I have about 5 years work experience and L63 at MS. Recently I've been interviewing in the bay area. I've spent almost 2 months now preparing for interviews (EPI book most problems chap 5-15 and recently started leetcode). I can solve many problems at home but getting rejections! I know 1 interview I did terrible on system design, but since then I prepared well for those and think did fine on it. My coding onsite has been ok but suspect it's not fast and error free enough for Bay area standards. Rejections - Square (1 bad coding round and bad system design. 2 good coding rounds) - Pinterest (really good phone screen and good on coding. But I think I didn't have data background they wanted) - Amazon twitch video infra. Did well on coding and systems was ok. For my level I thought coding was enough but still no offer. -Box ( had terrible onsite. I was sick and very off. Totally understand this decision by them) I had Google recently and thought it went well. Google was very different than others. Less emphasis on leetcode but they ask many problems per interview and asked for solution sketch (which I did fine). My system design went well. Still have Apple, Twitter and Stripe but very discouraged and thinking about just canceling these on-sites. Any advice? I'm thinking it will study leetcode for 3 months hard and read about system design in spare time. Try again in 3-6 months. Tldr I suck
You are getting onsites. Keep going at it. Give it your best. A break right now will only help you collect more self doubt.
Also, it'll break the momentum.
Have you melded well culturally during your on sites? That can be just as important as its fairly easy to tell who can code / understands system design... nobody wants to work with a great technical candidate who... sucks...
Honestly don't think this a problem. I don't come off as cocky or hard to work with. I might be showing some lack of confidence though. That might be giving them doubt
In my case, I strongly believe lack of confidence was a leading cause of not getting an offer from Lyft. It was my first on site and I was extra honest and unintentionally ended up highlighting areas where I lack experience and gave interviewers doubt as a result. I was having high imposter syndrome symptoms at the time. Normally I'm a very confident person. I was nervous and wasn't confident enough during on site. Once I realized that mistake I adjusted and kept reminding myself that I got where I am for a reason and obviously companies kept promoting me for value I added even though I under sold my achievements. It was a big turning point for me. After that realization and changing how I carried myself during interview I got 2 offers out of the next three on-site with G, Fb, LinkedIn. Good luck, I hope this helps you
Keep going, dont give up. Even if you tank all interviews, you can reapply everywhere in 6-9 months. No better interview prep than the interview itself.
The first 10 interviews per new job are bullshit and you shouldn’t count them. Just get through them and see how you do on the eleventh!
Google less emphasis on leetcode? Lol wut? Are you interviewing for SWE?
Don't get involved in too much talking - I had too much of discussions with my interviewer and finally realized that I did not have time to complete code
Who cares about finishing the code? If you are talking about professional stuff, it’s time well spent.
Yes , but not for the standardized tests where you need to finish the code. In this case the interviewer also seemed to be repentant about it
2 months or the time specifically does not matter - your preparation should be adequate to quickly solve leetcode simple/medium questions in 15-20 mins. For some people this will take 15 days of preparation - for some 4 months. Also my take is that there is no point of going to these interviews without having close to perfect preparation - it's just almost a waste of time
Disagree with the last point. Real interview experience is the BEST preparation you can find, as long as you don’t let them discourage you.
You can have real interview experience but not in the companies you really want to join - for your dream companies you need to prepare to the point of perfection
Hey man! Try amazon different groups until you are getting offer. Then you can try others. Sometimes interview needs luck. Just curious how can you get promoted to senior in 5 years but suck in amazon.
I was promoted from level 60 to 63 in 3 years at MS. But my interview prep was probably not sufficient
This could explain it. No offense to you, but getting to Senior in 3 years could be the issue. Being a senior engineer and having a title of Senior engineer are two very different things. Curious what team you are in?
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If you can get onsite, they’ve already deemed you a good candidate. Why would you cancel at that point?
I've already taken so much time off work. It feels like a wasted vacation day at this point
Fair enough, I just know from experience that when I do get an on-site interview I have pretty good chances of getting an offer.