13 ms·

Show HN: Onsites.fyi - Curated Big Tech Interview Experiences

187 points by nisowa 3y ago

Hi HN! While Glassdoor and other employment discussion boards offer valuable interview experience data, navigating it to prepare for interviews can be difficult. Onsites.fyi curates interview experiences and insights from Big Tech hiring across various positions and levels. Our collection currently includes interview experiences from top-tier companies like Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon. Reviewing real interview experiences (rounds, questions, format) of others could be an invaluable preparation tool for interviews. Try it out and please share any feedback!

hcks 3y ago
[flagged]
- kridsdale3 3y ago
  That is still an actively used term in Google.
  - meindnoch 3y ago
    [flagged]
  - constantly 3y ago
    Yes, I’ve had people recently on campus use this term. But to be totally fair, the point about it being a cringey term is not wrong.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
nik5 3y ago
Thanks a lot for this
AMCMneCy 3y ago
I still dont see how its any different from glassdoor
- Dudester230602 3y ago
  For developers it's best to focus on top 5 tech companies that everyone else mimics.
  - skeeter2020 3y ago
    This is only one of a lot of strategies though, essentially playing the lottery.
  - acheron 3y ago
    [flagged]
vitus 3y ago
Do note that these interview slates will vary depending on level of candidate experience. At Google, we generally do not ask system design interviews of new grads / entry-level candidates. It's pretty rare for mid-level candidates (L4), and expected for senior and up (L5+). Also, there are situations where candidates may have an extra interview added to their slate. One common reason for this: the hiring committee doesn't have enough signal because the interviewers don't coordinate appropriately, and end up asking heavily overlapping questions (e.g. 3 questions that basically reduce to "use DFS").
- eieio 3y ago
  > One common reason for this: the hiring committee doesn't have enough signal because the interviewers don't coordinate appropriately, and end up asking heavily overlapping questions (e.g. 3 questions that basically reduce to "use DFS"). I'm curious - how much up-front coordination is mandated? Plenty of the interview loops I've done agree in advance to the exact set of questions we'll ask during an onsite specifically to avoid problems like this (which of course causes other problems...)
  - idank 3y ago
    Not very much. There's an interview lead that is supposed to make sure no question overlaps happen. They will sometimes comment on the chosen question (e.g. asking an unrelated question to someone interviewing for a research position). In general I think this is pretty rare as it requires folks to care about their interview before it starts. :)
  - lesuorac 3y ago
    > I'm curious - how much up-front coordination is mandated? None is mandated. It's incredibly rare (maybe 5%) to also be requested to put your question into a spreadsheet (that all the interviewers can see) to avoid any overlap pre-interview. Post-interview you have to submit what question you asked into the official (not a spreadsheet) tool.
  - vitus 3y ago
    When interviews were actually in person, there would be a pass-along sheet where you would write down your question. Of course, that wasn't perfect (the comment I had about too many people asking BFS was from a pre-pandemic email thread). These days, the actual process is confusing at best (and wildly inconsistent across interviewers, as it's dependent on what the recruiter sets up), so it shouldn't be surprising that it's rarely used if ever. To be clear: I don't actually know what the rate is of candidates being asked to come back for an extra interview. My understanding is that it's always been a last-resort option, but it'd be one of the more common reasons if the candidate actually made it to the slate of "in-person" interviews, and then needed to come back for another one.
forward1 3y ago
Back/forward navigation is broken. Lots of "Application error: a server-side exception has occurred (see the server logs for more information)." No footnote describing who owns the site, what the terms of use and privacy are, so I would frankly never trust it with any of my personal data.
Dudester230602 3y ago
Finally, the actual AAMMG, not some weird companies.
- madeofpalk 3y ago
  (They needed Netflix so it wasn’t a slur)
VirusNewbie 3y ago
I think this is valuable, but at least for Google and Netflix they were extremely straightforward about their interview process and were even happy to give tips on how to prep.
popey 3y ago
Looks like we killed it. I clicked apple and got "Application error: a server-side exception has occurred (see the server logs for more information). Digest: 2825624865"
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
pimlottc 3y ago
The title is misleading. When someone says they offer “curated experiences” I assume they actually host and run activities. Like, if a company advertised “curated travel experiences”, I’d expect to be able to book a trip with them.
- Etheryte 3y ago
  It seems like you might have a misunderstanding of what "curated" means. To quote the dictionary: "selected, organized, and presented using professional or expert knowledge." A museum is curated not because someone guides you through it and talks about things, it's curated because someone specifically took the time and effort to decide what to put out on display and what to omit.
avarun 3y ago
How many of these companies actually conduct in-person "onsites" anymore? I would guess most of these are still remote — granted, I haven't done the interview circuit in a couple years now. It would be cool to have some kind of indicator for which companies are doing in-person and which ones remote.
tkiolp4 3y ago
Horrible. I’ve been doing software engineering for 12+ years and I’ve never had to pass leetcode questions. I have worked for 5 companies in total, and I think I have been in around 15-20 tech interviews in total as well. The interviews I passed didn’t ask me leetcode questions (I had to do take home assignments and system design). In my last interview they finally stop asking coding questions (staff position). No Faang companies, but tier 2 I’d say. Western Europe.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- tkiolp4 3y ago
  To expand. I guess it depends on the company, as well. I have no idea what engineers at faang do. I can tell you what I have been doing the last decade: - decide what kind of db we should use for our next product. Usually a relational one is good enough, although sometimes document or graph ones are needed - DDD. Or at least I try. Our engineers are able to understand the business and relate terms of the problem domain with ones in the solution domain - identify race conditions. Phantom reads? Those suck, but I keep them out of my codebases - maintenance of public APIs. From authN, to authZ, and keeping backwards compatibility as much as possible - observability, monitoring, slas, slos, slis - debugging distributed systems and distributed monoliths - splitting monoliths into microservices because “why not”, and later regret and start with monoliths again for fresh products - decoupling services by using tools like kafka and debezium - mentoring and couching - helping PMs, POs and business people to build products on time - a large etc You know what I have never done? Invert a binary tree. I have read the Cormen book; it’s just that if the company I’m going to work on is all about the things I have mentioned above, then asking leetcode questions is a red flag.
