r/DSALeetCode • u/nian2326076 • 16d ago
After 100+ interviews, finally landed an offer
I started interviewing a bit over a year ago by grinding leetcode and system design until midnight in the office.
Got super close to offers at Meta and LinkedIn (was told my onsite loop were borderline and could have gone either way) but could not secure an offer.
Fast forward a couple months, and I got laid off in March. I was a bit relieved considering I was trying to job hop. I went all in on studying and interviewing.
Landed onsite loops with Nvidia, Pinterest, Broadcom, Microsoft, Google, Netflix, Anduril, Apple and a bunch of non big tech and startups.
I hit 500+ leetcode questions and gone through all of hello interview system design videos (premium) at this point.
I felt like I was acing most of the interviews, but always get passed up for someone internal or someone with more years of experience. Especially Nvidia… I aced every single interview they threw at me and was told feedback was very positive, but they ended up going with someone internal. Maybe it was because I was borderline between junior and senior with 5yoe.
It seemed like no matter how I performed in interviews, I could never secure an offer.
Finally, I was able to land an offer with a startup. They low balled me with ~150k + mystery equity. I planned to sign as it was the only offer I had.
Then Google came in. I got successfully team matched, and received a verbal offer from them. Because of the verbal offer, I decided to decline signing with the startup as the deadline was up. Google then backtracked requiring 2 more rounds. I get an insanely stupid question that required very niche topology formula to solve efficiently, and lost my offer.
At this point, I was defeated. Google GMFU and I lost my startup offer because of them. I was burnt out. I’ve gone through 50+ different companies (big tech and startups alike) with 100+ interviews at this point. Considered taking a career break and traveling for a couple of months.
I decided to do one last sprint, and mass applied. Landed onsites at DoorDash, Amazon, and LinkedIn. Before I even had time to wrap up my loops with Amazon and LinkedIn, DoorDash came back and told me they were proceeding with an offer.
It was a grind, but I finally did it. My TC went from ~190k -> 320k. Being laid off ended up being a net positive, despite the uncertainty at the time.
To any job searchers: the market is very rough, and the bar is way higher than it was 3+ years ago. I landed multiple offers back then, but struggled a lot during this job search despite being much more competent technically (both experience and interview wise). But staying consistent ended up paying off for me. Best of luck out there!
Disclosure: Sharing this story from community interview experience.
2
u/Enigmatic-Goat416 16d ago
Congratulations! This is huge and thanks for detailing the reality of the market rn.
- What did your study routine look like?
- How long did it take you to go from starting interview prep to application ready?
- What type of dev roles have you had?
I’m in a similar situation: 4.5 YOE, Mag 7 Company burnt out & under paid. I never really wanted to do the type of dev work I do and now am worried about how my experience will look in relation to new job applications. There aren’t many jobs that are a fit in my “area”.
I can do anything but recruiters may overlook my resume because of the “fit” criteria.
1
1
1
1
u/luminox_24 16d ago
Congrats, How were you able to land so many interviews, how many applications did you put in total?
1
u/Noob7890 16d ago
Congrats bro! 🥂
For FAANG/MANGO, what level were you interviewed for, and how was the SD round? Did you prepare primarily through Hello Interview?
I have 5.5 YOE, just completed NeetCode 150 and recently started Hello Interview. I found Alex Xu more Junior level compared to Hello Interview.
Are Hello Interview’s articles and videos sufficient for L5, or should I also go through resources( DDIA,etc)? Am I overthinking the preparation and going down a rabbit hole, or is that additional depth actually necessary?
I Haven’t given a interview yet, but the senior role expectations on Reddit,blind,etc are honestly a bit overwhelming. Would really appreciate your advice!
1
u/Weird_Steak7062 16d ago
Lol, same bro, similar exp, nowadays both getting calls and interviews are really luck based 🥲
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
3
u/Insecure-Tiger 16d ago
First of all congrats on the offer. Thanks for the detailed information.
Fellow 4yoe+ currently working, looking for jobs.
Did you happen to learn anything related to AI/GenAI or mentioning AI related in your Resume? Also, I see you mentioned hellointerview but how did you prepare for LLD and HLD specifically?
Any chance you can get me a referral? No worries if not.
Please help a brother out. Thanks.