[**Alex Chiou**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-chiou/) is a proven Silicon Valley engineer with 10+ years of experience across top tech companies like PayPal, Course Hero (now Learneo, a $3.6B unicorn), Meta, and Robinhood. His success is also reflected in his pay:

- **2014:** Alex made *$85,000* per year as a clueless new grad at PayPal 🤓
- **2021:** Alex made *$750,000* per year as a high-performing tech lead at Robinhood 😎

In just 7 years, Alex was able to increase his pay by a staggering +800%. And a lot of that success? It came from mastering the data structures and algorithms interview, which let Alex break into Meta, unlocking a massive amount of doors for his career.

## Interview 0 -&gt; LeetCode Hero

By some miracle (alongside [building several side projects with 10,000+ users](https://www.jointaro.com/question/KJ4VXh6rUhKbWeiJoRDe/finding-a-mobile-app-idea-how-to-do-it/?playlistId=vKUWMgmmaEvzcYUXZs4B)), Alex was able to get his first 2 jobs at PayPal and Course Hero without grinding LeetCode. However, when he was leaving Course Hero and targeting Facebook, he knew that his luck would come to an end and this would have to change.

Alex picked up LeetCode for the first time in his life in early 2017, embarking on the arduous data structures and algorithms journey. It was extremely tough as he even struggled with LeetCode easy for the first month, but he was able to figure it out with hard work and time-tested learning instincts. Around 3 months later, Alex sailed through the data structures and algorithms rounds at Facebook with an offer in-hand.

You can watch the full story of how Alex got into Meta here: [How Alex Got Into Meta With 0 Prior LeetCode Experience](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/ZYiTbN21FsqFxFdpwt5a/how-alex-got-into-meta-with-0-prior-leetcode-experience/)

## Master Of The FAANG Bar

Alex has given \~250 interviews across his career, \~100 of those being at Meta for the infamous data structures and algorithms interview, codenamed the "Ninja" round. On top of the 100 LeetCode rounds he gave at Meta, he's done 100+ more mock interviews, helping many of those engineers crack the interview for top companies like FAANG and hyper-growth startups.

Alex is someone who doesn't half-ass anything, and that includes giving interviews. He did extra shadows at Meta to train as an interviewer and always gave some of the most detailed feedback for candidates. Even though Alex rejected 80% of candidates at Meta (the FAANG bar is high), he got excellent feedback as an interviewer, even from candidates that he rejected.

With Taro, Alex has now worked with hundreds more engineers who have struggled to make it into Big Tech, developing an even deeper understanding of the mistakes engineers commonly make to miss the FAANG bar. All of those learnings are now in this course, so you don't make the same mistakes.

Alex Chiou

Data structures and algorithms, otherwise known as "DSA". Dread it, run from it, LeetCode still arrives, especially if you're trying to get into FAANG. These problems are notoriously frustrating as they're both hard to understand and not relevant at all to what software engineers actually do on the job (including at Big Tech).

Unfortunately, it is effectively impossible to avoid DSA as a software engineer due to top company interviews being full of them. To succeed in tech, you simply must master DSA. On the bright side, you now have this course where we'll teach you how to conquer these pesky problems and maybe even develop a newfound appreciation for them. After going through this course, you will:

- 🔥 Be **motivated** to grind DSA

- 💡 Understand how to **truly learn** DSA concepts

- 🗣️ Know how to navigate DSA in a **live** interview

- 🏔️ See how DSA is proctored at **top companies** (FAANG)

- 🧠 Set up a proper DSA **studying regimen**

It's easy to look at data structures and algorithms and feel helpless - We've been there too! But once you truly and deeply understand the overall space and how the best companies administer them differently from everyone else, you'll be crushing your DSA rounds in no time. You simply have to put in the work.