Interviewing Q&A and Videos

I'm an engineer with about 4.5 years of experience. I've had 2 jobs since graduating university. The first was a small startup (<10 people) where I did backend engineering and worked like a dog. The second (and current) is a large (~1500 people) company that's far more chill.

I've heard, read, and generally understand that recruiters (and probably hiring managers as well) like to see career progression when reviewing resumes. Makes sense.

My questions are:

1. rather than calling myself "Backend Engineer" for my first job on my resume, should I say I was a "Junior Backend Engineer"?

2. for my current job, rather than calling myself a "Data Engineer", can I call myself "Senior Data Engineer"? My company isn't technically advanced to the point where they formally use the title "Senior" engineer for anyone (although engineers definitely are paid differently based on tenure, impact, negotiation skills). Hence I feel like I have that lee-way. Heck, it might even be better to arbitrarily take the 3 year block at the company and pick a point around the 2-year mark where I say I became "Senior", so I can have Junior -> Intermediate -> Senior on my resume.

There's irony in down-leveling myself for my first job, although I really was junior and titles are fungible. As for up-levelling myself in my current role, isn't the point of a resume just to get an interview? And are people really going to check with my employer and say "aha, caught you! you said you were a Senior Engineer, but really you were an Engineer!" and even if people do, I would imagine it's a small number, that's offset by the upside of demonstrating that progression, even if it is a little messaged'

Finally, to address a question that will probably be asked, I definitely feel like I have learned a good deal since I started 4.5 years ago, technically, but more importantly knowing what to work on. Prioritization, time management, etc.

Thanks!

I have never contributed to open source but would like to start doing so. I believe this will make a huge difference in landing big tech jobs. Would like some references, steps, directions for beginners to get started in this journey.

I am a 15 year experienced software professional holding H1B. In my last 3 companies, I was a Senior Software Engineer. In my penultimate company, I was due for Staff promotion. Fast Forwarding, I was impacted by layoffs in Jan this year. I had 3 months to find a job in this market. I was applying and passing on my resume through all my network. Most of my applications got rejected quoting they picked another candidate. Some of my applications materialized into interviews , but I ended up not clearing (was in bad form and stress and also didn't get ample time to prepare thoroughly).

Finally, I got my application picked at a company through a referral, but they only considered me for SWE2. I explained them my experience and requested to consider me for SSE level, they said the panel will be open to it. But in the end, they ended up offering me SWE2. I took the offer as I had no choice. I was running out of time and did'nt want to risk rejecting this offer and waiting for a better offer. I took up the offer and joined, but I don't feel happy. I wish I had more time to really choose what I wanted.

I would like your thoughts on how "wise" is it to be SWE2 with 15 years experience. Would my age become a factor for further career progressions as they would prefer younger people? I am confused if I should stick to this, be patient, work smart and work my way up inside, or would it make more sense to keep interviewing and find something that I feel happy about. Look forward to helpful replies or referrals for SSE :)

I have around 15 years experience with background mainly in Java, Restful, Springboot etc. I was impacted by layoffs and I am on a H1B. Hence I have limited time before which I should choose a job. I do not have extensive time for preparing LeetCode in this short time span. I would like to know if there are mid-level companies (not startups, not big tech) that do non-leetcode style interviews. Like, a take home assignment, or some other demo kind of interviews.

Trying to create a resource here that can help everyone. So of course, we have the Big 2:

• LinkedIn:
• Wellfound (formerly AngelList):

As with most platforms that become insanely big, quality control is becoming more and more of a problem for these 2.

There's also these:

• Otta:
• YC startup jobs: (a lot of companies unfortunately don't maintain their job postings well here though)

What other websites have you tried and found luck with?

I cleared the programming round for Anthropic. I have a call with the hiring manager next week. I was wondering how I should prepare for this round. I am planning to have the following items ready before the interview.

