Big Tech Q&A and Videos

How common is leetcode/hacker rank at FAANGMULA companies and startups for initial tech screen?

How common is it that there are companies that interview similar to Imbue (another YC backed company, whose technical interviewing process I posted below) and SourceGrap h where you actually instead are asked to code on the fly with your actual environment (this to me feels way more comfortable than having folks throw out random questions at me)?

Interview Process length - I've seen rounds go for 8 for some companies (for even Google non-technical a million years ago I've seen it followed a similar format without technical at least like 5 rounds. If someone can post how long their average interview rounds were (how many interviews, how many technical screens, easy to hard, and how long did it take until you got an offer / knew you were rejected - a month, 6 months etc.?). I've head so many stories ranging far and wide over the years and wonder what the average is during this market, which feels longer than a year some people, even those who were laid off at FAANGMULA companies.

Interview #1) Recruiter Reach Out, Resume Submission, and Behavioral

Interview #2) Tech Screen #1

Interview #3) Behavioral with Team Member 2 Years Your Senior / Tech Screen

Interview #4) Behavioral with Team Member that is your director/higher up manager by at least 2 levels or something / Tech Screen #2

Interview #5) Behavioral with Team Member that is your actual position (peer / Tech Screen #3)

Interview #6) Vote by Committee / Group Interview / Panel or something

Any insights into the interview process more in detail will be helpful! Thanks!

I'm working on myself to perform like a senior software engineer at a FAANG company, and by doing your courses and following you on youtube, I understand that being a good at debugging is one of the greatest qualities.

But I am facing couple of problems.

• I work in a project where the technical debt is huge, the documentation is complicated (sometimes in code, sometimes on google drive, sometimes in the form of an algorithm written in French by a non-technical person).
• Only people who have been working with code for 3 years or more seem independent (And they only have time for themselves), thus, many of us sometimes feel lost.
• A lot of money has already been invested and it is in production. So no time to rewrite the services, where more than 100 people contributed.

Do you have any advice or steps to deal with this type of problem? I know that among the FAANG there is a 0% chance of having this case, but still, any advice will mean a lot to me.

I went through and kudos to her for doing a great job at articulating everything so well.

But I was wondering at the same time if there are any differences in leading a tech team at a startup (100 engineers company) vs a FAANG company?

Large tech companies used to provide a sense of stability and financial security, but with falling stock prices and layoffs everywhere I wonder if joining a hyper growth late-stage startup with a growing business and hefty pre-ipo RSUs is a better choice?

Is there a time of year when FAANG and other companies hire more? I’m thinking when I should start applying

I'm wondering what does it takes to go from an average senior software engineer to a top senior engineer making more than 500k. Any recommendations on a step by step guide that I can leverage to reach my goal.

Thanks

About Company: growing mid-size startup, great tech culture, talented people to work with, pays well

Promoted in recent appraisal cycle (2 levels above entry level, similar to L6 at Amazon) but the increment is not attractive compared to what is normally paid at that level (within company). Performance review was great but manager does not have much say in deciding increment percentage. I do see learning opportunities here in future but demotivated by this bias.

How do I renegotiate salary? How to have this discussion with skip manager?

Hey Folks,

I have the famous question here : Big tech -> startup : Should I do it?

Context:

I have a pretty toxic leadership. I have even got offers internally, but the leadership played political and I didn't end up switching teams. Also to note, I was told that I have been given "meets most" or the lowest rating a person can get.

This was a pretty horrible, as I was in exceeds in my mid year. I am not sure why they are being nasty.

And rumor is that they will be letting folks with this rating go this month. ( All on blind, and some managers from other teams also confirmed, but I have not been given a last day yet)

Given this a context, I just want to see if I should take up a startup offer.

I have 10+ YOE, and I see that I am not getting as many calls as I used to just 2 years back. And the interviews are much more random. This makes me concerned.

I am not on visa. But moving from big tech -> start up is a huge paycut.

What do you suggest I do?

Hello! I am wondering if big tech firms sponsor masters degrees if they are related to your work (eg computer science) in top schools like Stanford if you are an employee? Is it part of the employee perks and is there a bond to fulfil after that? Asking this because it is otherwise very expensive to do masters at these top schools

Preface: I might sound a bit critical at some points, but I’m asking this question with the intention of learning, not to demean others as this question has been on my mind for a while.

