August 16, 2021
I've studied so hard over the last months. Spent Christmas vacation leetcoding and doing mocks with other blinders[1] and today finally the result came!
I passed E6 with flying colors!!! 😂🎊🤣🎉In the upcoming weeks I'll have the numbers. Maybe next week.
Not sure if I'll join (already made another post about it) but I'm still so incredibly happy that I wanted to share with you blind strangers! Thanks a lot.
I have so many questions but I'll make another post.
EDIT: as requested preparation strategy (copy and paste from another post I made https://www.teamblind.com/post/244k8jBK?cid=11919558)
System Design:
I have ZERO hands-one experience with DISTRIBUTED systems (I do experience with system design, mainly embedded). I didn't know anything when I started my preparation.
I read DDIA and System Design Interview ( http://bit.ly/2N4NaTe ) book (much better than grokking) and I did tons of mocks in the 2 months before
the interview (like everyday). I also did a couple of paid on interviewing.io which were very useful.
InfoQ videos are extremely useful. I lost count of how many I watched. And of course, countless of articles online to dig
deeper in some area. Everything was new to me. It was a lot of work.
Here you can see an old (bad performance) of mine, but at least you can get an idea about the format I used: https://bit.ly/36fxRhk
Unfortunately the idea of recording my sessions came very late to my mind. And yes, this is also self-promoting.
Coding:
FB is very predictable, so stick to LC tagged questions and do lots of mocks. Train on speed and debugging
manually, like I did here: https://bit.ly/2NB6vvz
Some questions were not on LC but very similar. One interviewer asked me 5 (five) questions, because I was stupid
honest about having seen 3 of them (all hard) and knew optimal solution which I outlined clearly.
Behavioral:
Do NOT underestimate this one! I started practicing and collecting stories only close to the end, but for senior positions
is probably the most important. Luckily it went decent.
UPDATE: some people are asking how on earth can you join FB as E6 without any DISTRIBUTED system design experience. Well, that's exactly what I asked myself many times and also told the recruiter! My CV does not lie and I'm sure they can read it. I do however have experience in system design (embedded mostly) and I plan to join a team (if I decide to join FB) that matches my expertise. I'm mostly looking at FLR where I already saw some openings for OS/kernel/system engineers.
UPDATE2: I'm getting a lot of request for mock interviews. Send me an email with timezones, availability, YoE at interview.me.mock@gmail.com
I want to make some videos so I'm looking for someone to interview. Expect delay in response. If you have upcoming interview please state it so that I can prioritize. People on blind have helped me in the past, so I want to return the favor.
UPDATE3: I created a discord server because people are asking where to find a pal to mock with https://discord.gg/6AAKTPv3jK join and find a match. I can also help with mocks over the weekend until COVID and lockdown is around.
UPDATE4: I gave 50 free mocks. None worth recording unfortunately. I will not give any more free mock interviews. Feel free to join the discord channel for finding a mock partner. There are 1K users now. I can do only paid on request if I have time.
PREPARATION DETAILS:
Started in May 2020 with only algorithms before any company contacted me because I wanted to try Google in 2021.
Watched: MIT 6006 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtSuA80QTyo&list=PLUl4u3cNGP61Oq3tWYp6V_F-5jb5L2iHb
Watched: Coursera part 1,2,3 of https://www.coursera.org/specializations/algorithms
Watched: Graph course from Google enginer - https://www.udemy.com/course/graph-theory-algorithms/
Read books: Algorithms illuminated 1,2,3 (now I'm reading 4)
Read books: Competitive programming 4 part I https://cpbook.net/
In mid-november (two months before the final, I started with sys design, I wish I started much earlier).
Read books: Design-data intensive application (Klappman) and System Design Interview (Alex Zu).
Start mocking regularly. My first session was barely a hire for E4 (feedback from FB E6 from interviewing.io).
I spent 1400 Euro on mocks! It's a investment. Period. It worked. Don't care what you think.
Watched: InfoQ video from Netflix/Twitter/Amazon https://www.youtube.com/user/MarakanaTechTV
Watched: Some facebook video from their channel. This one multiple times! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RfFhMwRAic
Read: counteless of papers: Dynamo, Memcached, Redis, and other I don't remember.
I was able to do all of this because of COVID! I guess there is a silver line in every cloud otherwise it would have
been impossible.
Now I'm continuing my preparation for Google and I'm changing it because I know it's a different ball game and I don't think I have a chance.
However, I am
Reading: https://jeffe.cs.illinois.edu/teaching/algorithms/
Reading: Competitive programming 4 part 2 https://cpbook.net/
Watching: MIT 6046 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P-yW7LQr08&list=PLUl4u3cNGP6317WaSNfmCvGym2ucw3oGp
Keep doing mocks but not focusing on speed but rather on complex problem with a very vague problem description.
The hiring process is broken. What a surprise... My answer? Suck it up and deal with it.
What we can do to change it is to become all code monkeys and good at it so that they change it,
like Square or Stripe is doing! (I would love to work for them!)
Training!
This is the most important part. I kept training regularly 4-5 times a week. In the gym (boxing) until they were open
and powerlifting (home). My bench went from 130Kg to 145Kg during my preparation. Highest in my entire life.
Squat is still 185Kg. Deadlift I stopped. Don't have time. But it is still around 210Kg. Body weight is 78Kg.
YoE 10
Current TC 110k (current Europe)
[1] https://youtu.be/S8AT0dgPPRo
Ps. I failed Amazon right before FB.
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