you even if you don't know them well. Use social media, Facebook groups, Quora, etc. Recruiters want to be found.
Have an active github.
Make yourself Google-able. Have a website where you list projects. Screenshots help make things feel more "real", especially if it's a recruiter/sourcer who might not understand some of the technical details.
Hackathons and conferences also. They're swarming with recruiters.
Re: What I've learned from 100s of interviews with candidates at top tech companies
#5I'll try to stay active on this thread if anyone has any more specific questions. (Context: I'm the author of Cracking the Coding Interview)
The biggest problem I have with these companies is that they feel like a cult.
And the people working there are doing a lot to keep that cult spirit alive.
All of these companies want you too feel and act like they are the single best entity in the entire universe and you should be honored that they even acknowledged you. This works great for young graduates that are full of dreams and hopes but it discourages experienced people from even attempting to go through the interview process.
Oh and the always responsive HR or whoever is in charge. Getting back to you after 6 months. Thanks but no thanks. I would rather make more money in a stupid corporate job than working on more aggressive ways of making people to click on ads.
Re: What I've learned from 100s of interviews with candidates at top tech companies
#6Good advice.
But I didn't see much there that should surprise anybody other than several versions of "Don't panic", including:
"Don't panic -- everybody else looks imperfect too."
and
"Don't panic -- you're being judged on how well you perform under pressure."
Re: What I've learned from 100s of interviews with candidates at top tech companies
#7Has any link ever been determined between interview performance and on-the-job performance?
I've made the clichéd mistake mentioned in the article of wearing a suit to an interview where it wasn't appropriate, and felt the air being sucked out of the room. It strikes me as silly, but what do I know. Do these hiring practices result in a good cohort of employees?
Re: What I've learned from 100s of interviews with candidates at top tech companies
#8Oh we all value diversity so so much. Just fucking all dress alike, it's our culture, no diversity here. Hypocrisy.
Re: What I've learned from 100s of interviews with candidates at top tech companies
#9I'll try to stay active on this thread if anyone has any more specific questions. (Context: I'm the author of Cracking the Coding Interview)
I've tried getting interviews at Google and the only time their recruters have contacted me back were from internal referrals (none of those worked out in the end as they wanted me to move to SF, and I wanted to work from Canada). How would one go about getting your foot in the door at such companies (I've had similar experiences with both Microsoft & Facebook as well) ?
Find a team that works in the location you want to work at. Get a referral for that team.
Re: What I've learned from 100s of interviews with candidates at top tech companies
#10I'll try to stay active on this thread if anyone has any more specific questions. (Context: I'm the author of Cracking the Coding Interview)
The biggest problem I have with these companies is that they feel like a cult. And the people working there are doing a lot to keep that cult spirit alive. All of these companies want you too feel and act like they are the single best entity in the entire universe and you should be honored that they even acknowledged you. This works great for young graduates that are full of dreams and hopes but it discourages experi…
> I would rather make more money in a stupid corporate job than working on more aggressive ways of making people to click on ads.
Could you name a few "stupid corporate jobs" that pay better than Google or Facebook (200k - 300k for a senior engineer) ?