- spongebobstoes 3y ago
  I'm glad that you have had this experience! However, passing leetcode questions will typically open up new job opportunities and increase total compensation. Anecdotally, I actually find it a good filtering signal for top talent. That is, all the best engineers I've worked with have always been able to crush leetcode interview questions, even if they find the questions annoying. I think it is probably only a good filter if truly trying to hire the top 1% of engineers. Almost nobody is though, as is evident from their undifferentiated pay scale.
jackblemming 3y ago
So it looks like all big tech interview pipelines are more or the less the same? Fascinating and also probably indicative of something weird. If you are building a hiring pipeline, please do NOT copy this awful approach. These companies can get away with it due to their prestige, top percentage compensation, and need to easily filter hundreds of thousands of applicants. You should instead treat your applicants like humans, look at their past work, and actually express genuine interest in them and have a real conversation.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
buildbot 3y ago
This is basically only valid for software engineering FYI - a Data Science/Applied science interview is going to be very different. And probably differ from team to team with much higher variance!
ldjkfkdsjnv 3y ago
To reiterate: Ignore all study materials. Go to leetcode.com and literally memorize the most common questions for the company you are interviewing at. This is what your competition is doing. DO NOT LEARN THE MATERIAL. Just memorize it Do the same thing for system design. Memorize the answers word for word. DO NOT LEARN THE MATERIAL. The highest paid tech jobs go to candidates that regurgitate perfect answers to interview questions. Anyone claiming otherwise is lying or doesnt understand whats going on.
- neilv 3y ago
  Is it too much to hope that those companies will all go out of business, and every person who was a part of creating this ridiculous theatre will be bankrupted?
- CalRobert 3y ago
  This is true. And it's a bit frustrating because I have to take care of two young children when I'm off work, not grind leetcode. But maybe that's the point.
  - ldjkfkdsjnv 3y ago
    Its not as bad once you accept its memorization, and treat it like that.
    - airstrike 3y ago
      Sadly not everyone is equally adept at memorization, so if you're solving for that as a hiring manager, you will only (mostly) appeal to this subset of people
      - otteromkram 3y ago
        Then they're probably not a good candidate for a high-paying, high-expectations job. Thank you for pointing that out.
6stringronin 3y ago
For anyone in hiring, for new grads how important are internships ? Seems like its practically required at this point
- esafak 3y ago
  Do it for your own good. You will get an idea of what working in industry is like, and perhaps the name of a reputable company on your resume. I am not going to reject a qualified student out of hand for not having done an internship.
- constantly 3y ago
  My observation has essentially been all the random complaining you see online where “entry level requires experience,” which seems counterintuitive at first, is not counterintuitive if you consider than internships are really that pre-experience that “entry level” requires. So my unpopular opinion, and what I’ve observed in real life as being on the hiring committee or panel at top companies has been that for new grads top internships are an even more important signal than top schools. That is, when hiring a new grad for an L3 spot or whatever, assuming they met the bar for the interview and in fact did an interview, first we look at interview performance, then internships (with an internship at our company with a successful outcome being the best), then school, then recommendations from current employees. Typically someone needs to have a good interview and one or more of the other things, more if less good at interview, potentially only one if outstanding at interview.
taw1516 3y ago
I am very comfortable with algorithmic and system design questions. However, what I am struggling with is articulating past experiences. Throughout my last 5 years at my previous employer, I didn't jot down in my personal notes any accomplishments or technical designs. And my memory is so rusty now that I have a hard time reciting them. I understand this is squarely my fault. Wondering if you have any advice on approaching my next job? (senior / manager role)
- inhumantsar 3y ago
  write them down before you start interviewing. flesh them out over time as you remember more details. focus on the most valuable experiences, ie the ones that had the most challenges (organizational > technical for senior/management roles) or were the best learning experiences. taking the time to do this ahead of your job search will help you surface those memories when you need to talk about them, much like the leetcode grinding people talk about.
janosdebugs 3y ago
The filter seems to be broken. I searched for L5 system design and got L4 in the results, which was actually an L3 at the time of hire.
nvarsj 3y ago
Don’t candidates have to sign NDAs to not reveal problems? How do you get away with posting potential IP violation, especially system design questions. Genuinely curious on this - is it legally allowed?
brailsafe 3y ago
Why just the big tech companies? Quite a lot of smaller companies and startups have 4-6 step interview chains that burn just as much time. Although they're less commonly centered specifically around leetcode, they're often even more offensively stretched out and laborious.
- nisowa 3y ago
  Agreed, we're starting with a few big tech companies for quality > quantity. We will gradually add more companies based on demand. Feel free to suggest companies here: https://www.onsites.fyi/submit#suggestForm https://www.onsites.fyi/submit#suggestForm
aleks5678 3y ago
How valuble
eclectic29 3y ago
I've 20 yrs of work experience in small to large tech companies and thinking of switching to a new company. Even I'm expected to be swift with leetcode style questions. Now, it's not like I can't do it; I've been an IC for most of my career and have a good background in DS and algo (Master in CS), but it takes time and effort and above all it's terribly boring. I've practiced 200 questions (including 150 from neetcode.io) so far but still don't have the confidence because I need to resolve them; repetition is the key. If you lose touch for even 2 weeks due to work/family commitments, you lose the streak/form. It's particularly tough for senior people. Some say, move to management, but then this is first not a good reason to move to mgmt, and secondly, if you think you can escape leetcode by moving to mgmt, you're in a shock. Our industry is in a weird phase. I undersand that it's difficult to weed out thousands of candidates without these tests and quite frankly these tests are independent of the domain you work in which can be both good and bad.

