Not just for Facebook but a decent study guide in general.
Facebook senior software engineer interview
41–50 of 524 posts
Re: Facebook senior software engineer interview
#42Facebook is pure self-parody at this point. This post is tragic comedy with no practical value besides entertainment. Anyone pursuing job options following advice like this has a severe problem with lack of self-esteem and capacity for independent thought.
Re: Facebook senior software engineer interview
#43The author suggests studying Programming Pearls . Bentley wrote there: As soon as we settled on the problem to be solved, I ran to my nearest copy of Knuth's _Seminumerical Algorithms_ (having copies of Knuth's three volumes both at home and at work has been well worth the investment). Because I had studied the book carefully a decade earlier, I vaguely recalled that it contained several algorithms for problems like…
> Why is vaguely recalling an algorithm studied years prior and needing to look it up indicative of a poor candidate in an interview? The article does not imply that it does.
The article doesn’t but I think OP’s point was that relying on knowledge / algorithms designed and provided by others would mean an immediate fail in a FAANG interview, but it’s exactly what successful engineers do when employed at FAANGs.
Re: Facebook senior software engineer interview
#44Besides the usual advice, this observation is very interesting: > Applying for senior engineering positions (>E4) in FANG companies is one of the best ways to get into them. This comment by a veteran senior engineer confirms to me that Facebook, just like most other FANGs, does a poor job of promoting from within. There are multiple comments to the same effect from many other FANG employees: It's much easier to get r…
I don't necessarily agree with your observation. The issue here is that companies like Facebook hire a ton of entry-level (E3) engineers each year that come from their intern pool. Although many of them get promoted, not everyone can pass the bar. The need for more senior engineers is persistent in the company. Another thing to mention is that typically there is no headcount for E3 engineers at Facebook (besides retu…
Not sure the source of downvotes, what you are saying seems true. From my experience they will generally not even interview a new grad who has experience for E3 jobs with an internal referal.
Re: Facebook senior software engineer interview
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
>in most cases doctors have many, many thousands of hours under their belt in training before still needing to study a ton to pass their boards The difference is that what the doctors put so much time into learning can actually be quite useful for their job. The vast majority of competitive coding stuff isn't. Interview procedures based around it completely fail to assess some of the most important abilities in softw…
> The difference is that what the doctors put so much time into learning can actually be quite useful for their job. I'd be curious to hear what a doctor would think about that. My intuition would be that, as for almost any exam, a lot of time is spent on things that will not be useful for any other purpose than the exam itself.
Even if it isn't, do doctors have to retake these exams multiple times (as developers have to do this for multiple interviews) every two years when wanting to switch jobs (doctors often don't have to switch jobs, they often have their own practice).
Re: Facebook senior software engineer interview
#46There are two interesting things in this post. The first is that a senior developer at Facebook believes every single senior developer looking for a role at Facebook can revise the same things. Clearly the author believes that Facebook are looking for programmers who fit a very specific mould, to the point that they're willing to go out in public and state exactly that. I'd argue that points to a massive monoculture…
The author mentions CLRS. It’s an introductory level algorithms book and is used in Junior/Senior years of undergrad. Expecting a senior engineer to be well versed in undergrad level algorithms is not a monoculture problem.
Re: Facebook senior software engineer interview
#47This just confirms how terrible FB's hiring process is. If you ask candidates questions about things they won't use on a weekly basis you're doing it wrong. No one should have to study for an interview.
Re: Facebook senior software engineer interview
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
I couldn't disagree more with your post. The author is basically just putting out a detailed study plan for passing an exam. If a doctor posted a plan for passing the medical boards would your first thought be "Wow, look at that massive medical monoculture problem!" That seems like a ridiculous stretch in my opinion. To your second point, I hear this all the time in threads about tech interviewing: "Tech interviews a…
>in most cases doctors have many, many thousands of hours under their belt in training before still needing to study a ton to pass their boards The difference is that what the doctors put so much time into learning can actually be quite useful for their job. The vast majority of competitive coding stuff isn't. Interview procedures based around it completely fail to assess some of the most important abilities in softw…
Is that true? I don’t know anything about medical licensing, but after having a few friends take the California bar exam, I’ve heard endless complaints about having to study things like divorce law in order to become a privacy advocate.
Re: Facebook senior software engineer interview
#49There are two interesting things in this post. The first is that a senior developer at Facebook believes every single senior developer looking for a role at Facebook can revise the same things. Clearly the author believes that Facebook are looking for programmers who fit a very specific mould, to the point that they're willing to go out in public and state exactly that. I'd argue that points to a massive monoculture…
> I'd argue that points to a massive monoculture problem at Facebook, but I'm massively anti-Facebook so I'm biased. I'm pretty sure that's the point. Massive enterprises like Facebook have no need for creative "outside the box" thinking anymore. They need dependable, solid developers with a standardized skillset that they can plug into a position like lego blocks, easily replaced whenever they burnout or stop toeing…
>plug into a position like lego blocks
Every time I hear someone from big tech talk about being a "L"-something (or in this blog they're "E" levels), I wonder if they know they sound exactly like the bureaucracy talk of the US Federal Government employees and their "GS" "E" or "O" levels.
Re: Facebook senior software engineer interview
#50Sad to see that FAANG is so attractive - sure, pay is nice, technical problems are nice - but you are actively working on walled gardens. You become a walled gardener.
Hey, someone's gotta paint the roses red.