Big Tech Q&A and Videos

At every Big Tech company, the stack is very custom and a lot of the hard problems are already solved. Because of this, is there a limit to the kind the learning you can get at larger companies (>1000 engineers), which you can bypass by going to a much smaller company (<50 engineers)?

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

From my observations, only my experience at big or well known companies have been valued when i am interviewing. It doesn't matter if i have done more impactful projects in smaller companies, nobody wants to hear about it. I am trying to decide between joining a big company versus a high growth startup and i am a mid-career professional. I feel like i don't want to take risks with startups anymore since that might hinder my hire-ability in the job market after the stints. But i like the speed of growth at startups.

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks!

Hello All,

Wonderful to be connected to you all on this community. I am an experienced candidate who has an extensive Finance and Banking experience. I wish to join Big Tech, was wondering if I could find some kind suggestions on this network. I do have an extensive network on LinkedIn, but maybe because of the situation going on in 2023-24 with layoffs and low hiring strategies opted out by Big Tech companies, I do understand its a fairly difficult market.

Hoping to find some suggestions through the network.

Thanks!

I've just completed my onsite with a big tech company. The recruiter told me I can expect to hear back by the end of the week. We had a call where she asked me about any other offers I have and timelines. In this dynamic, does having other offers or at least telling the recruiter I have other offers make it more likely I will get an offer? Should I tell the recruiter I have other offers? I told the recruiter that I can wait till the end of the week but am expecting other offers next week.

Should I try and communicate urgency toward getting an offer sooner rather than later?

And to generalize this question, is there anything else I should do while waiting?

Aside from LC questions, what do interviews for senior mobile roles (L5 equivalent), specifically iOS Engineering, look like at FAANG-like companies? If they are system design heavy, are there resources for mobile specific system design questions, since most of content out there is geared towards web system design?

How can I best prepare for these interviews?

Thanks!

I was laid off but used to work in big tech and with stock appreciation as well as living with my parents for the past few years, I have a sizable chunk of savings.

I'm living with my parents now and am very grateful that they don't charge me for living at home.

Now I'm debating what to do with my life. I could try to get back into big tech again, but it will be much of the same thing as what I already know. I want to try and maximize my career experiences since I don't need to worry about savings (provided I'm not reckless).

I'm thinking about joining a top startup to maximize my learning and experiences I have in life. Does anyone know how I can find these startups and what stage I should shoot for (ex -> Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A, etc)

I'm ok with making an average/below average salary as well as long as I maximize my learning and experiences.

For context, I was a mid-level SWE at FAANG with ~4.5 YOE working towards senior promo.

I know proactive job searching is key, can this be extended to saying hey next month there might be activity let’s apply to jobs and take recruiter calls if I get a callback

and let them know to reach out again in 8 months for me to get my resume in the door and align my onsite interviews to that target April date? Or do you think there’s a better way to go about this?

Hey there!

I am trying to decide between joining a big tech company and a high growth startup.

The team and work at the big tech company seems amazing, its the domain that i am really interested in. The team is growing and hence there seems to be quite a bit of work. But its the company thats well known for its work life balance (read laidback culture) so creating impact might take time. I think i will have to invest at least 4-5 years to create meaningful impact and to see growth in my career.

The team and work at the startup is in the field of Devex, I don't get to code much, but i would be involved in solving their CI pipeline issues and improve the developer experience. I might also get to do other related things in the Infrastructure domain. This sounds exciting since it's a startup and there would be so many challenges to solve. I wouldn't be so excited by this domain outside of a startup since there are so many external tools that bigger companies use to solve Devex problems.

By going with the big company, i am securing my domain, my brand and my stability as a good hire in the market. However, i might not grow too much as an engineer. I have a lot of time in my hands and i dont mind working in pressured environments (not too toxic of course) and have a lot of ownership so the environment might get boring for me. But i will have a secure future for sure.

By going with the startup, i might end up having fun and creating a lot of impact and experience growth as an engineer but end up with a confused/unclear domain and might end up as a non favourable candidate to big companies once i am out of it due to my experience here.

They are both paying me almost an equal amount and the small difference doesn't really matter to me at this stage.

Would love to know your opinions on what i should choose and why.

