Interview bar comparison - Amazon,TikTok, Facebook, Google
How would you compare Interview bar comparison between following companies for Product Manager role on scale of 1 to 10 (10 is toughest). Amazon,TikTok, Facebook, Google Ps. Please share experience based opinions. Thanks! TC: 220K
Google is 10 on everything
Google isn’t the same level as the other 3, let’s not disrespect google although tc may not as much there. Meta is getting more toxic, feel getting backstabbed. Amazon is more than toxic, I haven’t worked at TikTok but they seem like they need to be banned everywhere based on my interview experience with them and other people’s. Google -9 Facebook-7 Amazon-1 TikTok-0 But I’m speaking for sde not pm
What was your interview experience at Tik Tok like?
A guy who’s title was director or head of whatever engineering but seem very inexperienced not knowing what he was talking about, and didn’t have a smile or anything good the entire interview, had a face that looked like constipated. Can feel the ego from him but his ability didn’t sound like matching his ego a big no no. Dude was a non white non Asian, an American who went to some university in China.
Is Google that tough? I have mine coming up next week.. Oops
Meta was the easiest, Amazon was tough but doable, Google felt impossible
I just passed a Google onsite like 2 weeks ago. The interviews were certainly difficult but they were truly one of the few interview experiences where I felt stuff besides the final code I typed mattered. I could see the interviewers genuinely cared about my thought process and why I'm struggling. A lot of companies say that's what they care about but you just notice at the end of the day, that the final cose that you write is all that matters. I had 1 phone screen and 3 coding rounds at my onsite. The phone screen was a DP LC hard. I could not solve it, but I had the right idea which I explained. What I was actually able to code down, was just the brute force approach. I cleared the phone screen. Here's a summary of my onsite coding rounds. Interview 1: LC easy, followed by LC medium, followed by LC hard. I stupidly struggled with LC easy because I thought I was missing something because this was too easy to be true. The LC medium was a breeze. Unfortunately, ran out of time for the LC hard, but I was able to explain my approach which the interviewer liked and actually made a note of in her feedback because she said she would put it. Interview 2: LC medium followed LC hard. LC medium was a breeze. Really struggled with LC hard but came up with code that was optimal for worst case but average time could be improved. My code quality was a mess. The data structure required was self balancing trees, which aren't common. Interview 3: The best interview by far. LC medium, followed by LC hard, followed by LC hard. I got really lucky because the first LC hard follow up had a solution that is a very niche mathematical algorithm that I had coincidentally studied all the way back in college as a part of a project. So I got very very lucky and I was able to solve it and it's follow up easily. Note - none of these questions were actually from LC. They were modified versions of LC questions. I'm just calling them LC easy/medium/hard to set the bar. Given that my phone screen and 2 out of my 3 onsite interviews were far from perfect, it shows that at least my set of interviewers were not looking for perfection. I also made sure to keep talking and if I needed a moment to think, I'd let them know that as well. I just kept communicating. So, yes, while google interviews are hard, it does seem like they're one of the few companies that doesn't require their applicants to solve everything perfectly and your thought process and communication actually have material value. That is something I appreciated a lot.
For me about the same for Google and Amazon. Google had more leetcode but they were easier and some of the interviewers were clueless. At Amazon only 2 leetcode but one was a hard . Amazon had system design as well which I failed (ending up getting and taking an offer anyways).
You did leetcode in PM interviews?
Whoops no this was for sde, Maybe they should have tested my reading comprehension because clearly it needs some work.
I gave interviews at Amazon, TikTok, and Facebook for the PM positions. Cleared Amazon L6 PMT, withdrew from TikTok after clearing the HM round, and did not clear Facebook. Amazon was straightforward and easiest. 1 HM followed by onsite loop. Loop was behavioral based on Amazon LPs. As long as you are a good communicator, can tell strong stories from your past experiences, and somehow relate them to Amazon LPs, you will clear the L6 PMT bar with flying colors. Regarding FB, it was purely hypothetical product sense and product execution. 2 virtual Product sense and Product execution, followed by 3 onsite rounds of product sense, product execution, and leadership. I didn’t clear the onsite round with FB. I personally found FB interview tougher than Amazon.
Google interviews want to know how you think, problem solve, & reason. Amazon interviews want to know what you have done. In my experience, I found the Amazon interview to be more challenging because they dive deep and really expect very detailed answers that demonstrate you have a deep understanding of the problems you claim to have solved. In addition, you need to demonstrate the LPs in your answer and have multiple stories for each LP so that you can give different answers to each interview. By contrast, because the Google interviews are largely based on hypothetical scenarios, you can develop the skills needed to thrive in those interviews (eg fermi estimation, etc) and there’s less prep involved. EDIT: I have worked at both Amazon & Google.
Amazon interviews are better for bs'ers with so many LP questions. You either bs well on the spot and memorize your prepared bs well. Hats off to the people that actually remember all the technical and behavioral details.
Amazon interview scares me more than Google. Google is just.. be good at leetcode and have basic communication skills. Amazon you get absolutely grilled.
Worked at both Google and Amazon. Interview processes of both companies define who they are ( or did the interview process make them who they are??) Google wants to make sure they hire smart people and don't quite care if they can build strategy and/execute. Hence, they focus more on how you think and problem solve. Amazon focuses on LPs and drills deep on execution questions and the hows, the why's, the results etc, because they want to make sure you can execute. They don't want the smartest person, who has zero execution skills. I found Amazon to be tougher interviews, as I come from a background where execution wasn't the focus. I found it easier to talk about fun problem solving discussions with Google. So everyone is different, I guess.
For what it's worth, my Google interview was much easier than my Amazon interview. I've failed multiple Amazon interviews but only had good feedback at Google. Amazon has a much higher bar than people think.
Amazon is more likely to hire an underperformer in an interview. This is because they quickly manage you out ruthlessly. In my 3 years, I have seen 3 SDMs who were on the fence being hired and all 3 let go within the year - one even within 6 months. It’s pretty ruthless.
I was on my way to being on a PIP and quit before the a-hole could let me go. My director there ended up letting me stay another few months to give me time to find another job…he knows my manager failed at onboarding me properly during the pandemic and did not support me.
They all have the same bar for interviews. However, Google doesn’t manage out underperformers, whereas the others do.
I love how people on Blind think underperformers were always not being managed out.
In my limited experience, Amazon managed out the low performers, and Google does not.