Sign in
Log inSign up
Andrey Goncharov

273 likes

·

26.4K reads

37 comments

Eleftheria Batsou
Eleftheria Batsou
Aug 31, 2021

Wow, that was incredible! Thanks for putting everything together.

Great tips and experiences.

Congratulations on your new job!!

1
·
·1 reply
Andrey Goncharov
Andrey Goncharov
Author
·Aug 31, 2021

Thank you!

·
Vijay Thirugnanam
Vijay Thirugnanam
Aug 31, 2021

I like to immigrate, preferably to Canada. But UK will be great as well.

1
·
Chris Bongers
Chris Bongers
Aug 30, 2021

wow thanks for noting this all down Andrey, very helpful indeed.

What keeps bugging me... Why are the interviews like this?

Meaning, it comes down to a bit of luck, a lot of just stamping some basic solutions (you'll likely never use in your job) into. your head and give those as an answer?

and yet if you fail those, your level is not high enough?

At least this is what FAANG interviews sound like to me... And from what I read above,

In all honesty i just never got past middle tier companies, so my experience with these are 0. yet can't see to understand why one should need to learn basic answers from their mind over actual real world experiences?

Not to work you down, i'm sure you are a great dev, without having done all the leetcode stuff. And I want to end by congratulating you on your new job!

·
·3 replies
Andrey Goncharov
Andrey Goncharov
Author
·Aug 30, 2021

Thanks for reading! AFAIU, FAANG can accept a high rate of false negatives when they turn down someone who could do the job as long as it helps to minimize the false positives. It takes a long time to get acquainted with the process on the inside as there are so many internal tools. So it even makes sense to a certain degree. I, personally, learned a ton while doing Leetcode over those two months. I like thinking that it helped me to have a different perspective on some tasks I faced later at work. On the other hand, I see where you are coming from. It makes a lot of sense. I think, ultimately, the question does not matter as much as the interviewer. Some interviewers seem to have binary judgment. You either know a solution or you do not. However, some other interviewers give you small hints along the road and try to figure out how your brain works and how fast you can grasp new concepts. I truly loved being on a call with the second type of interviewers! I would say that the problem might be not with the process itself, but with how the process is approached. Thank you for your kind words!

1
·
Chris Bongers
Chris Bongers
Aug 31, 2021

Andrey Goncharov That makes sense, agreed it's also a thin line between who is interviewing and effort vs outcome.

Thank you for this amazing write up

·
Andrey Goncharov
Andrey Goncharov
Author
·Aug 31, 2021

Chris Bongers thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts!

·
Catalin Pit
Catalin Pit
Aug 31, 2021

Oh, wow! It was great reading about your experiences and super motivating. Well done to you! 👏

Also, thanks for linking various resources in this article.

·
·1 reply
Andrey Goncharov
Andrey Goncharov
Author
·Aug 31, 2021

Thank you!

·
Arthur Grishkevich
Arthur Grishkevich
Aug 31, 2021

Awesome and engaging read Andrey! Congratulations on your new role at Facebook, I hope you will love London.

·
·1 reply
Andrey Goncharov
Andrey Goncharov
Author
·Aug 31, 2021

Thanks for reading!

·
Tapas Adhikary
Tapas Adhikary
Aug 31, 2021

Andrey Goncharov. This is amazing. Thanks a lot for sharing.

·
·1 reply
Andrey Goncharov
Andrey Goncharov
Author
·Aug 31, 2021

Thanks for reading!

·
Ankit Raj
Ankit Raj
Aug 31, 2021

This is amazing Andrey Goncharov!

Thanks for adding in-depth experience.

All the best for your new beginnings. ✨

·
·1 reply
Andrey Goncharov
Andrey Goncharov
Author
·Aug 31, 2021

Thank you!

·
Shad Mirza
Shad Mirza
Aug 31, 2021

Loved it. Specially all the memes. Glad to have you here Andrey

·
·1 reply
Andrey Goncharov
Andrey Goncharov
Author
·Aug 31, 2021

Thanks!

·
Ashik Varma
Ashik Varma
Aug 31, 2021

Truly inspirational. Thank you for sharing your experience.

·
·1 reply
Andrey Goncharov
Andrey Goncharov
Author
·Aug 31, 2021

Thanks for reading!

1
·
Deactivated User
Deactivated User
Deactivated User
Aug 31, 2021

Very educative, I learned a lot reading this. Thank you very much.

I hope I don't take much of your time, but do you think someone without any professional experience can get interviews at FAANG companies?