187 points by nisowa 3y ago

hcks 3y ago

[flagged]

kridsdale3 3y ago
That is still an actively used term in Google.
- meindnoch 3y ago
  [flagged]
- constantly 3y ago
  Yes, I’ve had people recently on campus use this term. But to be totally fair, the point about it being a cringey term is not wrong.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

nik5 3y ago

Thanks a lot for this

AMCMneCy 3y ago

I still dont see how its any different from glassdoor

Dudester230602 3y ago
For developers it's best to focus on top 5 tech companies that everyone else mimics.
- skeeter2020 3y ago
  This is only one of a lot of strategies though, essentially playing the lottery.
- acheron 3y ago
  [flagged]

vitus 3y ago

Do note that these interview slates will vary depending on level of candidate experience. At Google, we generally do not ask system design interviews of new grads / entry-level candidates. It's pretty rare for mid-level candidates (L4), and expected for senior and up (L5+). Also, there are situations where candidates may have an extra interview added to their slate. One common reason for this: the hiring committee doesn't have enough signal because the interviewers don't coordinate appropriately, and end up asking heavily overlapping questions (e.g. 3 questions that basically reduce to "use DFS").

eieio 3y ago
> One common reason for this: the hiring committee doesn't have enough signal because the interviewers don't coordinate appropriately, and end up asking heavily overlapping questions (e.g. 3 questions that basically reduce to "use DFS"). I'm curious - how much up-front coordination is mandated? Plenty of the interview loops I've done agree in advance to the exact set of questions we'll ask during an onsite specifically to avoid problems like this (which of course causes other problems...)
- idank 3y ago
  Not very much. There's an interview lead that is supposed to make sure no question overlaps happen. They will sometimes comment on the chosen question (e.g. asking an unrelated question to someone interviewing for a research position). In general I think this is pretty rare as it requires folks to care about their interview before it starts. :)
- lesuorac 3y ago
  > I'm curious - how much up-front coordination is mandated? None is mandated. It's incredibly rare (maybe 5%) to also be requested to put your question into a spreadsheet (that all the interviewers can see) to avoid any overlap pre-interview. Post-interview you have to submit what question you asked into the official (not a spreadsheet) tool.
- vitus 3y ago
  When interviews were actually in person, there would be a pass-along sheet where you would write down your question. Of course, that wasn't perfect (the comment I had about too many people asking BFS was from a pre-pandemic email thread). These days, the actual process is confusing at best (and wildly inconsistent across interviewers, as it's dependent on what the recruiter sets up), so it shouldn't be surprising that it's rarely used if ever. To be clear: I don't actually know what the rate is of candidates being asked to come back for an extra interview. My understanding is that it's always been a last-resort option, but it'd be one of the more common reasons if the candidate actually made it to the slate of "in-person" interviews, and then needed to come back for another one.

