Inspired by the below post, I decided to share my interview exprience as well.
Interview Prep
- LC 400
- System Design Primer
- Gr* System Design Interview
- Youtube videos
Interview Process
- Online Assesment: 1 MED, 1 HARD
- Onsite Interview - LP + System Design
- Onsite Interview - LP + Coding (Algo / DS): 1 MED
- Onsite Interview - LP + Coding (OOP)
- Onsite Interview - LP + Coding (Algo / DS): 1 MED
All coding questions (even OOP) I received were from LC and I purcahsed a premium membership. I cannot disclose the questions I got but there is no need actually cos you won't get same questions anwyays.
My 2cents
During my prep (which was around 4 months), I spent days and nights studying and due to a COVID situation, I was able to be less distracted because I coudln't go out or hang out with others at all. I got frustrated multiple times a day whenever I was stuck with a question and especially when I was stuck even after I checkced out a solution. Whenever I felt like I am not one of those smart people out there, I thought FAANG was just still way too far from me. It was really painful but I just kept reading and reading till I understood problems and solutions, thinking this is my last shot (I interviewed with FAANG multiple times before and was extremly exhausted). I am not saying here you need to memorize solutions. It won't work in the real interview situation anyways because they sometimes tweak a question or ask you follow-up questions. Plus, you wouldn't be able to remember the solution because our brain is like a queue. (Trust me, I repeated a certain question set 4 times but on my 3rd / 4th attempt, I often felt like I never solved this question before, which makes me really frustrated). From my perspective, it is absolutely okay for you to check out answers but what's more important is that you truly understand it (don't deceive yourself and move on) and become comfortable to write solutions again on your own. I want to say an ordinary software engineer like me can still get an offer from FAANG. I had to spent more time and effort than those smarter people out there. but I proved to myself this works for such an ordinary person like me. Everyone can do it. I failed multiple times and now I got there. Don't lose a faith in yourself. Based on my past experience, I strongly believe one of the biggest factors regarding this type of interview is a luck.
There is always next time and your sweat won't betray you. Please keep up the good work.