I used to read a lot of job search posts when I was struggling, so sharing mine after finally signing an offer (One offer from my dream company Airbnb, one from Doordash, and a few from other smaller start-ups). I have ~7 YOE and spent about 7 months interviewing.

As a senior-level engineer, I've spent the first few years of my career mainly as a period of time to build engineering skills and professional experience. After a few years working in companies that were very political and a bit toxic, I decided that this time, compensation is no longer my main focus. I want to go to a place like Airbnb with good culture and WLB.

Coding

For coding, I used the following resources to prep:

• Start with basic LeetCode questions to familiarize with all the tags
• watch youtubers that explains the leetcode solution and though process

This is the standard process so far, but what really made a difference is what I discovered later.

Over about six months, I solved 300+ problems. At this point, many of the problems, if I could come up with a general idea to solve, I could code a decent solution. My fundamentals weren’t strong earlier in my career, and I didn't practice LeetCode for many years while I was working. So if you are also in a similar situation and feel stressed, don't worry too much. I hope my experience will help.

Targeted preparation for specific companies (This helped me the most)

After this general process, what helped me a lot was targeted preparation for specific companies as the interviews are coming close. I'd use the following resources to find all the recently asked, high-frequency questions. Especially for question bank companies like Doordash or Airbnb that have a really small question bank, this step helps immensely.

• Check LeetCode interview experience posts like this one for people who share actual questions they got asked
• Check the curated list of recently asked questions on Offerretriever and practice them all. For example, for CodeCraft, Doordash only has about 2-3 questions. If you have practiced them before, then the CodeCraft round can be passed pretty easily.

Coding is the foundation. Without it, even if you perform well in system design or behavioral rounds, a lot of times, if the coding round fails, it won't lead to an offer.

System Design

• Look at the company's recently asked system design questions, and practice the interview with AI. This helped me a lot
• ByteByteGo System Design
• Another Youtuber called SystemDesignInterview has great system design video resources. I watch all his SD prep guides every time I interview.

For non-staff roles, looking at the companies' recently asked system design questions on offerretriever or other resources was good enough for me.

Behavioral

• Read the specific company's core values beforehand, and preparing stories for those values really helps a lot

Mocks

I did some mocks with friends and paid services. Helpful mainly to get interview rhythm, but honestly not that helpful. I wouldn't recommend it, and some of the services are way too expensive.

Mindset

Mindset matters as much as preparation. There were times I couldn’t get interviews or was rejected from companies I worked very hard for, and my confidence dropped. What kept me going was believing that consistent effort would eventually pay off. That belief is what keeps me moving forward each day, and it finally landed me my dream job in the end.

During interviews, stay confident even when unsure, listen carefully to hints, and adjust accordingly. Expectations can vary widely across companies, even for the same title.

Most importantly: don’t give up. Job search has a large luck component. You need enough attempts to meet the right role and interviewer combination. Preparation helps you perform when that opportunity appears. And all your hard work will eventually pay off.

Final thoughts

Thanks everyone who read this far. Overall, I'd say practicing targeted company questions helped a lot rather than only going through LeetCode tags. Especially if the company you are interviewed with has a small question bank and not standard coding rounds like Doordash codecraft round, definitely check out other resources.

It’s easy to sometimes feel a bit down when you see others landing huge offers or getting lucky when you are still trying but getting nowhere. Whenever I catch myself thinking that way, I remind myself that I’m still young, still learning, and it will all get better. As long as I can keep moving forward, there’s no need to panic. Just keep trusting the process and believe one day it will all be worth it.