DevOpsDays Boston 2020 - Passing the Technical Interview

In this talk we’ll discuss the main aspects of handling the large tech company interview process. We’ll cover topics like prepping for interviews, coding interview questions, large scale system design, behavioral questions, how to interview your interviewers, and negotiation.

First we’ll cover how to prep for interviews, resources, and time allocation. Along with what you should expect throughout the process.

Next we’ll walk through how to prep for each step of the interview process.

We’ll finish up by discussing what to do once you receive an offer and how to negotiate.

Transcript

1. passing the
   Technical
   Interview
   

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2. Who is this guy?
   Ben Edmunds
   Open Source
   Author
   PHP Town Hall Podcast

   More Than Code Podcast
   Staff Eng @ Wayfair
   

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3. Will Cover
   Technical interview process
   from Phone Screen to Offer
   

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4. Won’t Cover
   Everything before the
   
   Phone Screen
   

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6. My Last
   Job Search
   

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7. Your Next
   Job Search
   

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8. Prep
   

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10. 1

    Phone 

    Screen
    2

    Manager 

    Screen
    3

    Coding
    Test
    4
    Onsite
    Evals
    

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11. Stages
    0. Reach Out
    • Accepted application
    
    • Communication from
    Recruiter
    

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12. 1

    Phone 

    Screen
    2

    Manager 

    Screen
    3

    Coding
    Test
    4
    Onsite
    Evals
    

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13. Stages
    1. Phone Screen
    • High level
    
    • Why are you looking
    
    • What are you looking for
    
    • Pitch on company/role
    

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15. Stages
    1. Phone Screen
    • Why
    
    • What
    PREP
    

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16. Stages
    1. Phone Screen
    • Structure of teams
    
    • Favorite projects
    
    PREP
    

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17. Stages
    1. Phone Screen
    • $
    PREP
    

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19. 1

    Phone 

    Screen
    2

    Manager 

    Screen
    3

    Coding
    Test
    4
    Onsite
    Evals
    

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20. Stages
    • High level but deeper tech
    
    • Experience with specific
    technologies
    
    • Pitch on Company/Role
    2. Manager Screen
    

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22. Stages
    • Hard Problems
    
    • Best Projects
    
    • Failures
    
    • Technologies
    2. Manager Screen
    PREP
    

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24. 1

    Phone 

    Screen
    2

    Manager 

    Screen
    3

    Coding
    Test
    4
    Onsite
    Evals
    

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25. Stages
    3. Coding Test
    • Take Home
    
    • or
    
    • Online Platform
    

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26. Stages
    3. Coding Test - Take Home
    • Small project
    
    • Designing architecture
    
    • Designing APIs
    
    • Solving algorithms
    

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27. Stages
    3. Coding Test - Online
    • Small problem(s)
    
    • Algorithmic problem
    
    • Time complexity
    
    • Space complexity
    

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29. Stages
    3. Coding Test
    • Lite version of Coding and
    Sys Design on-site evals
    
    • Real world experience
    PREP
    

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30. Stages
    3. Coding Test
    • Sys Design & Architecture
    
    • Based on role 

    interviewing for
    PREP
    

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31. Stages
    3. Coding Test
    • APIs
    
    • REST
    
    • GraphQL
    
    • RPC
    PREP
    

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32. Stages
    3. Coding Test
    • Data Structures
    
    • Array, Stack, Queue, 

    BT, BST, Hash Table
    PREP
    

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33. Stages
    3. Coding Test
    • Algos
    
    • Common Techniques
    PREP
    

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34. Stages
    3. Coding Test
    • Algos
    
    • Pattern Matching
    PREP
    

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35. Stages
    3. Coding Test
    • Algos
    
    • Common Problems
    PREP
    + FizzBuzz, 8
    Queens, Boggle,
    Subset Sum, etc
    

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36. Stages
    3. Coding Test
    • Algos
    
    • Improvements
    PREP
    

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37. Stages
    3. Coding Test
    • Sorting
    
    • Bubble Sort
    
    • Quick Sort
    
    • Merge Sort
    PREP
    

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38. Stages
    3. Coding Test
    • Fill knowledge gaps
    PREP
    

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39. Stages
    3. Coding Test
    • PRACTICE
    PREP
    

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41. 1

    Phone 

    Screen
    2

    Manager 

    Screen
    3

    Coding
    Test
    4
    Onsite
    Evals
    

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42. Stages
    4. Onsite Evals
    • 4-6 hours onsite
    
    • Fly in, if not local
    

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43. Stages
    4. Onsite Evals
    • Coding
    
    • Behavioral
    
    • System Design
    

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44. Stages
    4. Onsite Evals
    • Arrive Thursday night
    
    • Interviews start 9am Friday
    

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45. Stages
    4. Onsite Evals
    • 9-9:30 - arrival / meet recruiter
    
