How to prepare for Staff Software engineer Role - L6 @ (Google)
I am already working as an SDE3 in a mid-size tech company with 10 YOE, I have recently applied to a Staff-SE Role at Google, and have been contacted by the recruiter,
Now I am not sure what to study, I interviewed twice with Google around 4 years back, but that time they contacted me for L4, and I wasn't able to clear the coding rounds both times. I think I am a good Software engineer, it is just that, solving these Leetcode problems is not my cup of tea. And to be honest, with my current workload and other responsibilities, grinding leetcode feels not worth the effort.
So now I am clueless, would they still ask the same kind of coding questions even for Staff role, or how to go about preparation?
![Entry-Level Software Engineer [L3] at Google company logo](/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffirebasestorage.googleapis.com%2Fv0%2Fb%2Ftech-career-growth.appspot.com%2Fo%2Fcompany_logos%252Fgoogle.jpeg%3Falt%3Dmedia%26token%3D780356ef-3efc-4728-9eb4-d909b75bb4a6&w=48&q=75){kind=small}
![Entry-Level Software Engineer [L3] at Google company logo](/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffirebasestorage.googleapis.com%2Fv0%2Fb%2Ftech-career-growth.appspot.com%2Fo%2Fcompany_logos%252Fgoogle_logo.png%3Falt%3Dmedia%26token%3Dded981a0-71c9-42a4-a03e-a2299a0a11b8&w=48&q=75){kind=logo}
Discussion
(2 comments)- 24 months agoTech Lead/Manager at Meta, Pinterest, Kosei
Interestingly, as you become more senior, the emphasis on DSA/Leetcode problems goes down.
Imagine the extreme case of interviewing for a Distinguished Engineer role. Someone interviewing for this role has probably built some huge industry-changing infrastructure or a new programming language. It would be silly to ask them to reverse a linked list š The entire interview would be some bespoke process.
However, as a Staff Engineer, you'll still have some DSA questions. Perhaps not as much as a new grad, but you should still prepare for it.
- 0
4 months agoTech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course HeroI feel you, but you're definitely going to get LeetCode problems in your Google interview. Google/Meta have been notorious for DSA-heavy interviews for the past 15 years, and it's still the case (Meta E6 loop has DSA too).
It's on my backlog to convert this into a much higher-quality course, but this should still help a lot: [Masterclass] How To Ace Your Big Tech Interview - Data Structures And Algorithms
For Staff, it's also important to deeply understand Staff behavior and work backwards from that to show the corresponding signals. Behavioral interviews are a big part of that (check out the leveling section): [Course] Master The Behavioral Interview As A Software Engineer
