Failing at interview --Input needed
Hi I am an SDM and am looking for new jobs but I am failing constantly in my interviews, and the is the worst part I am not sure why I am failing, this is a short summary I started looking for a new job in January, It took me a little time to update my resume and prepare and eventually line up a few interviews, I failed the first few interviews at at first or second level. Please note that I have not coded in the last 2-3 years so my coding/programming skills were rusty, so I took a 2-month break, did leet code, subscribed to the daily coding problem and updated my coding skills, I have coded all my life so it was ok, now with more confidence I applied again, to companies, A, B and C, i was able to finish my coding interview on coderpad or some other platform within 15-30mins but still got rejected and am not sure what the hell happened. Some of these rejections were a so surprised because they did not even ask the question that I was supposed to have failed, am guessing it is standard format, but why ask stuff that is not there in my resume ? or why even call me for a interview if they wanted a particular skill ? Is there some website/interview coach something who can analyze my interviews and help me understand why I failed ? In Jan when I was clearly able to see why I was failing, now I am clueless. What the hell are companies looking for ? I have a very high opinion about myself and my estimate was that I will have a new job in 3 months tops, but its been six months and I am clueless, worst part I am interviewing but my goal is one of the FAANG and Uber/Lyft. If I cannot pass this small interview what chance do I have at the FAANG companies? At one point I thought it was technical but now I am not sure, one company C, I finished my coding problem in 15 mins, and they reject me based on technical, that does not make sense to me. Another company A, I gave 3 solutions to the problem, agreed not optimal but that was based on a mathematical formula so could not figure it out. I am completely lost and I am never lost, any pointers on how to get out of this mess, I am sincerely out of ideas? Please advice
I am in same boat. I am at 300+ LC. Spent 1 year to reach that number. Failed many phone interviews. Reached 2 onsite(Amazon and Vmware) but failed. Recently failed Snap, FB and Uber phone interview. I have 2 onsite scheduled next week. I know I am good but sometimes it needs lots of failures to reach where we want to be. Well after each failure, I will drink a beer or two, run extra mile on treadmill and get back to routine.
Maybe your process is bad? Itโs more about the process than getting optimal solution
Thank you CCTx15 hmm, how would that be ? I was given this problem Given an array of n + 1 integers between 1 and n, find one of the duplicates. If there are multiple possible answers, return one of the duplicates. If there is no duplicate, return -1. Example: Input: [1, 2, 2, 3] Output: 2 Input: [3, 4, 5, 4, 1] Output: 4 Gave 3 solutions to the problem, and coded them 1)Two for loops --O(N2) 2) Hashmap search 3)Sorting the array But the interviewer was not happy, he wanted a solution using the sum of the numbers which I was not able to figure out. How do I improve my process, I am doing leetcode and passing them, but most interviewers are not happy? In another case I was given https://leetcode.com/problems/best-time-to-buy-and-sell-stock/solution/ this problem which I managed to solve in 15mins, agreed not optimal solution and the interviewer asks " u know this problem" to which I replied I did but did not resolve it before, which is the truth, since this was one of the problems that I got via "Daily coding problem". He did not ask me for a better solution but just went on with more questions and rejected me. I am trying not to take it personally but cannot help take it personally, in all cases, I need to figure out what to do to get out of this loop, am taking a 3 month break, but am worried this will keep repeating if I do not do it the right way.
Practice with some mock interview websites who will give you some feedback. If you are clueless about what is going wrong, that is a really bad sign. Are these IC roles?
Thank you Zuora, I am guessing what the reason is, but I have no way of know what I am thinking is correct or no. I am looking for Senior Software engg manager roles, not IC. Can you please suggest any webistes for mock interviews, I tried pramp, but it did not work for me, most interviewers were very junior. I was checking interviering.io as we speak
You focus so much on coding / ds / algo. EM role interviews focus more on system design and leadership / management and barely any coding?
Don't forget that lots of companies need to fail candidates in order to justify visas. Normally there are so many ill suited candidates it's easy, but you might be applying to roles that are already "filled"
Have you tried mock interview sites? Both Gianlo.co and PracticeCodingInterview.com have leadership level mock interviews. I know people who had good experiences with both and got good feedback.
Thank you ifjdh46, I will check them out EOD
Try becoming a contractor? And go from there ? Also get a mentor or two.
Thank you, but how would being a contractor help ? have to find a mentor serioulsy