No. I know of people who started the interview loop at Jane st before ever working at a FAANG and without a college degree.

Senior Software Engineer, ex-meta

Alex

The internal numbers for distribution of Meta engineers came out recently. The number of E3s at Meta dropped dramatically the past several years.

There’s a workplace group for TLMs that has a lot of useful notes you should consult. 

Take a look at Grind 75 and NeetCode. They provide a curated list of problems that mirror the type of DS questions frequently asked in interviews.

The key here isn't to plow through hundreds of problems but to deeply understand the ones you do tackle. It's about recognizing patterns, which these problem sets are great at highlighting. Grasp the underlying principles and learn to apply them in various contexts.

ex-meta SWE

Cold Start

Starting at a new team or company? Or maybe you're just picking up a new tech stack? Go through these resources to learn how to ramp up fast.