I didn’t do side project. But, I went to college with this guy. We were in the same group projects for a while. At the end of a couple semesters and 1 before I

I didn’t do side project. But, I went to college with this guy. We were in the same group projects for a while. At the end of a couple semesters and 1 before I graduated, he told me to forward him my resume for a job he referred me to. I did and got called for on-site round. At that time, the SDE interview didn’t involved phone screen. I don’t remember why. It could be that the company was only 400 people and private. I showed up and did ok and passed the interview. Later on, I learned that this guy was the CEO of such company.