I've interviewed at a few big tech companies, including google. If you have a relevant degree from a decent university, you're likely to get an interview at so

I've interviewed at a few big tech companies, including google. If you have a relevant degree from a decent university, you're likely to get an interview at some point. I was a no hire. But for google, all I can really say is study the crap out of data structures and algorithms. Buy a copy of "cracking the coding interview" and make sure you can do the difficult problems in it in 45 minutes. Practice at a whiteboard, with a friend if possible. Don't just memorize answers, you have to be able to do this quickly and readily on things you haven't seen before. Try it, work at it, finally look at a solution, then repeat. Basic data structures should be so ingrained that you don't really need to think about them - this is how you'll be able to reason abstractly during an interview. That's google, other companies may not be quite as data structures and algorithms oriented. That makes it tough, though. In my 15 years, in interviews, I've had data structures white board exams, math exams, sample projects in rails and java. It varies dramatically. You don't really know what's coming. Another option would be look for a way to be a software developer that doesn't involve taking technical interview exams. That limits your options, but it could happen. If you're an X that programs, rather than an X programmer, this can work. For instance, I know people who work in various analyst jobs, who do a substantial amount of programming. It helps them stand out in their field, but their interviews are more like usual interviews - discussions of experience, that sort of thing. In most fields, interviews aren't essentially exams. The "interview as exam" culture seems to unusual outside software, where it is pretty much the norm. This won't work at google or Facebook, though, for those, yeah, you'll need to do well on the interview exams.