forward1 3y ago

Back/forward navigation is broken. Lots of "Application error: a server-side exception has occurred (see the server logs for more information)." No footnote describing who owns the site, what the terms of use and privacy are, so I would frankly never trust it with any of my personal data.

Dudester230602 3y ago

Finally, the actual AAMMG, not some weird companies.

madeofpalk 3y ago
(They needed Netflix so it wasn’t a slur)

VirusNewbie 3y ago

I think this is valuable, but at least for Google and Netflix they were extremely straightforward about their interview process and were even happy to give tips on how to prep.

popey 3y ago

Looks like we killed it. I clicked apple and got "Application error: a server-side exception has occurred (see the server logs for more information). Digest: 2825624865"

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

pimlottc 3y ago

The title is misleading. When someone says they offer “curated experiences” I assume they actually host and run activities. Like, if a company advertised “curated travel experiences”, I’d expect to be able to book a trip with them.

Etheryte 3y ago
It seems like you might have a misunderstanding of what "curated" means. To quote the dictionary: "selected, organized, and presented using professional or expert knowledge." A museum is curated not because someone guides you through it and talks about things, it's curated because someone specifically took the time and effort to decide what to put out on display and what to omit.

avarun 3y ago

How many of these companies actually conduct in-person "onsites" anymore? I would guess most of these are still remote — granted, I haven't done the interview circuit in a couple years now. It would be cool to have some kind of indicator for which companies are doing in-person and which ones remote.

tkiolp4 3y ago

Horrible. I’ve been doing software engineering for 12+ years and I’ve never had to pass leetcode questions. I have worked for 5 companies in total, and I think I have been in around 15-20 tech interviews in total as well. The interviews I passed didn’t ask me leetcode questions (I had to do take home assignments and system design). In my last interview they finally stop asking coding questions (staff position). No Faang companies, but tier 2 I’d say. Western Europe.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
tkiolp4 3y ago
To expand. I guess it depends on the company, as well. I have no idea what engineers at faang do. I can tell you what I have been doing the last decade: - decide what kind of db we should use for our next product. Usually a relational one is good enough, although sometimes document or graph ones are needed - DDD. Or at least I try. Our engineers are able to understand the business and relate terms of the problem domain with ones in the solution domain - identify race conditions. Phantom reads? Those suck, but I keep them out of my codebases - maintenance of public APIs. From authN, to authZ, and keeping backwards compatibility as much as possible - observability, monitoring, slas, slos, slis - debugging distributed systems and distributed monoliths - splitting monoliths into microservices because “why not”, and later regret and start with monoliths again for fresh products - decoupling services by using tools like kafka and debezium - mentoring and couching - helping PMs, POs and business people to build products on time - a large etc You know what I have never done? Invert a binary tree. I have read the Cormen book; it’s just that if the company I’m going to work on is all about the things I have mentioned above, then asking leetcode questions is a red flag.
spongebobstoes 3y ago
I'm glad that you have had this experience! However, passing leetcode questions will typically open up new job opportunities and increase total compensation. Anecdotally, I actually find it a good filtering signal for top talent. That is, all the best engineers I've worked with have always been able to crush leetcode interview questions, even if they find the questions annoying. I think it is probably only a good filter if truly trying to hire the top 1% of engineers. Almost nobody is though, as is evident from their undifferentiated pay scale.

jackblemming 3y ago

So it looks like all big tech interview pipelines are more or the less the same? Fascinating and also probably indicative of something weird. If you are building a hiring pipeline, please do NOT copy this awful approach. These companies can get away with it due to their prestige, top percentage compensation, and need to easily filter hundreds of thousands of applicants. You should instead treat your applicants like humans, look at their past work, and actually express genuine interest in them and have a real conversation.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

buildbot 3y ago

This is basically only valid for software engineering FYI - a Data Science/Applied science interview is going to be very different. And probably differ from team to team with much higher variance!