    • 9:30-10:20 - meet hiring manager
    
    • 10:30-11:20 - coding w/ 2 sr engineers
    
    • 11:30-12:20 - sys design w/ sr architect
    
    • 12:30-1:30 - lunch w/engineer on team
    
    • 1:30-2:20 - coding w/ 1 staff engineer
    
    • 2:30-3:20 - debrief w/ recruiter
    

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46. View Slide

47. Stages
    4. Onsite Evals
    • 9-9:30 - arrival / meet recruiter
    • 9:30-10:20 - meet hiring manager
    
    • 10:30-11:20 - coding w/ 2 sr engineers
    
    • 11:30-12:30 - sys design w/ sr architect
    
    • 12:30-1:30 - lunch w/engineer on team
    
    • 1:30-2:20 - coding w/ 1 staff engineer
    
    • 2:30-3:20 - debrief w/ recruiter
    

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48. Stages
    4. Onsite Evals
    • 9-9:30 - arrival / meet recruiter
    
    • 9:30-10:20 - meet hiring manager
    • 10:30-11:20 - coding w/ 2 sr engineers
    
    • 11:30-12:30 - sys design w/ sr architect
    
    • 12:30-1:30 - lunch w/engineer on team
    
    • 1:30-2:20 - coding w/ 1 staff engineer
    
    • 2:30-3:20 - debrief w/ recruiter
    

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49. Stages
    4. Onsite Evals
    • 9-9:30 - arrival / meet recruiter
    
    • 9:30-10:20 - meet hiring manager
    
    • 10:30-11:20 - coding w/ 2 sr engineers
    • 11:30-12:30 - sys design w/ sr architect
    
    • 12:30-1:30 - lunch w/engineer on team
    
    • 1:30-2:20 - coding w/ 1 staff engineer
    • 2:30-3:20 - debrief w/ recruiter
    

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50. Stages
    4. Onsite Evals
    • 9-9:30 - arrival / meet recruiter
    
    • 9:30-10:20 - meet hiring manager
    
    • 10:30-11:20 - coding w/ 2 sr engineers
    • 11:30-12:30 - sys design w/ sr architect
    
    • 12:30-1:30 - lunch w/engineer on team
    
    • 1:30-2:20 - coding w/ 1 staff engineer
    • 2:30-3:20 - debrief w/ recruiter
    

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51. Stages
    4. Onsite Evals
    • 9-9:30 - arrival / meet recruiter
    
    • 9:30-10:20 - meet hiring manager
    
    • 10:30-11:20 - coding w/ 2 sr engineers
    
    • 11:30-12:30 - sys design w/ sr architect
    • 12:30-1:30 - lunch w/engineer on team
    
    • 1:30-2:20 - coding w/ 1 staff engineer
    
    • 2:30-3:20 - debrief w/ recruiter
    

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52. Stages
    4. Onsite Evals
    • 9-9:30 - arrival / meet recruiter
    
    • 9:30-10:20 - meet hiring manager
    
    • 10:30-11:20 - coding w/ 2 sr engineers
    
    • 11:30-12:30 - sys design w/ sr architect
    
    • 12:30-1:30 - lunch w/engineer on team
    • 1:30-2:20 - coding w/ 1 staff engineer
    
    • 3:30-4 - debrief w/ recruiter
    

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53. Stages
    4. Onsite Evals
    • 9-9:30 - arrival / meet recruiter
    
    • 9:30-10:20 - meet hiring manager
    
    • 10:30-11:20 - coding w/ 2 sr engineers
    
    • 11:30-12:30 - sys design w/ sr architect
    
    • 12:30-1:30 - lunch w/engineer on team
    
    • 1:30-2:20 - coding w/ 1 staff engineer
    
    • 3:30-4 - debrief w/ recruiter
    

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56. Offer
    

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57. Negotiation
    

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58. Total Comp =
    Salary + Equity + Benefits
    

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60. Parting
    Thoughts
    

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61. Practice
    

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62. Examples
    

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63. View Slide

64. Resources
    https://randallkanna.com/get-the-ultimate-list/
    https://leetcode.com
    https://levels.fyi
    http://www.crackingthecodinginterview.com https://educative.io
    

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65. Thank You
    @benedmunds
    ben.edmunds@gmail.com
    

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66. View Slide

67. More Examples
    

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68. Examples
    Career Ladder
    

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69. Examples
    System Design
    

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70. Examples
    “Given an array of the 100 most common child
    names in 2020, sort them alphabetically”
    “List the top 10 products sold alphabetically on the
    sidebar of a site. Given an array of the top 1,000
    products where the key is their popularity and the value
    is the product name. Return an array.”
    Quicksort
    

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71. Examples
    “Given an array of the 100 most common child names in 2020, sort them
    alphabetically”
    const childNames = […];
    return childNames.quicksort();
    Quicksort
    

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72. Examples
    const products = […];
    return products.quicksort()
    .slice(0, 10)
    .quicksort();
    “List the top 10 products sold alphabetically on the sidebar of a site. Given an
    array of the top 1,000 products where the key is their popularity and the value
    is the product name. Return an array.”
    Quicksort
    

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