Big Tech Q&A and Videos

I'm optimizing for compensation over the next 3-5 years.

What makes the most sense to target next?

Context:

Currently a senior software engineer at Big Tech in the US.

Please also explain the word 'scope' by giving an example.

My Role is Senior SRE

I received my second performance review and it came in at a -M which means Sometimes meets expectations. This is my first year in big tech and I'm at a loss for words. I worked 12-hour days since I started. The first 6 months I just winged it and did not realize how strategic and crucial these performance reviews were.

So for my second 6 months, I aligned with my team lead and manager. I executed every project they asked me to and even created some projects to help the entire team. I was led to believe I was doing good work. However, this Tuesday I received the news that my rating is again a -M. They said that they did not put me on a PIP because they saw improvement from the last PR.

They told me the reason was that I am one of 3 Sr. Engineers and that two of them are performing more than I am. Since we are rated on a curve I am last. 9 out of my 10, 360 reviews were positive and an M or above. I have a follow-up meeting next week with my manager to discuss my improvement plan. I also set up a call with my manager's manager for a coaching/mentorship call.
Here are my questions.

• I feel like my manager sees others as more proficient than me. Even though other colleagues tell me I am better than the other senior engineers how can I break out of this perception my manager has?
• How can I avoid a PIP? Our next performance review is in 2-3 months due to some changes they made in the yearly PR schedule. I don't think I can make enough changes during that time.
• What should my approach be towards my manager and his manager?
  • I want to be humble but also direct.
  • I feel I am not being treated fairly but I also think the system may be designed this way. I don't want to appear like I am a victim either.
• I fear that I will get a PIP due to my manager's subjective opinion I will lose my job, my apartment, and I will have lost the last 2 years of working myself to the bone. How can I escape being in this state of survival?

I'm wondering what does it takes to go from an average senior software engineer to a top senior engineer making more than 500k. Any recommendations on a step by step guide that I can leverage to reach my goal.

Thanks

I am a backend engineer with 3 years of experience at a Fortune 500 company and I am planning to apply to Big Tech. I can fill the experience section with bullet points listing things I have accomplished on my team. Should I still include a personal project on my resume? Will it count against me if I do not include a projects section?

Hi All,

Just want to say thank you to Rahul and Alex for creating this platform. I’ve gone through almost all of the free content and have found it very valuable in performing at my day job.

For my question:

I’m interested in getting into a Tier-1 company and have tried interview preparation on my own using NeetCode 150, Structy, etc., but am interested in a more structured learning approach. I have failed a couple of interviews and think half is due to anxiety/freezing up and the other half is inexperience with DSA. I have found it difficult to have the discipline to study after work and am interested in making a financial investment to facilitate this process. Also, I am looking to be more comfortable with the interview process through mock interviews.

I am currently trying to decide which platform to use to get an offer for a DE role at Tier-1. I’m deciding between and Interview Kickstart.

Do you have any opinions on the quality of either program? For context, my current role consists of data engineering work but my role is a software engineer. Formation does not have any data eng specific content so I was thinking about IK. Do you think the quality of formation DSA outweighs the fact that I could learn some domain knowledge through IK? I’m currently enrolled to do to the trial with IK this week to see how the course is, but am still open to enrolling in formation. For DE roles, is DSA enough through formation and then I could supplement with SQL questions?

I know you guys just partnered with formation so you may be biased. Thank you in advance for your advice.

I'm looking to get promoted as fast as possible, so I really want to understand how very senior engineers think. Here's some additional questions to add more depth:

1. If you were to backtrack and retrospectively analyze the careers of the engineers who reach staff level at Big Tech, what's the common thread with all the projects they've worked on?
2. How were they able to land themselves on those projects?
3. What allowed them to put themselves in a position to contribute to such high impact projects?

I have an internship in the fall with a F1000 and I'd like it on my resume for the brand name. The internship will start in early Sept. Wondering if this is too late for new grad roles? I still don't feel good enough at LC to ace interviews. On the other hand, I have heard of roles sometimes opening in July then closing out in Aug.

My goal is to target FAANG/big tech/top unicorn companies. If everything goes well with my current internship, I at least have a backup, but I'd much prefer to be at big tech.

I am a senior engineer and would like to get in to MAANG, but I'm rusty in DS. I don't want to give interviews to MAANG companies until I figure that out Are there any power patterns to start with? And what would be the good starting point to solve problems? I am looking for a smart way to achieve this.

In reality most of the Fortune 500 companies I worked in the past, they never dig too much in DS problems. Most care about system design and knowledge about code.

I see few people mentioning solving 200+ problems in LeetCode which is a lot of time consuming process. I'm trying to find answers from few people who already went through this.

In lot of meetings I am feeling I am less knowledgeable than others and unable to add value a lot. All my peers are very smart.

When analyzing critically I feel maybe I am spending a lot of time learning and lesser doing.

What works for me is => having focus blocks. Catch is that I am getting too comfortable sometimes not having meetings. This leads to missing lot of context sometimes.

What tips does community have to to handle this pressure?

I am joining Amazon soon as SDE 2. At my previous job, I was a higher end SDE1. I have owned small internal services at my previous job. I would like to know what are some of the things that can be expected from me as SDE 2 @ Amazon ? I am expecting more ownership, but is that the only thing? I did ask the same question to my manager but he seemed very chill about it and said that he cannot say anything at the moment, maybe in our 1:1s we can discuss more clearly. Also, if you can let me know how the expectations vary across levels for Junior and Mid level and what can I do to hit the ground running and create a good impression from the very start, that'd be great. I am sure that you must have seen various E3 / E4s at Meta. If you can relate to what exactly was the difference that you saw, that'll be super helpful.

How common is leetcode/hacker rank at FAANGMULA companies and startups for initial tech screen?

How common is it that there are companies that interview similar to Imbue (another YC backed company, whose technical interviewing process I posted below) and SourceGrap h where you actually instead are asked to code on the fly with your actual environment (this to me feels way more comfortable than having folks throw out random questions at me)?

Interview Process length - I've seen rounds go for 8 for some companies (for even Google non-technical a million years ago I've seen it followed a similar format without technical at least like 5 rounds. If someone can post how long their average interview rounds were (how many interviews, how many technical screens, easy to hard, and how long did it take until you got an offer / knew you were rejected - a month, 6 months etc.?). I've head so many stories ranging far and wide over the years and wonder what the average is during this market, which feels longer than a year some people, even those who were laid off at FAANGMULA companies.

Interview #1) Recruiter Reach Out, Resume Submission, and Behavioral

Interview #2) Tech Screen #1

Interview #3) Behavioral with Team Member 2 Years Your Senior / Tech Screen

Interview #4) Behavioral with Team Member that is your director/higher up manager by at least 2 levels or something / Tech Screen #2

Interview #5) Behavioral with Team Member that is your actual position (peer / Tech Screen #3)

Interview #6) Vote by Committee / Group Interview / Panel or something

Any insights into the interview process more in detail will be helpful! Thanks!

This is somewhat of a random question and I assume it can only help but do Github stars mean anything to big tech (1k+ stars) and is "gaming" it a good use of time? (By gaming I mean honest accumulation of stars where the project is popular but not technically challenging)

If you refer someone and they get the role but they do not perform well: Are there any negative consequences on the person who refers them?

At a small startup where you refer someone directly to the Team Lead maybe that will cause them to lose trust in you for future referrals. Is that the same case at Meta or FAANG? Do they keep track of people you refer and how they perform?

When it comes to describing your projects, what are the things you should emphasize vs. not? I want to be able to paint myself in the best light when talking about projects at work and during behavioral interviews, particularly those of Big Tech.