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.

Like I've never had to deal with anything crazy in production or massive bug causing an outage or 100M in losses, or something very complicated.

Most of the bugs ive encountered are bugs that get caught before they go into prod or was something like im building this software but for some reason the app wasnt working as its supposed to and about 4 hrs of debugging later and getting help I found the culprit was a sneaky bug

I am interviewing for mid level FAANG. Is that okay? Or is the expectation higher

It's been a while since I actually was in college and had to remember all the basic fundamental stuff like Big O and every algorithm, leetcode question abstractions etc. (I'm very very rusty).

What is more important to talk about / be most prepared for when interviews asking technical questions during tech screeners regarding Big O Notation? Will we be expected to memorize both runtime and memory for each data structure, algorithm, and design pattern

For example, will I have to whiteboard in pseudocode with a whiteboard marker, show how an infinite loop would function, report the runtime (example Bubblesort, runtime: average O(n^2) worse: O(n^2) and memory: O(1), and need to memorize concept like this? And is this most important to know than writing out the code in a code editor with test cases?

Many people have been interviewing differently during the pandemic in lieu of coming in-person so have had to use leetcode, things like Code Signal and actual IDEs more than before with coming in-person with a physical whiteboard to write pseudocode on. Are we expected to do both (write pseudocode on a physical whiteboard with a whiteboard marker on a particular algorithm in-person and also answer a leetcode question remotely as a part of a screener before that) or is it in the reverse order? Do we typically have to write out pseudocode on a whiteboard after passing a leetcode question as a screener then do systems design afterward? What's the typical sequence for technical interviews for FAANGMULA companies?

Hi there !

recently joined FAANG and we’re using a lot a dedicated collaborative tool. Think of it like a shared Google docs with text, charts, and tables.

I wasn’t using them so much in my previous company and I would like to bring novelty in how we use them in our team.

Besides the classical 1:1 with manager // meetings minutes for meetings, what use cases you found really impactful and productive in these collaborative tools?

Thanks a lot !

I currently work as a contingent work at Big Tech company

On my resume I just list the name of the Big Tech company I'm at, but it's through an external consulting firm.

Reading prior taro discussions I do believe I embody the culture of the company im at, i even work in person and have similar scope/work to my teammates who are FT employees

In my resume I only list the company name and have not mentioned it is a contract role. I get way more callbacks this way

Q: When should I reveal to the hiring team that it is a contract role? How does this play in background checks?

I know a few companies that have pretty flat corporate structures. A pretty common example of this are quant firms - they usually only make a distinction between regular and senior SWE, with no higher levels. But this also happens at tech. For example, my friend at Palantir said that the hierarchy is pretty flat, so there’s no level distinguishing between them.

I’m currently interviewing with a rocket ship startup and they seem like a great place for career growth, but everyone’s title is SWE. Most of their engineers are ex-FAANG, so talent is top notch. Having talked to multiple engineers there, they all agree that by their first 1-2 years, they’ve taken full ownership of a vertical in their respective teams and some even leading cross-team collaborations. Would this be considered top-end E4/E5 level scope?

My worry with these flat hierarchies is that you’re able to demonstrate scope but you don’t have the title to match up to what you show. And while title is just a string, I worry that recruiters will use your ambiguous level against you? For example, if you’re an engineer with 2 yoe demonstrating E5 level behaviors without the title, how would recruiters level you?

And a more general discussion: how do recruiters figure out how to place you in the correct interview loop? Is there a way to ask the recruiter to move up or down a level?

Can I strengthen my interview narrative by sharing that my work on a project got my tech lead promoted during the review cycle due to my high quality delivery without handholding?

For context if I were to ballpark my company’s title inflation I think this tech leads promotion was the equivalent of a faang mid level to senior. For quote he said “I will continue to oversee day to day dev work like I was doing due to lagging promo” which seems to be team level mentoring.

This would be one of the results in the STAR format story on top of the business impact that it delivered when I do a FAANG re-interview.

I'm a senior software engineer in big tech and onboarded into my company and role as a team lead for the past 6 months.

The project is almost complete, but work is not technically interesting and does not fit into my long term career goals.

