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Ask HN: Are you supposed to “study” for FAANG interviews?
I fall under the umbrella of impostor syndrome where I think I'm not capable of passing a FAANG interview. I was wondering why that is. I think I would be able to learn what's "typical" about a FAANG interview (CTCI problems?), but maybe I'm going about this the wrong way. Are you supposed to study for these interviews in the same way you study a test on new material? How much of the interview is expected to be second nature (or maybe even just solvable) to an entry-level engineer?
- mindcrime 8y agoJudging by the number of "How to prepare for a Google interview" blog posts there are out there, and given how few people routinely use a lot of low-level C.S. knowledge in their daily lives, I don't think it's at all unreasonable to "study up" for an interview. I mean, I've been programming for 25+ years, the past 19 professionally, and if I were going to interview at Google I'd go off and spend some time studying. Because frankly, I don't walk around with the runtime complexity of various sorting and searching algorithms memorized, nor do I remember all the details of how to implement Quicksort from memory, etc. So are you "supposed to" study? I don't know, but feeling like you need to study certainly isn't anything you should feel bad about.
- icedchai 8y agoI think so. When I had an interview at Google, the recruiter advised me to study, and even sent a long a list of books I should read...
- mindcrime 8y agoThat's pretty cool. Are you allowed/willing to share that list?
- icedchai 8y agoUnfortunately, the email says it is confidential / under NDA...
- mindcrime 8y agoThat's too bad. While I personally have no interest in interviewing with Google, this piques my curiosity. :-)
- 01100011 8y agoJust study up on algorithms and be an expert in your language of choice. Get really good at writing code on a whiteboard. Practice your public speaking skills and how to think under pressure. Even then, it depends on the interviewers you get. Chances are some of them aren't going to like you or will set a very high bar. Some will be happy with conversational answers, and some will fail you for not providing a leetcode answer as a reflex to their question. Keep in mind these companies have people dying to work for them. They're not going to try very hard to find your strengths. Also keep in mind that some companies(speaking from experience... gergle), like to ask you questions completely outside your domain. I just received a 'no' back from them and a note that I need to work on my coding and design skills. Well, I'm an embedded guy and they asked me a web site design question. Not sure what they were thinking, but that's their choice. Just remember that there are a ton of non-FANG companies in the valley paying the same or almost the same and they are desperate for engineers. The FANGs are vacuuming up talent. In my case, I got a great offer from someone else. I'm sure it helped that I told them I was waiting on an offer from a FANG. Plus, at my new company, I don't have to worry about the scandal of the day, or compete with thousands of new grads willing to work themselves to death.
- noonespecial 8y ago>How much of the interview is expected to be second nature (or maybe even just solvable) to an entry-level engineer? Essentially none. Its a London Taxi Knowledge test(1). Its a filter designed to see if you can acquire "the Knowledge", not because you'll "need" it to do the job, but because of what it says about you as a technologist. Its not a good filter, mind you, but they think its the best they've come up with so far. (Its cheap for them to use and expensive for you personally; it works for them because they have more than enough applicants.) If you really want to work FAANG, treat it like being on a game show like Jeopardy. (1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxicabs_of_the_United_Kingdom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxicabs_of_the_United_Kingdom