Interesting data, though basically all the data shown is about passing the phone screen. That technical skills don't help you much there, I'm not very surprised. Whether it gets you hired is what I'd be more interested in, even though this is already useful information. Interviewing really seems to be a skill of its own, the phone screen part if nothing else, rather than that you're selling your technical prowess.
I don’t know about you but I’m able to pass the initial phone screens of most companies including every “FAANG”. It’s the technical interview portion which is the trap. You are expected to think on the fly while being scrutinized by someone who doesn’t want to be there and who’s seen failure after failure and fully expects you to fail too. Meanwhile they have all the right answers to the questions while you’re floundering around. All this undue pressure and your then expected to solve some esoteric question and put it in the form of an algorithm. If you’re able to do this than at this stage you’re well on your way to actually landing the job.
Isn’t that what a phone screen is like too? I’ve gotten some unexpected leetcode hards which without having have seen something similar before are difficult to solve “fresh”.
Holding off from interviewing because you are afraid you aren't ready is just putting an extra hurdle in the way. The only way you will really know is applying, so just do it!
Moreover actually doing a real interview can uncover where you are weak more than introspection or mock tests can.
Most companies allow re-applying later anyway, and there are plenty of others too.
I do agree that most of the time it’s best to just go for it, but I will say...
One of my first interviews out of college years ago was at a FAANG company (rhymes with pamazon). I completely embarrassed myself, wasting not only the entire loop’s time but losing a ton of confidence in myself at a young age in my career. The entire experience was embarrassing.
Looking back I still have no idea how I ended up even getting invited in for an in-person loop.
My advice is to at least honestly assess any job posting’s requirements and compare to your true experience.
Job posting requirements are generally a poor way to assess the requirements for a job. They're either written by someone non-technical & may be inaccurate, `OR` specify the unicorn candidate. The latter serves to improve the quality of applicants by cutting a good amount of time-wasters, but it also cuts an unfortunate number of valuable self-doubters. Which is why the 'just apply' advice turns up frequently; the people who care enough to ask on forums are probably conscientious and interested enough to be in that latter group, and some will be good value hires - even if they tick only 20% of the boxes at the time of interview.
In my limited experience, your attention is better spent sleuthing about on LinkedIn, on the company website, and especially a dev blog if one exists. Getting to know a company is far more instructive and helps with every stage of an application.
Presumably because enough people clicked "vouch" on the comment because chrisseaton pointed it out. The majority of that user's posts are dead, with the oddball here or there that has apparently been vouched for.
I love how discourse on Hacker News these days basically requires you to be fake-nice and being frank or the least bit blunt is immediately taken to be "trolling" or "unwanted".
Some of this I find immediately plausible. I would absolutely expect to find a positive correlation between "experience with doing technical interviews" and "likelihood of passing a technical interview." Plausible, easily verified with concrete, objective information.
The first half seems iffy to me, though. It sounds like you're performing a technical interview, then calling the result of that a measure of "skill," then using that to judge how well skill aligns with FAANG technical interviews. But what I think you're really measuring is the correlation between your own interview process and the FAANG interview process, which seems like a very different measurement.
> Why more experience with technical interviews helps you succeed in future technical interviews
Job hoppers have a huge advantage in this. If you stay in a job for 5 years and work hard you will have some good stories but likely not do well in interviews without a lot of practice first.
Its worth just having interviews every year at FAANG and others just to keep you up to speed.
I believe G offers a sort of interview workshop at some of their sites. Not sure what they are doing during the pandemic. A recruiter could tell you if they offer some sort of prep workshop.
20 comments
[ 3.6 ms ] story [ 55.5 ms ] threadMoreover actually doing a real interview can uncover where you are weak more than introspection or mock tests can.
Most companies allow re-applying later anyway, and there are plenty of others too.
One of my first interviews out of college years ago was at a FAANG company (rhymes with pamazon). I completely embarrassed myself, wasting not only the entire loop’s time but losing a ton of confidence in myself at a young age in my career. The entire experience was embarrassing.
Looking back I still have no idea how I ended up even getting invited in for an in-person loop.
My advice is to at least honestly assess any job posting’s requirements and compare to your true experience.
In my limited experience, your attention is better spent sleuthing about on LinkedIn, on the company website, and especially a dev blog if one exists. Getting to know a company is far more instructive and helps with every stage of an application.
The first half seems iffy to me, though. It sounds like you're performing a technical interview, then calling the result of that a measure of "skill," then using that to judge how well skill aligns with FAANG technical interviews. But what I think you're really measuring is the correlation between your own interview process and the FAANG interview process, which seems like a very different measurement.
Job hoppers have a huge advantage in this. If you stay in a job for 5 years and work hard you will have some good stories but likely not do well in interviews without a lot of practice first.
Its worth just having interviews every year at FAANG and others just to keep you up to speed.