A big reason why people join startups is that at startups you learn faster than you would at big tech. What’s not clear to me though is how this actually translates to having a successful career (especially when transitioning to big tech). Specifically, how does “learning more” in startups/getting more scope in startups translate to “materialistic” rewards such as TC, getting into big tech, getting senior swe faster etc.?

I've seen Seed’s presentation about . He’s clearly achieved amazing things at Klaviyo, but at least from his LinkedIn profile, he joined Meta as an L5 (senior swe) with 4 yoe - couldn’t you achieve this result simply by working at Big Tech for just as long? If that’s the case, then what’s the point of joining a startup?

I’ve watched Taro’s masterclass on choosing a good company (and many other startup-related videos on Taro), and for the pros for startups - specifically getting more scope - seems very superficial. Similarly, the cons for big tech (the inverse of startup pros- harder to find scope) seems also superficial.

I've just started at a new company in Big Tech and have taken over responsibility for a large codebase. I learned that most of the people who were previously responsible for the code base (and who may have developed it) were laid off earlier this year. Is it OK for me to reach out to those people or is this bad form and maybe breaks some rules? The purpose of reaching out would be to get an overview from them on the codebase and perhaps ask questions as they come up.

I have an internship in the fall with a F1000 and I'd like it on my resume for the brand name. The internship will start in early Sept. Wondering if this is too late for new grad roles? I still don't feel good enough at LC to ace interviews. On the other hand, I have heard of roles sometimes opening in July then closing out in Aug.

My goal is to target FAANG/big tech/top unicorn companies. If everything goes well with my current internship, I at least have a backup, but I'd much prefer to be at big tech.

I'll be starting at Instacart in a couple weeks as an L4 Data Engineer on contract for 6 months to start. I'm coming from a finance company where things move slowly. I was a high performer in my department while regularly working 3 hours a day or less. Much of my time spent at my old job was dedicated towards finding my new job - applying, interviewing, taking courses, etc.

I know I will encounter a culture shock when I start at IC and want to prepare myself as much as possible for it. Mentally, I am taking the approach that I will put in a solid full-day, 8 hours of work every day and perhaps work some weeknights and weekends as well, although I'd like to minimize the need to do that by being effective and prioritizing work during my regular work hours.

In terms of preparation, from Taro I have gleaned that there are 2 main areas I should be focusing on:

1. Code Quality and Velocity

2. Communication

For 1), I have bookmarked on the topic and plan on doing it before I start working. For 2), I have bookmarked and likewise plan on finishing the course before starting work. I actually plan on doing Rahul's Onboarding Course before Alex's Code Course.

Is there anything else I should be aware of? I have gone through already as well as looked over these threads:

I imagine the advice for me is virtually identical to the above threads, but if there's anything I'm missing, please fill me in!

Thanks!!

Hello, few questions which the resume video didn't answer for me (for context i'm a senior engineer with almost a decade of experience including some years working at FAANG):

1. Should I put months for each year for all my experiences or is it okay to just put the years? For example if this hides a 6 month gap? I've heard very conflicting opinions on this!
2. If I'm in a city in California that's not super close to San Francisco, is it okay to just put California and leave my city out so I'm not auto rejected for positions that are in San Francisco, since I'm open to relocation? Also should I say somewhere on resume that I'm open to relocation?
3. Pretty sure the answer to this is no but figured I'd ask! Is it worth going from 1 to 2 pages to list a few side projects that are over a few years old now and didn't really get a lot of users?

I have about 10 years of experience and currently working as a Staff Engineer. Have worked only in small startup companies.

I consistently get above expectations in appraisals as I always display ownership and have been open to pick new skills and have understanding of the product.

Now coming to the issue, I get stuck with DSA questions and somehow not able to come up with intuitions and don't have the practice to solve any algorithmic problem in 40 minutes.

I seemed to have survived in tech with basic curiosity and common sense till this point LOL!

What about me the best way to pick the skills to crack interviews at big tech spending time to cover topics of DSA, LLD, system design and other rounds?

Hi!

I had mic issues in the OH and couldn't ask live. How would you recommend I prepare for System Design interview questions, especially since I feel my experience at my previous company didn't prepare me well for these?

