My phone interview for SWE is in 3 weeks. Targeting 150 #leetcode problems by then (~40 in now). Two questions: 1. I'm worried about Dynamic Programming and System Design any advice on preparing? 2. Recruiter said it's fine to push the interview out if I don't feel prepared. Does this secretly impact my chances negatively? Also I don't have any internal referrals. Non-CS degree, 2 YOE, TC ~90k No name Midwest school.
Answer to your second question: push it as many times as you want. Has no effect. You need to feel confident about your interview so take your time and prep.
Why are you worried about system design? Did the recruiter say you would have a system design round on the phone?
Recruiter did not mention it. The "Life at Google" System Design video on YouTube. Various people discussing their experience on leetcode of "design a chat app" or something similar. I've never worked on software for a distributed systems and I've just started reading DDIA
I think you should focus on just passing the phone interview first before worrying about system design
I've done 2 phone interviews, both were easy to medium LC, and take 10-15 minutes to solve. I think you're over worried about this, but extra prep is never a bad thing because its just preparing you for their onsite.
why two phone interviews
Independently
Push it =p
Agree with others, don't over stress yourself for the phone interview as they are relatively straight forward. Pushing has no negative impact but maybe use the time to build confidence
You can also use this time to interview at other companies as practice I would recommend interview at at-least 2-3 different companies before interviewing for the company you desire to join It will not only give you confidence and practice, but also help you in negotiating the offer if you manage to pull out an offer from the earlier interviews
^this
Usually no system design during phone interviews
40 Leetcode problems? I’d push it out to 3 months. Worst thing you can do is go into the interview feeling unprepared or pressured. I pushed my google interview a year out. It doesn’t hurt your chances, but not passing the phone screen will hurt any future chances.
I pushed it out an extra month. Hmm it's been 10 days since I pushed and I only have 30 days left. I've made progress but realizing how deep the dynamic programming hole goes (plus I'm not noticing weakness in other topics I felt were solid). Unable to complete most mediums, I'm in a learning phase not necessarily a "review phase" Perhaps I'll push it out 6 months to a year. Thanks for the advice. Also this shit is so fun. Ford-Bellman is 🔥
Don’t be afraid to ask to push it, just give your recruiter a few weeks notice. And I recommend you don’t interview until you feel absolutely confident, Google won’t stop hiring engineers anytime soon so there’s no rush
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