What are some common stages and expectations in the frontend interview process for major tech companies, and how would you prepare for it?
As I consider switching to a Front End Engineer role at a major tech company, I'm curious about the differences, if any, between the interview process for frontend roles and traditional Software Development Engineer (SDE) interviews. Could you explain the various interview rounds and the key topics typically covered in frontend interviews at these companies?
Discussion
(2 comments)- 1a year agoTech Lead/Manager at Meta, Pinterest, Kosei
At most major tech companies (FAANG+), the interview process won't be that different between a front-end engineer and a full-stack engineer role. These should all be common regardless of the role:
- Technical phone screen
- At least 1 or 2 data structure and algorithm (DSA) questions
- At least 1 system design interview if you're interviewing for a Senior+ role
- One behavioral/project-based interview.
The differences will be in the last 2 categories:
- The system you design will be about your frontend domain expertise. e.g. for Facebook, they asked me how I'd implement the Newsfeed with various view types.
- The project-based interview will be about implementing some user interface, discussing best practices, and exploring various technologies or frameworks.
The advice from the interview masterclasses will apply! (system design or DSA)
- 010 months agoTech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course Hero
Extending Rahul's answer about the "project-based interview", it can be something I refer to as "practical coding" where you aren't just expected to talk about a project (which is what behavioral generally is) but are expected to build something from scratch.
As an Android engineer (a subset of front-end), this would be to build an Android app from scratch, which I did during my interview with Robinhood (twice!).
Practical coding is less common in FAANG, but in the companies that are more adjacent and are a degree of magnitude smaller (i.e. $100B market cap or less), practical coding will be fairly common for front-end engineers from my experience + anecdotal evidence.
