How I got interviews at Google, Facebook, and Bridgewater

In the summer after 3rd year, I decided that I wanted to work at a top tech company such as Google or Bridgewater. There was problem though. I didn't go to a target school, my grades were just okay and my work experience consisted of being a janitor and IT Tech support. I knew if I wanted to get a chance at these top companies I would have to get creative.

This article details how I was able to get interviews at companies like Google, Facebook and Bridgewater etc. If you think you have some sort of weakness or background that precludes you from getting a shot at these companies, hopefully you'll see that you can get a chance at these companies as well.

Transcript

1. How I got interviews at Google, Facebook, and Bridgewater (Tech Version) Advice for people who need experience to get experience.
2. Introduction Contents No About Me 4 How Important is a Resume and Cover Letter? 5 Make Something Useful Or Interesting 6 What should I make? 7 Tell People About it 8 Common Complaints: I’m Too Busy 11 Case Study: Tomiwa’s Story 13 Conclusion 17 Appendix: Sample Email 18 • Based on the original blog post : How I got interviews at Google, Facebook, and Bridgewater • Me: non-target school, average grades, very little work experience • If you’ve seen the original slide deck, green slides contain tech-specific information, different from the original slide deck. • If I can do it, So can you
3. About Me • Tomiwa, software engineering and business student at Ivey Business school, Canada • Currently on year off to start edtech startup atila.ca, automatically find and apply to scholarships in one click.
4. How Important is a Resume and Cover Letter? • Resumes and cover letters have a bit of value but not much • Generally ineffective ways of showing your skills • Most people don’t even look at resumes or cover letters anymore ◦ Mostly bots looking for certain keywords ◦ Or humans looking for certain buzzwords ;) • If you don’t have a name brand school or impressive past company hard to get noticed
5. Resume and Cover Letter Alternatives • Github ◦ Add a README.MD file so people know what your code is supposed to do and they can easily clone and run the code on their computer ◦ Write an article describing what you built and why • Personal Website (Start with github Pages, SquareSpace, Wordpress) • Blog: Atila Blogs or Medium • Twitter Account: ◦ See Tell People About it: Twitter slide
6. Make Something Useful Or Interesting • Best way to prove you deserve an interview is to make something useful or entertaining and share it on the internet • Write a blog post on something related to the job/career you want ◦ Use Atila Blogs or Medium • If not into writing or more visual make a slide deck ◦ Use Google Slides or Slideshare • If in a creative or lifestyle field use Instagram ◦ creative (fashion, music, arts, design) or lifestyle (fitness, cooking, travel)
7. What should I make? • Hard to know what to make when starting, here are some ideas to get you started: Career Sample Topic Engineer + Technical Roles Do a tutorial on Udacity. Put on Github. Write a blog post about how and what you built. (Many engineers do the first 2, few do the 3rd step) Machine Learning is cool atm, consider doing a machine learning tutorial Cryptocurrency is cool atm, consider doing a dApp tutorial (decentralized app) Product Manager Marketing Why does Instagram Stories have better engagement than Snapchat Stories (or vice versa)? How to improve advertising analytics on podcasts and increase monetization UX Designer Redesign Twitter Timeline. Share it as videos and pictures on Instagram, Dribble and as a slide deck. Redesign the user experience of finding content on Instagram Discover page. Write about the design choices you made and why you made them.
8. What should I make? • Hard to know what to make when starting, here are some ideas to get you started: Career Sample Topic Engineer Do a tutorial on Udacity. Put on Github. Write a blog post about how and what you built. (Many engineers do the first 2, few do the 3rd step) Finance Why you should invest in (or short) Tesla. Turn into blog post and slide deck. Consulting Sears is going Bankrupt. What do you tell them? Product Manager Why does Instagram Stories have better engagement than Snapchat Stories (or vice versa)? Marketing How Glossier used social media to become one of the Fastest growing makeup companies in the world. Sports and Entertainment 5 things I would do if I was the owner of the Maple Leafs Sports Group (Toronto Raptors, Maple Leafs, TFC). UX Designer Redesign Twitter Timeline. Share it as videos and pictures on Instagram, Dribble and as a slide deck.
