This as-told-to essay relies on a dialog with Hemant Pandey, a senior software program engineer at Meta in California. It has been edited for size and readability. Enterprise Insider has verified his employment historical past.
I graduated with a grasp’s in laptop science in 2017. I used to be just a few months into my first job at Tesla after I was laid off because of price range cuts.
Issues labored out properly, and I landed on my ft inside just a few weeks, however the expertise left a mark on me.
I noticed that the connection between an employer and worker is transactional, and there’ll at all times be ups and downs.
Since then, I’ve made it a observe to interview and discover the job market each two years even when I do not plan to modify jobs, simply to get an concept of my demand available in the market and what employers are paying.
Over the past seven years, I’ve interned at Amazon and labored full time at Tesla, SAP, Salesforce, and Meta.
At varied factors in my profession, I’ve additionally obtained gives from LinkedIn, TikTok, Sq., and Splunk. Over time, I’ve solidified an interview preparation technique that has labored for me and one I share with juniors I mentor.
That is what 24 hours earlier than a Huge Tech interview appear to be for me:
Learn up on previous interview questions
I’ve discovered that Huge Tech interviews largely observe a set sample of processes. It’s common for the recruiter to clarify all of the steps within the first name — together with the kinds and variety of interviews. This data can be simply accessible on on-line boards.
I’ve an inventory of technical matters that I revise every week earlier than the interview in order that I’m relaxed on the final day. On the day earlier than, I am going on-line and lookup the experiences of people that have not too long ago interviewed on the firm.
For instance, if I’m making use of for Google, I am going to go to a coding observe web site referred to as Leetcode and click on on the “talk about” tab. Right here, individuals share their company-specific interview experiences. I have a look at what well-liked questions are and if the person has any recommendation on the right way to move them.
I largely use it as a guidelines to make sure I’m comfy answering these questions. If I spot something new, I look into it.
I preserve the the final day mild, as a result of I do not wish to be pressured throughout the interview and even the day earlier than. Interviews require you to be good at communication and time administration and pressurizing your self on the final day would possibly trigger extra hurt than good.
Put together inquiries to ask
On the day earlier than an enormous interview, I deal with planning what I wish to ask the hiring managers on the finish of our dialog.
This step is necessary for not solely doing properly within the interview but in addition for analyzing the corporate.
I normally ask hiring managers these three questions:
- What recommendation have they got for somebody who needs to reach the corporate?
- What has their progress been within the firm — what stage did they be part of, and the place are they at now?
- I do my analysis on the corporate’s upcoming initiatives or the methods they use and produce it up within the type of a query.
Solutions to those questions give me extra details about the corporate and play a job in my choice if I’m evaluating a number of gives.
For the second query, if somebody says they joined the corporate as a contemporary graduate and moved to a workers engineer function in three years, it tells me the corporate rewards prime performers. I attempt to ask a number of individuals this query and search for a sample. Just a few individuals saying they’re on the similar stage they joined a few years in the past makes the corporate tradition much less interesting to me.
Apart from serving to me, these questions inform the hiring workforce that I’m somebody who has executed their homework concerning the firm and is within the work they do.
As somebody who’s now on the opposite facet of the interview panel, I like when candidates ask me about my profession progress within the firm, or particular questions like why Meta is specializing in AI. This exhibits me that they preserve up-to-date with tech and are captivated with my firm.
Do you’re employed in tech, finance, or consulting and have tricks to share about your interview technique? E-mail this reporter at shubhangigoel@insider.com.