I have 2.5 years of experience at a big tech company and was recently laid off. Ideally, I’m aiming for an ~L4 level position as I was L3 in my past role and was nearing promotion. I’m getting more interviews at start-ups now, and they typically focus on system design rather than leetcode questions. At my past company, the tools were so powerful that I didn’t get the same breadth of experience a new grad might get at a smaller company. For example, I never touched or thought about our database or considered scalability for our services. In hindsight, I should have taken the initiative to find projects outside of my team with more scope, but now I know better!

My current plan is to read "System Design Interview" by Alex Xu and go through the Taro System Design Masterclass. Do you have any feedback on this plan? I recently had my first system design interviews and have more coming up. I want to prepare as best as I can with the time I have. I’ve accepted that I may not excel at first, but any feedback to improve my preparation plan and mindset would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I'm currently studying for software engineering interviews, but I'm having a hard time deciding how to divide up my time between doing LC problems and going over system design concepts. It can feel overwhelming since both categories have so much to cover. I also have a family, so most of my studying gets done after my kid goes to sleep at around 7 PM. Since my team is in the west coast and I'm in the east coast, I do get some extra time in the morning to work out at the gym and go through some LC problems. I'm currently going through Neetcode's course as a refresher. For those of you who have aced your interviews, how did you divide up your time on different topics? Did you mostly spend your time on LeetCode? I'd be happy to hear any recommendations.

My main goal: I want to be interview-ready no matter what. I currently work at a big tech company and I've been there for 4 years now, but I haven't seen much growth and now I'm seeing that I could have negotiated more when I first got my offer. I was asked 2 LC-type problems, and I feel I got lucky with them because I hadn't extensively gone through all the different patterns and data structures. It was my first time getting RSUs and I wish I had known more about negotiation tactics as well. I feel that if I be ready for interviews, I can apply and definitely increase my comp by a lot. The motivation is for me to overcome the fear of DS&A problems and not stop myself from applying to positions just because I'd be asked LC-type questions. I also know that I can double my comp with the right negotiation tactics and with my years of experience.

Hi all. I am considering starting my own development consulting company in Jordan. People are well educated there but wages are low. You can hire great engineers there for the same that a restaurant worker gets paid in California. I don't have any problem finding and hiring good developers because I know the language and I have family there. I can find developers that are fluent in English but it's harder.

I am not sure how to start getting contracts in the U.S. I see that iOS and Android development are popular so I was considering to specialize in iOS development.

I only have about 2 YOE in the U.S. at FAANG so I could also run into a problem where I am not experienced enough to lead a team or company.

Legal stuff in Jordan is no problem. I have a relative that's a lawyer in Jordan and he explained what I need to do.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

I received an offer from a Big Tech company for a contract Data Eng role. Whoot!

While I'm happy to have gotten the offer, I'm nervous about it being a contract role and in particular I'm nervous about the nature of the team.

My mentor told me to reverse-interview the hiring manager:

His message to me was:

Ask: I’d like to get a better sense of what I’ll be working on and how that work fits in with the rest of the team - I’m curious what lead to the need to open up this role?
Then based on what they say, you usually follow up with where do you see this position and work fit in after the initial 6 months.

So he says to ask the hiring manager about:

1. what work I'll be doing
2. how the role opened up
3. possibility of extending or converting to FTE

I'll add my own question which is how much am I working solo vs. with others? In my convo with the hiring manager, he indicated that this role is to maintain Paid Marketing Pipelines which the team he manages is not focusing on. He said there's a lot of work to be done cleaning up tech debt, which involves migrating SQL pipelines scheduled with Airflow to dbt. That sounds like bread and butter Data Engineering, although it's definitely not the cool and shiny work.

I have 5 questions, 2 here and 3 in the first comment because of the character limit:

1. Any other quick thoughts about what to ask about? There are lot of great questions , , and questions like and . I plan on going through those, but if there's anything I should def ask about, it'd be great to know!
2. In talking to the Hiring Manager, should I negotiate before or after Reverse Interviewing? My mentor says to negotiate after learning more about the role which seems intuitive to me as I want to make sure I want to accept it before negotiating. But Gergely Orosz says very much the opposite . What gives?