My manager is getting promoted as director to another org, and I wish to join him. He said he fought hard to bring me along with him, but my current director would not allow it due to product/engineering resourcing requirements.

I expressed to my manager this was extremely disappointing news, and it's hard to see a future on this project/org. He said to talk to my director and we can follow up afterwards, because he didn't know just how much I wanted out.

I can't leave the company due to the current job market, my short tenure and golden handcuffs. But I'm afraid if I keep chugging along, I'm just going to burn out.

Any advice is much deeply appreciated.

Hi,

I'm currently looking for a new role and would find it helpful if members could share their recent interview timelines with Big Tech or Big Tech-adjacent companies. Given the diverse backgrounds in this community and the anonymity it provides, I believe this information could benefit many who are planning their job search strategies and study schedules. Thanks in advance for your insights!

If you are willing, could you please share:

• Company and level
• Application type (referral/cold application/other)
• Application to Recruiter Screen : time in days/weeks
• Recruiter Screen to Tech Screen : time in days/weeks
• Tech Screen to Onsite : time in days/weeks
• Onsite to Offer : time in days/weeks

I took a break since shutting down my last company and wanted to take some off to recalibrate after getting COVID last year (near death experience) and wanted to make sure I eased my way back into the job market. How long should I consider contracting at a place before moving on to securing the next full time job (40 hours a week but with the expected healthcare benefits, stock options etc.)?

I see many job postings that is say 3 days/wk hybrid in-person and remote, but still expectedly about 40 hours a week it just lacks required in-person working in the office except a few days for meetings. I am thinking that it would take me 3-6 months to settle in the jobs I am interviewing for expect 9 months to a year, and maybe have some benefits, but not the full time permanent position.

Should I contract hourly temporarily just for a few months and try to land the permanent position (full time benefits and full 40 hours a week) at FAANGMULA instead of being on contract for 6-9 months and just break my contract?

Some of these shorter/temporary jobs are coming by way of referral (know friends working at some other startups/companies) or 3rd party recruiter for FAANGMULA or FAANGMULA itself (experimental groups at Meta). I personally want to land something more full time permanent sooner, but the market I know is challenging and it can be tougher to get my first Tier 1 preference, so I'm settling for Tier 2 contract, but not putting 100% of my time into that company so I can spend more time applying to other jobs, refining my side projects/apps to release with actual users and make my portfolio and resume a bit more impressive with other clients or other places to work (household name, but not completely full time).

What is the best approach so that I can effectively land a FAANGMULA / startup company without completely burning myself out and diving into the next job?

I had an interview with a startup which I got an offer from but I declined it. I would say I developed decent rapport with the recruiter. I have a friend who’s now applying to the same startup with slightly more YoE than me and for a different role but I don’t know if the recruiter also manages that role.

I think my friend’s background may be a good fit for the startup since the startup regularly hires out from my friend’s current company. This friend also previously interned at FAANG. The startup hires for forward deployed engineers (an uncommon position) which is what my friend currently is, but my friend is looking to transition to SWE at the startup.

I’m wondering if it’s appropriate for me to introduce my friend to the recruiter? I’m worried that if they bomb the interview it’ll reflect poorly on me and affect future job opportunities with the company.

I'm currently a senior software engineer on a backend product platform team in big tech, and for the upcoming quarter I've been told to figure out how to expand scope for platform initiatives given some upcoming product work.

I'm not quite sure how to approach this, other than simply having meetings with other engineers, writing down a bunch of stuff and coming up with a proposal.

This seems very unstructured, and ambiguous to me. And there's not really a team that I'm working with to figure this out.

I'm just a sole engineer talking to partner teams which don't have my project/goals in mind. This happened last quarter as well, where I was the sole engineer working on a project to deliver. Probably this time up I might have an SDE1 or SDE2 to help me out.

Is this normal? Is this helping me grow to become a staff engineer?

I am trying to break into FAANG as Product Manager and was hoping to get some guidance on Taro but I do not find any material dedicated to this role. Wondering if you have covered it differently.

A suggestion - On Chrome, if I am logged into Taro and open a new tab, I do not automatically logged in. I am not sure if its my machine or the website. I use Windows OS.

Regards,

RG