9. What should I make?: Engineers and Technical Roles • Many people already know the importance of having a Github account but making people look through source code takes time and cognitive load (i.e. don’t make me think) • Take the extra step to write a blog post on what you built and how you built it • Include code snippets in your code and link to the Github repo • If possible try to add a web UI and add instructions so people can easily clone your repo and run the code on their computer • If not possible (e.g data science or infrastructure engineer), writing a blog explaining what you did is even extra important and a well written README.md file
10. What should I make?: Product Managers • Take a sample interview question and expand it into a full blog post and slide deck • I.e. Google often asks “What is your favorite app and why?” • So an easy one to start with is write about your favorite app and why you like it • Mention the frontend user experience but also go beyond that • I recommend covering 3 sides in your article: ◦ the user ◦ the engineer ◦ the biz dev
11. What should I make?: Product Managers • User ◦ Mention the app’s DAU, MAU, ARPU, Daily Time Spent ◦ The target market for this product and industry demographics ◦ Mention the non-obvious parts of the user experience that are so good ◦ Make sure your arguments are backed by data • Engineer ◦ Tech companies are increasingly looking for PMs who are technical ◦ You don’t have to write code but you should be able to speak basic “Engineering Language” ◦ Aka try to briefly mention some high level choices the engineers made ◦ E.g. Google doc using caching to work offline, or machine learning in Uber’s surge charge ◦ Still stuck? offer an engineering friend coffee to give you a summarized explanation • Biz Dev ◦ How does this product make money? ◦ How do they grow users? ◦ Is the site underpriced or overpriced? ◦ What other monetization plays should they consider? As a PM you need to consider: the User, Engineer, Biz Dev
12. Designers • Take a well-known app and redesign it • If possible don’t just redesign with static pages, also redesign the user experience of a small feature in the site • E.g. don’t just redesign the Uber map page • Redesign the user experience of selecting and paying for the Uber • Next, write about why you designed it this way and why it will be better for the user • Try to show that you are not just artistic, but you also understand how to make choices that users will like • I know design can be “artistic” and subjective but consider adding data to backup why you made certain design choices
13. Tell People About it 1. Make a List of Companies you’re interested in. 2. Go on LinkedIn. 3. For each company, find employees in your 1st or 2nd connection 4. Make a spreadsheet listing names, email, linkedin URL, 5. Use alumni database, google search, mutual friends, smart guessing to get emails ◦ Smart guessing: ▪ Some companies use firstname.lastname@company.com or {firstnameInitial}lastName@company.com
14. Tell People About it: Twitter 1. Many students already use LinkedIn for networking but I think Twitter is a very underutilized way of networking as well ◦ I actually got an interview at Coinbase through sliding in the dms on Twitter ;) 2. Note, People’s brain are in a different mindset on twitter than when on LinkedIn so the way you interact has to be different ◦ Not the typical formal, corporate type of networking that people are used to 3. Many people consume twitter but don’t know how to produce on twitter: ◦ You can start by just sharing articles and useful resources to your TL, with a useful caption (note: think of bringing value to potential followers, not promoting yourself) ◦ Engage with community: reply to people’s tweets, ask good questions Thinking of doing a “Who to Follow on Tech Twitter” list, if you have any recommendations let me know
15. Tell People About it 1. Send each person a customized email a. Send at 6am in recipient time zones b. Use their name in the subject header c. Be brief, direct, and polite d. Explicitly state the reason for why you are emailing them e. See the blog post for more details on how to write the email properly 2. Most people won’t respond so you will likely have to follow up 2-3 times 3. Use gmail extensions to help with follow ups and scheduled sending 4. See Appendix for sample email templates you can use
16. Common Complaints • Let me predict the reasons why some of you won’t actually follow this advice: 1. I’m too busy (too much work) 2. Posting on the Internet is bad. What if a potential employer doesn’t like what I post 3. Here’s what I have to say about that
17. Common Complaints: I’m Too Busy • No such thing as too busy, only priorities • So you don’t think allocating time to do this is a priority for you • You see immediate benefit of getting good grades • But you don’t see immediate benefit of learning something that you’re not getting a grade or getting paid for • You don’t see benefit of sharing something online • Big Mistake. Long term, personal development and developing your network will be the best investment you can make in yourself
18. Common Complaints: Posting on Internet is Bad. I’m worried about potential employers. • We’ve all been scared by anecdotal stories of someone doing something dumb on social media and the backlash they faced • Reality: For every 1 horror story, there are 10 times more stories of people posting something useful on the internet and it opens more opportunities for them, just not talked about as much • Only post something positive that you think will be interesting or helpful for someone and you are willing to stand behind. • Small subset of the population will always be upset regardless. • Consider that their being upset may be a blessing in disguise because why would you even want to work with such a person? • Most people who read it will find it useful and you have now built up goodwill amongst those group of people, this will be a net positive for you.