·
·2 replies
Andrey Goncharov
Andrey Goncharov
Author
·Aug 31, 2021

Thanks for reading! To my best knowledge, landing a job at FAANG without any professional experience might be a problem. However, I would encourage you to look at the internships that many big companies, including FAANG, offer. Good luck!

1
·
Deactivated User
Deactivated User
Deactivated User
Sep 1, 2021

Thank you very much for your response.

·
Nick
Nick
Sep 1, 2021

great story, amazing tips! поздравляю с позицией :)

·
·1 reply
Andrey Goncharov
Andrey Goncharov
Author
·Sep 1, 2021

Thank you ;)

·
Rafael Amorim
Rafael Amorim
Sep 3, 2021

Great post, Andrey Goncharov

I’m just curious about the your skillset, we all know that each one of those FAANG works in a completely different tech-stack, did you feel that tech you’re experienced had any influence during the process? Or they were completely agnostic in that sense?

Thanks and congratulation on your new job!

·
·2 replies
Andrey Goncharov
Andrey Goncharov
Author
·Sep 5, 2021

Hi Rafael! Thank you! Answering your question, most of the companies mentioned were tech-agnostic. The only ones who tested my knowledge of a particular area (React) were Uber, Booking, and JP Morgan.

1
·
Rafael Amorim
Rafael Amorim
Sep 5, 2021

Good to know! Thanks Andrey Goncharov

·
Shashi Jakka
Shashi Jakka
Sep 4, 2021

Truly amazing Stroy Andrey, Engaging all the way till the end. i am also thinking to migrate to Canada , your story really boosted my confidence,

thank you so much for sharing such an insightful journey!

Congratulations on your new role at Facebook!!

·
·1 reply
Andrey Goncharov
Andrey Goncharov
Author
·Sep 5, 2021

Hi Shashi! Thank you and good luck!

·
Alex Zaharia
Alex Zaharia
Sep 15, 2021

Awesome article, Andrey. Loved your style of writing, I felt I can relate to you.

The tips about applying to different regions is new info for me. Good stuff.

Also, I didn't expect the process to take that long. 3 months seems like a long time for completing the hiring process for a company.

I have a question, what kind of prior experience to this did you have with Leetcode style questions?

Cheers 🍻

·
·2 replies
Andrey Goncharov
Andrey Goncharov
Author
·Sep 18, 2021

Thank you, Alex! Happy I could help, even a little bit.

Also, I didn't expect the process to take that long. 3 months seems like a long time for completing the hiring process for a company.

Most FAANG recruiters not only expected me to prep for their interviews but even encouraged me to do so. From my experience, it is quite normal for them.

I have a question, what kind of prior experience to this did you have with Leetcode style questions?

No experience.

1
·
Alex Zaharia
Alex Zaharia
Sep 18, 2021

Andrey Goncharov

Most FAANG recruiters not only expected me to prep for their interviews but even encouraged me to do so. From my experience, it is quite normal for them.

Basically the time you spend preparing for the interview is like a small internship 😂

No experience.

That's impressive. Getting up to the level of FAANG only after a few months of preparation considering you had a full time job as well. Hats off, dude 🎩

·
Evgeny
Evgeny
Dec 7, 2021

Thank you, Andrei. Your experience is very helpful. Especially when the process goes not the way you would expect. In particular you wrote [amazon] "while the majority of the time went into the behavioral part of the interview. I thought I did well... and I was wrong". Same story here. What was hard to digest is the unknown of what exactly went wrong with the behavioral questions. For technical part you know where you stumble right away. For behavioral you doubt yourself to the core. For that situation did you manage to realize what had gone wrong and fix it for later interviews?

·
·1 reply
Andrey Goncharov
Andrey Goncharov
Author
·Dec 21, 2021

Hi Evgeny, thanks for reading! Nope, I never figured out what went wrong that day. I guess that's why it is popular to have dozens of interviews lined up.

·
Esther Ejidike
Esther Ejidike
Mar 17, 2023

Your story is so inspiring. I literally held my breath reading about the facebook interview and I was so happy you got an offer. : )

Could you maybe share the CV that got you interviews with all these companies?

I know it's so late but congratulations! Stories like this give me hope.

·
·1 reply
Andrey Goncharov
Andrey Goncharov
Author
·Mar 17, 2023
·
Peter C. Okereke
Peter C. Okereke
Mar 17, 2023

Wow, that was incredible! And at the same time, overwhelming. Any advice on how to address the feeling of such, based on your personal experiences when applying to these FAANG companies?

·