Algo and DS Proficiency
Do engineers working in FAANG and other tech companies practice Algo and DS consistently ? I feel that might be the case since the day to day work engineers do is so different than questions they face in interview.
Yup. Just smoke some ganja & leetcode away.
Does smoking help you solve Leetcode problems?
No. But the reverse might be true. Leetcode helps you with smoking problems.
Algos and DS are core fundamentals. They are the basis for most design discussions. The difference between FAANG and rest of tech is that they are building the leading edge of tech. There may not be existing frameworks or libraries that do what needs to be solved. At most other companies, you’re to the most part tying together multiple existing libraries and frameworks to build your system. There’s a difference between building tech and using tech. The example is, many people know how to USE MySQL, but not many know how to BUILD MySQL. Same thing for Android. Many people know how to write android apps, but without core fundamentals, you wouldn’t be able to build android itself. The caveat is that at each of these companies, there’s a large body that is building internal tools and applications. You may be on the side of each user not tech creator.
Stupid people prep more so they can complete with genuinely smart ones in interviews.
I wish all questions would be some intricate shit that noone solved before, so all those leetcode monkeys would not be able to complete regardless of practice.
Good interview questions aren’t just leetcode. I ask the same question for entry level to senior. I use it to gauge the level that they are at. For example, a junior level engineer should be able to write the function to solve the problem. Higher level will be able to design the service. Senior level should be able to design a solution with distributed systems understanding the trade offs they need to make. Leetcode will only get you so far. Without practical hands on experience, you won’t be able to get beyond the first two levels.
I practiced quite intensively when I was in college, which is years ago. Now whenever I prepare for interviews it’s just like refreshing the knowledge.
Any favorite resources that you can recommend?
Back in the day I was part of the ACM ICPC teams of my college, practicing on sites like spoj.pl, UVA, and a bit with USACO. I think spending a year or 2 on competitive programming activities will make one’s algo & DS knowledge so solid that any interviews later on would just need some practicing for coding fluency and API familiarity.
The average engineer at FAANG is just like an average engineer anywhere else. I know because I've had many co-workers who just crammed leetcode and got a job there :) To prove why the average engineer is just average, you need to understand that most stuff produced by FAANG has been due to 1. Acquisitions 2. Rockstars beyond leetcode Really, if it were not for timely acquisitions or those teams of rockstars (who bypassed a lot of algos and Ds interviews), none of these companies would be where they are at right now. So does that mean all algo/ds faang engineers are bad? Absolutely not. They are good at pattern matching and solving small problems. But the same engineers are present in many other companies. Some just happened to pattern match at the right time in the interview. If every Google engineer was so goddamn special, you'd find them passing all interviews like cakewalk. But they don't. They struggle again and again. Why? Because they are just like everyone else and algo/ds does not represent real work. I bet $1000 that on a random day, rockstar engineers at Google fail their own interviews!
I would say the whole process is like a proxy for time management and prioritizing skills as well. On a random day, maybe a rockstar engineer would fail. On a prepared day, he could pass with flying colors.
I would say it's a proxy for who wants the job the most and has the time for it the most. It's not a proxy for skill per se. Most rockstar engineers just don't have the time to prepare for trivia. They are probably busy fighting fires in whatever they are doing, which requires constant attention. Problems that insist on specific toy solutions are largely a distraction to them.
Omly when preparing for interviews
How much prep time do u think required to get offer from FAANG?
1-3 months