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
2. Who is this guy? Ben Edmunds Open Source Author PHP Town Hall Podcast
 More Than Code Podcast Staff Eng @ Wayfair
3. Will Cover Technical interview process from Phone Screen to Offer
4. Won’t Cover Everything before the Phone Screen
6. My Last Job Search
7. Your Next Job Search
8. Prep
10. 1
 Phone 
 Screen 2
 Manager 
 Screen 3
 Coding Test 4 Onsite Evals
11. Stages 0. Reach Out • Accepted application • Communication from Recruiter
12. 1
 Phone 
 Screen 2
 Manager 
 Screen 3
 Coding Test 4 Onsite Evals
13. Stages 1. Phone Screen • High level • Why are you looking • What are you looking for • Pitch on company/role
15. Stages 1. Phone Screen • Why • What PREP
16. Stages 1. Phone Screen • Structure of teams • Favorite projects PREP
17. Stages 1. Phone Screen • $ PREP
19. 1
 Phone 
 Screen 2
 Manager 
 Screen 3
 Coding Test 4 Onsite Evals
20. Stages • High level but deeper tech • Experience with specific technologies • Pitch on Company/Role 2. Manager Screen
22. Stages • Hard Problems • Best Projects • Failures • Technologies 2. Manager Screen PREP
24. 1
 Phone 
 Screen 2
 Manager 
 Screen 3
 Coding Test 4 Onsite Evals
25. Stages 3. Coding Test • Take Home • or • Online Platform
26. Stages 3. Coding Test - Take Home • Small project • Designing architecture • Designing APIs • Solving algorithms
27. Stages 3. Coding Test - Online • Small problem(s) • Algorithmic problem • Time complexity • Space complexity
29. Stages 3. Coding Test • Lite version of Coding and Sys Design on-site evals • Real world experience PREP
30. Stages 3. Coding Test • Sys Design & Architecture • Based on role 
 interviewing for PREP
31. Stages 3. Coding Test • APIs • REST • GraphQL • RPC PREP
32. Stages 3. Coding Test • Data Structures • Array, Stack, Queue, 
 BT, BST, Hash Table PREP
33. Stages 3. Coding Test • Algos • Common Techniques PREP
34. Stages 3. Coding Test • Algos • Pattern Matching PREP
35. Stages 3. Coding Test • Algos • Common Problems PREP + FizzBuzz, 8 Queens, Boggle, Subset Sum, etc
36. Stages 3. Coding Test • Algos • Improvements PREP
37. Stages 3. Coding Test • Sorting • Bubble Sort • Quick Sort • Merge Sort PREP
38. Stages 3. Coding Test • Fill knowledge gaps PREP
39. Stages 3. Coding Test • PRACTICE PREP
41. 1
 Phone 
 Screen 2
 Manager 
 Screen 3
 Coding Test 4 Onsite Evals
42. Stages 4. Onsite Evals • 4-6 hours onsite • Fly in, if not local
43. Stages 4. Onsite Evals • Coding • Behavioral • System Design
44. Stages 4. Onsite Evals • Arrive Thursday night • Interviews start 9am Friday
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
56. Offer
57. Negotiation
58. Total Comp = Salary + Equity + Benefits
60. Parting Thoughts
61. Practice
62. Examples
64. Resources https://randallkanna.com/get-the-ultimate-list/ https://leetcode.com https://levels.fyi http://www.crackingthecodinginterview.com https://educative.io
65. Thank You @benedmunds ben.edmunds@gmail.com
67. More Examples
68. Examples Career Ladder
69. Examples System Design
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
71. Examples “Given an array of the 100 most common child names in 2020, sort them alphabetically” const childNames = […]; return childNames.quicksort(); Quicksort
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