ldjkfkdsjnv 3y ago

To reiterate: Ignore all study materials. Go to leetcode.com and literally memorize the most common questions for the company you are interviewing at. This is what your competition is doing. DO NOT LEARN THE MATERIAL. Just memorize it Do the same thing for system design. Memorize the answers word for word. DO NOT LEARN THE MATERIAL. The highest paid tech jobs go to candidates that regurgitate perfect answers to interview questions. Anyone claiming otherwise is lying or doesnt understand whats going on.

neilv 3y ago
Is it too much to hope that those companies will all go out of business, and every person who was a part of creating this ridiculous theatre will be bankrupted?
CalRobert 3y ago
This is true. And it's a bit frustrating because I have to take care of two young children when I'm off work, not grind leetcode. But maybe that's the point.
- ldjkfkdsjnv 3y ago
  Its not as bad once you accept its memorization, and treat it like that.
  - airstrike 3y ago
    Sadly not everyone is equally adept at memorization, so if you're solving for that as a hiring manager, you will only (mostly) appeal to this subset of people
    - otteromkram 3y ago
      Then they're probably not a good candidate for a high-paying, high-expectations job. Thank you for pointing that out.

6stringronin 3y ago

For anyone in hiring, for new grads how important are internships ? Seems like its practically required at this point

esafak 3y ago
Do it for your own good. You will get an idea of what working in industry is like, and perhaps the name of a reputable company on your resume. I am not going to reject a qualified student out of hand for not having done an internship.
constantly 3y ago
My observation has essentially been all the random complaining you see online where “entry level requires experience,” which seems counterintuitive at first, is not counterintuitive if you consider than internships are really that pre-experience that “entry level” requires. So my unpopular opinion, and what I’ve observed in real life as being on the hiring committee or panel at top companies has been that for new grads top internships are an even more important signal than top schools. That is, when hiring a new grad for an L3 spot or whatever, assuming they met the bar for the interview and in fact did an interview, first we look at interview performance, then internships (with an internship at our company with a successful outcome being the best), then school, then recommendations from current employees. Typically someone needs to have a good interview and one or more of the other things, more if less good at interview, potentially only one if outstanding at interview.

taw1516 3y ago

I am very comfortable with algorithmic and system design questions. However, what I am struggling with is articulating past experiences. Throughout my last 5 years at my previous employer, I didn't jot down in my personal notes any accomplishments or technical designs. And my memory is so rusty now that I have a hard time reciting them. I understand this is squarely my fault. Wondering if you have any advice on approaching my next job? (senior / manager role)

inhumantsar 3y ago
write them down before you start interviewing. flesh them out over time as you remember more details. focus on the most valuable experiences, ie the ones that had the most challenges (organizational > technical for senior/management roles) or were the best learning experiences. taking the time to do this ahead of your job search will help you surface those memories when you need to talk about them, much like the leetcode grinding people talk about.

janosdebugs 3y ago

The filter seems to be broken. I searched for L5 system design and got L4 in the results, which was actually an L3 at the time of hire.

nvarsj 3y ago

Don’t candidates have to sign NDAs to not reveal problems? How do you get away with posting potential IP violation, especially system design questions. Genuinely curious on this - is it legally allowed?

brailsafe 3y ago

Why just the big tech companies? Quite a lot of smaller companies and startups have 4-6 step interview chains that burn just as much time. Although they're less commonly centered specifically around leetcode, they're often even more offensively stretched out and laborious.

nisowa 3y ago
Agreed, we're starting with a few big tech companies for quality > quantity. We will gradually add more companies based on demand. Feel free to suggest companies here: https://www.onsites.fyi/submit#suggestForm https://www.onsites.fyi/submit#suggestForm

aleks5678 3y ago

How valuble

eclectic29 3y ago

I've 20 yrs of work experience in small to large tech companies and thinking of switching to a new company. Even I'm expected to be swift with leetcode style questions. Now, it's not like I can't do it; I've been an IC for most of my career and have a good background in DS and algo (Master in CS), but it takes time and effort and above all it's terribly boring. I've practiced 200 questions (including 150 from neetcode.io) so far but still don't have the confidence because I need to resolve them; repetition is the key. If you lose touch for even 2 weeks due to work/family commitments, you lose the streak/form. It's particularly tough for senior people. Some say, move to management, but then this is first not a good reason to move to mgmt, and secondly, if you think you can escape leetcode by moving to mgmt, you're in a shock. Our industry is in a weird phase. I undersand that it's difficult to weed out thousands of candidates without these tests and quite frankly these tests are independent of the domain you work in which can be both good and bad.