1. a good self intro
2. a quick summary of what I do at my current job
3. summary of 2-3 high-impact projects from my career
4. try to come up with matching examples (from past experience) for each item listed under the "Responsibilities" section of the job description

In the video in , Alex mentioned that we should focus on the stack we're the most experienced in and pick a lane.

However, in my case, I only have ML experience and do not have specific stack that I am working on, even though I am fluent in .NET

Should I put my projects upfront instead of work experience?

I'm at the 2nd round of interviews with an ~80 person company. I did well in the first interview with the hiring manager, hence my getting to the second interview. This one is with the hiring manager's manager, i.e. my would-be skip.

The Calendar invite for the interview has this description:

In this interview, you will be meeting with Jim our VP.  He will talk to you more about the role and answer any questions you may have.  Please be prepared to discuss your salary expectations with Jim during this interview.

How should I handle this discussion? Is this different from handling a recruiter reaching out for a role where it's imperative not to give the first number?

I'm assuming I should:

1. Not give the first number
2. Try to focus on the value I can bring to the company

Anything else?

Thanks!

I recently got laid off working as a developer working within an agency. I currently have around 5 years of experience working in the agency setting utilizing React, Next js, Vue, Liquid, and the Shopify API to create custom eCommerce sites. During my time at these agencies, I also had the opportunity to act as a lead, interact with clients, set timelines, and cross collaborate with designers/projects managers to meet deadlines.

I have been looking for new opportunities since January and I've been able to secure a couple of interviews, technical challenges, and one onsite. Most of my interviews have been coming from agencies, but my preference is to join a tech startup or maybe more on the brand side of things within the Shopify niche. Below are a couple of questions:

1. Will working at another agency hurt my career in the long run? My ultimate end goal is to work for a bigger tech company if possible.
2. If an agency does want to hire me right now, should I take the job for now or just wait for one of my preferences?
3. I notice a lot of developers within the agency space freelance after their 9-5. Does studying for interviews or future jobs provide a higher ROI instead of freelancing?
4. Lastly, I just finished (super helpful!). It seems like the best course of action for me is to apply a lot, work on side projects instead of grinding leetcode, and study system design. Does this seem correct?

Thanks in advance!

I received a verbal offer from Meta for the Android role and I'm in a team matching phase. Recently team matching has been a lot of struggle and could take weeks or maybe months. Last year a lot of hiring managers posted on LinkedIn about hiring for roles and I did exchange a conversation with them. Is it wise to ask the hiring manager on LinkedIn about open roles in their org and then telling my recruiter about it or I should go with a team that the recruiter helps me to connect with?

I've received a verbal offer from Meta for the Android role and I'm in a team matching phase right now. I've a couple questions:

• My recruiter mentioned that team matching is taking a lot of time these days and suggested me to take a team that's available and later could think of changing the team. What should I do here wait for the right team or take a team that's hiring right now?
• Does anyone have any recommendations for teams at Meta which are layoff proof, has interesting and promising projects coming up and a good mobile engineering foundation?

Hello, I'm trying to figure out what level is likely to be what my current experience translates to at TikTok.

I have: 3.5 yoe at a startup + public co. (not FAANG)

1.5 years as L1 and 2 years as L2 (L3 is senior, L4 is staff)

One of my colleagues from university recently completed his final interview round with SDM & Senior SWE. It has been five business days since then, but he hasn't heard back about whether he was selected for the role. He mentioned that the interview was supposed to be with HackerRank but encountered issues, so they used Google Docs instead. He said the questions were exclusively on basic Java and little bit of algo. He completed all five questions, except for one where he didn't notice a bug in the line, and another where his syntax was incorrect, although his logic was sound. His recruiter has been consistently responsive, which I told him is a good sign. I want to know what is taking them so long, whether they are considering rejecting him because of his mistakes or if they are planning to give him an offer.

Need some help with Solution Architect/Principal Engineer roles interview mock ups. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!