19. Case Study: Tomiwa’s Story • I have skin in the game and I’m recommending advice that I have taken myself. Let me tell you my story. • Me after 3rd year: “I want to work at Google or Bridgewater” • Also me: “But Tomiwa, you’re grades aren’t that great, you don’t go to a target school and you’re work experience is Janitor and IT Tech support.” • Okay, I need to get creative
20. Case Study: Tomiwa’s Story • Every day after work, I worked on an online machine learning tutorial and quantitative finance class in Udacity • Most people just take an online class and stop there, I took it to the next level: • Wrote a blog post about what I learnt • Built a machine learning trading algorithm using what I learnt and wrote about it • Gave a tech talk at my internship to fellow interns about what I learnt • Told people about it
21. Case Study: Tomiwa’s Story • Shared everything I made online: my tutorial, slide deck, side project, code • Used LinkedIn and my school’s alumni list to find out who I “know” that works at these companies ◦ Know = Same school, Same previous company, mutual contact etc. • Drafted emails to each contact and either directly asked for either a referral or just a 15 minut chat to learn and get advice a. Use context of your relationship with recipient to guide what you ask for in the email • What was the result?
22. Case Study: Tomiwa’s Story • Interviews with Facebook, Google, Bridgewater, Lyft etc. • Note: most people ignored me (> 70%) a. Even after 3 emails • Doesn’t matter because all I needed was the 30% and I was set • Unfortunately, didn’t make it past 2nd round for Google and Facebook and had visa issues w/ Bridgewater • Signed with RBC for the Amplify Program, a. Strongly encourage you to apply. Really good program. I might be able to give you a referral b. We actually spent most of the interview talking about my Why I Write blog post • I was just happy to have gotten a chance considering where I started • Blessing in disguise, as that nudged me to start my own company, atila.ca
23. Conclusion • You see there’s nothing really special about me that you can’t do. • If Tomiwa can do it, so can you so let’s get to work! • Share with a friend who needs help finding a job or internship, they might find this helpful • You can send me(tomiwa@atila.ca) any sample emails, resume or content you have and I’d be happy to review it for you or answer any other questions you have
24. Appendix: Sample Email Email Subject: Sally, Software Engineering and Business Student - Feb 9 * Hey Sally**, My name is Tomiwa Ademidun, I am currently a 3rd-year dual degree student in Software Engineering and Business at the Ivey Business School at Western University. I noticed that you work at Stripe, which is a company I really admire and I would really like to work for. I would like to find out more about how you were able to become a Software Engineer at Stripe, your experience at Stripe and any advice you may have on software engineering internship opportunities. More specifically, I know that one of the best ways of getting an interview is through the referral process. Obviously, your credibility and reputation are very important and you want to make sure that you refer someone who actually deserves to be referred. I have included links to an article about a cool coding project I did this summer, my website and my GitHub. Hopefully, after reviewing my work and talking with me you can decide if I am deserving of a referral. Kind Regards, Tomiwa Ademidun
25. Appendix: Sample Email Follow Ups Follow Up 1 Hey I was following up on my last message to see if you have had a chance to respond. Follow Up 2 Hey Sally, Just following up on my last message. Looking forward to hearing back from you when convenient. Sally ended up not replying at all but that’s okay because Steve replied. Most people are like Sally but don’t give up because all you need is one Steve and then its showtime.