Interviewing Process

Everybody’s interview process varies a lot depending on what companies they apply for, how they apply, and sometimes just chance! However, in general, the interview process at many of the big tech firms (Facebook, Google, Microsoft, etc) follows the below pattern.

1.  Behavioral Phone Interview

Some companies start their recruiting process with a “get to know you” phone call with a recruiter. Think of this as a casual conversation where you have the opportunity to learn more about the company and tell them more about what makes you tick. In essence, it is a behavioral interview though, so be sure to show the company how amazing you are! Think about what you are passionate about, why you are interested in CS,  and what you want to know about the company. Also, be ready to talk about a cool project you worked on and some of the difficulties related to the project. Mostly, this interview is just for the interviewer to get a sense for you as a human being – and whether you would be a good “fit” for their company.

2. Coding Challenge 

The {@link InterviewPrep} post should provide a lot more details about how to prepare for technical interviews, but coding challenges have become more common as the number of applicants for software engineering internships have increased! Some coding challenges measure your problem solving skills under time pressure – you open the link and have 30 minutes – 2 hours to complete the problems. Other coding challenges give you more time – from a couple of days to a week – to finish the problem. These coding challenges will normally have a couple of public test cases, as well as some private test cases. Just try to pseudocode out a solution, code it up, and then leave some time to debug / edge case at the end!

3. Phone Interview

The next stage is typically a phone interview with an engineer. Expect to be on the phone while coding on a shared notepad. Make sure to tell the interviewer what you are thinking – it’s harder for them to understand your thought process over the phone. ‘

4. Superday!

Yay! You made it to Superday – this is typically the final round in the interview process. Also called the onsite, bigger companies will typically fly you out to one of their headquarters for you to be interviewed on campus. The first half of the day is normally reserved for technical interviews. Sometimes the company will take you out for lunch or give you a tour of the building afterwards. Then, if you do well, they will typically schedule a couple “fit” interviews for the second half of the day – they really just want to scope out whether they think you would do well at the company, what you would be like to work with, etc. Sometimes, you’ll also have a quick interview with a recruiter as well where you can tell him/her upcoming deadlines, other places you are interviewing with, etc. And that’s it! Good luck!