Riley here! 🙋♀️ I’ve been a full desk technical recruiter for nearly 10 years. Most of my time has been spent as an agency recruiter with Code Talent, but I also have a year of internal recruiting experience on Twitter’s Revenue Platform team. I’ve created this guide by drawing on my exposure to both big tech and startup hiring.
A quick note📝: this interview prep guide is primarily designed for software engineering positions, although it may be helpful for other roles within the tech industry. I’d like to flag that the advice provided is based on my personal opinions and experience, and should not be considered an endorsement of the hiring processes used in big tech, or by companies emulating big tech hiring. Rather, it is intended to provide guidance on how to navigate the "industry standard" interview process and improve your chances of success. I have lots of feels around this, but that is neither here nor there. TLDR: don’t hate the player, hate the game 😉
Knowledge is Power 💡
More often than not, a job description is designed or reviewed directly by the hiring manager and your potential boss. It’s a good idea to thoroughly research the company's values and the position (required skills, experience, and "nice to haves"). I can’t tell you how many candidates I’ve seen eliminated for lack of company knowledge. A company most often will have a “values” page (I’m looking at you and your leadership principles Amazon 🤢🥴 lol, jk, kinda). But in all seriousness, you can tell a lot about your alignment to a company and their values based on this page. Additionally, sites like Glassdoor and Blind can provide valuable insights into the company's interview process, employee experiences, and salaries. It's also a good idea to research your interviewer and their role to get a better understanding of their perspective and what they may be looking for in a candidate.
After diving into the company values, reflect on whether you really want this job. How has the interview process been so far? Often our instincts are powerful tools that are ignored; it's essential to address any reservations about the role or company before proceeding with the process. Self-reflect throughout the entire process and do it often!
Practice, Practice, Practice 🙇♀️
Do you have a mentor? There are many reasons why it’s important to have a great mentor, but in this case, it’s ideal for practice. Below are some links to mostly free technical interview resources that could be useful to practice alone and with your mentor. Treat every practice as an interview; it might even help with those game day nerves!
Useful (mostly) free technical interview links:
Leetcode (practice questions)
Pramp (live practice interviews)
FAANG interview questions (data structures)
Cracking the coding interview (I know, I know 🫤)
Quastor (newsletter with a free systems design guidebook)
Non-coding technical interview questions:
Behavioral interview prep:
In the 'Knowledge is Power' section, I mentioned the importance of identifying company values. Once you’ve identified them, create STAR method examples for each of those values. I especially love the STAR method because it allows for precise and example-heavy answers. We’ve seen many candidates eliminated for anything from too concise of answers with no substance to long-winded and rambling replies. Additionally, the STAR method will help you create answers to potential behavioral interview questions. Come up with STAR examples for each bullet in the job description (if there are too many bullets, gather themes). Behavioral interview questions are often taken directly from these job description bullet points. For example:
Strong problem-solving skills, with the ability to think creatively and strategically to solve complex technical challenges -> Tell me about a time you encountered obstacles and challenges at work. How did you overcome?
Ability to communicate cross-functionally and within product, design, and development -> Tell me about a time you had to work with many different stakeholders to complete a project? How did you accomplish this? What were your successes/failures?
Furthermore, you can find some sample behavioral interview questions here.
Stop, Collaborate and Listen 👂
While finding the perfect technical solution is great, many candidates have failed technical interviews but still landed the job. How? By demonstrating good collaboration skills, explaining their thought processes, and most importantly, their mistakes. If you can articulate your f-ups and "could-have-beens" well, you might just get the job. Often, it's more about your approach and your ability to be a good teammate than your solution.
During the technical interview, keep these questions in mind:
Have you gathered your requirements? Do you know what you're doing?
Are you checking in with your interviewer? They're there to collaborate with you.
Are you articulating what you're doing?
Are you asking for feedback?
Are you running out of time? Check in.
Are you overwhelmed? Ask for a moment. It's okay to take a break.
Can you scale your solution? If so, how?
Are you over-engineering?
Lastly, come prepared with your own questions for the interviewer.
Know Yourself, Be Yourself 🥳
Reflect on your strengths, weaknesses, interests, and opportunities for growth. Being honest and vulnerable (when safe) can help you stand out from other candidates. When describing previous employers and roles be sure to keep it positive! Any opportunity (especially negative ones) can teach you a lot about yourself. Remember, you're freaking awesome, and your unique qualities and experiences can help you land your dream job so long as it’s the right fit for you.
Are you still not feeling good about this? All good, and I completely understand. Here’s a list of companies who do not whiteboard or follow “standard tech” interview processes, phew 😅