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Asking for accommodations when interviewing for Big Tech

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Lead Software Engineer at Taro Community2 days ago

Hi Taro community,
I have a couple of interviews coming up, and both companies (one is Meta) offer accommodations for neurodivergent individuals. I was diagnosed with ADHD recently, after many years in the industry. I have experience working at two Big Tech companies, but I've never able to pass the final round at Meta (I've had 4 attempts).

Has anyone asked for accommodations and received an offer from a Big Tech company? I understand that the company wants to assure you that it won't affect the hiring decision, but I wonder what the reality is.

I'm not sure what a "reasonable accommodation" is, but suppose I ask for 10 additional minutes for a live coding interview. If I use that time fully but perform well, does that taint my performance in the mind of the interviewer? Then if I do make it to the team-matching phase, does that affect what teams I talk to?

If you have been on the hiring/interviewing side, I would appreciate if you weighed-in as well.
Thanks

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    Tech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course Hero
    15 hours ago

    I've never dealt with accommodations for neurodivergent people as a Meta interviewer, but I know folks in the Taro community who successfully got them and passed Big Tech interviews (not for Meta though). I've heard Microsoft is pretty nice here; they're generally the most chill Big Tech company.

    So here's the bad news: It's very unlikely Meta will give them to you, especially extra time to interview. Meta has turned into an incredibly cruel company after the US 2024 election. Even if a company violates the ADA, I really doubt they will be held accountable. I'm legit not even sure if you want to work there if given an offer - I've seen a lot of neurodivergent people really struggle at Meta after the "year of efficiency" era began.

    I have also heard that you can be immediately rejected by asking for accommodations. It's obviously wrong for the company to do that, but the tech industry has always been rife with discrimination šŸ˜¢. The difference now is that discrimination is much easier and even praised.

    Anyways, be careful and best of luck šŸ¤ž