5 ms·

Something I found interesting after going through a few interview processes is the amount of prep material that the in-house recruiters provide. At both a FAANG

Something I found interesting after going through a few interview processes is the amount of prep material that the in-house recruiters provide. At both a FAANG and a multi-billion-but-not-FAANG company, I was provided hours worth of prep material for the tech screen, followed up by more hours of prep material for the more in-depth marathon-style interviews. Ten page PDFs with links to hackerrank and tech talks! I get that recruiters are incentivised to get new hires, but the whole "here's this tedious interview process, and here's everything you need to study to be able to pass it" makes me feel like they're optimizing for people who are tolerant of dealing with a lot of bullshit.

geoduck14 5y ago
I tried to pass by your comment, but I feel a need to respond. I'm a hiring manager. I've interviewed more than 100 people over the past 6 months. I really want you to be successful in the interview. I would love for a 10 minute conversation where you say "yeah, I've faced the problem you are facing. And here are the next 3 problems you are going to face. And here is how you should prepare for them." Or even "wow, I'm not equipped for this. What I really want to do is X. Is that useful?" And then I referred you to a buddy that is looking to do exactly that. I don't want to surprise you. I don't want to give you an interview question where you get nervous and I have to guess if you actually know how to code stuff. I want to give you an environment where you rock and I can accurately tell you what problems I have and we both decide if this is going to be a good fit for us. Somethings I don't want. I don't want you to fret or prepare for 10 hours. I don't want a take home interview that lasts >2 hours. Or a take home where you were honest, but I'm comparing you against someone who cheated.
- 0des 5y ago
  "I'm not like those other girls"
  - b20000 5y ago
    haha excellent
  - geoduck14 5y ago
    Lol Actually, I was going for the opposite. If a hiring manager gives you something to help you, it is because it is mutually beneficial to help. That being said, I used to work for a fortune 500 company, and the comment about trying to select for people who can put up with a bunch of paperwork is probably an important skill to select for
Ancalagon 5y ago
Which company did this? Genuinely curious because the prep I was given from Amazon and Facebook for their interview processes was very short and obviously did not entail the full extent of leetcoding required to get into a position at one of those companies.
- 0x0000000 5y ago
  One was Facebook. I did just find that their prep guides are apparently public on their website, so here was the one I was given for the tech screen, which was heavy on data structures (look for "our comprehensive Facebook Technical Screen Guide" link to the PDF): https://www.metacareers.com/swe-prep-techscreen/ https://www.metacareers.com/swe-prep-techscreen/ And heres the one I was given "the loop" interview (theres a link "our comprehensive Facebook Onsite Interview Guide" in the first paragraph): https://www.metacareers.com/SWE-prep-onsite/ https://www.metacareers.com/SWE-prep-onsite/
  - hyperdimension 5y ago
    >metacareers It seems like all this preparation to pass an interview is the meta-career.
  - Ancalagon 5y ago
    I only saw the tech screen guide, so maybe that was my issue. Still though the onsite guide is not very thorough nor does is encompass many of the tricks these interviews present in coding interviews beyond "check out these leetcode/youtube/hackerrank" links. Really not sufficient to even sample the broad range of questions which can be asked from the LC bucket for Facebook in my opinion.
  - notacoward 5y ago
    Can confirm. I also got a ton of preparatory materials when I interviewed at FB. I ignored it, but it was definitely provided.
usrbinbash 5y ago
Okay...wouldn't it then be easier to simply scrap all the stuff they are now handing out guides for? Because, if I just want people to pass the BS so I can get to the actually relevant part of the interview process...why not just remove the redundancy?

geoduck14 5y ago

I tried to pass by your comment, but I feel a need to respond. I'm a hiring manager. I've interviewed more than 100 people over the past 6 months. I really want you to be successful in the interview. I would love for a 10 minute conversation where you say "yeah, I've faced the problem you are facing. And here are the next 3 problems you are going to face. And here is how you should prepare for them." Or even "wow, I'm not equipped for this. What I really want to do is X. Is that useful?" And then I referred you to a buddy that is looking to do exactly that. I don't want to surprise you. I don't want to give you an interview question where you get nervous and I have to guess if you actually know how to code stuff. I want to give you an environment where you rock and I can accurately tell you what problems I have and we both decide if this is going to be a good fit for us. Somethings I don't want. I don't want you to fret or prepare for 10 hours. I don't want a take home interview that lasts >2 hours. Or a take home where you were honest, but I'm comparing you against someone who cheated.

0des 5y ago
"I'm not like those other girls"
- b20000 5y ago
  haha excellent
- geoduck14 5y ago
  Lol Actually, I was going for the opposite. If a hiring manager gives you something to help you, it is because it is mutually beneficial to help. That being said, I used to work for a fortune 500 company, and the comment about trying to select for people who can put up with a bunch of paperwork is probably an important skill to select for

Ancalagon 5y ago

Which company did this? Genuinely curious because the prep I was given from Amazon and Facebook for their interview processes was very short and obviously did not entail the full extent of leetcoding required to get into a position at one of those companies.

0x0000000 5y ago
One was Facebook. I did just find that their prep guides are apparently public on their website, so here was the one I was given for the tech screen, which was heavy on data structures (look for "our comprehensive Facebook Technical Screen Guide" link to the PDF): https://www.metacareers.com/swe-prep-techscreen/ https://www.metacareers.com/swe-prep-techscreen/ And heres the one I was given "the loop" interview (theres a link "our comprehensive Facebook Onsite Interview Guide" in the first paragraph): https://www.metacareers.com/SWE-prep-onsite/ https://www.metacareers.com/SWE-prep-onsite/
- hyperdimension 5y ago
  >metacareers It seems like all this preparation to pass an interview is the meta-career.
- Ancalagon 5y ago
  I only saw the tech screen guide, so maybe that was my issue. Still though the onsite guide is not very thorough nor does is encompass many of the tricks these interviews present in coding interviews beyond "check out these leetcode/youtube/hackerrank" links. Really not sufficient to even sample the broad range of questions which can be asked from the LC bucket for Facebook in my opinion.
- notacoward 5y ago
  Can confirm. I also got a ton of preparatory materials when I interviewed at FB. I ignored it, but it was definitely provided.

usrbinbash 5y ago

Okay...wouldn't it then be easier to simply scrap all the stuff they are now handing out guides for? Because, if I just want people to pass the BS so I can get to the actually relevant part of the interview process...why not just remove the redundancy?