Anyone here work at a prestigious company but couldn't pass the interview before trying again?
I work at a non-prestigious company and it's been my dream to work at Goog/FB/Airbnb, but I failed the first round interviews at each of them. I didn't think I was stupid, but I don't know. I'm wondering if there's anyone here who can provide advice/motivational stories/reality check on whether or not someone with average intelligence could pass these interviews (or at least get past the first round) with studying. If I had gotten past the first round, I wouldn't have felt as bad, but I didn't. Alternatively, if it's not possible for an average intelligence person to pass the first round by studying please let me know.
practice leetcode, try again
OP, you’ve been asking the same question multiple times since the past few months. I think you should find a psychiatrist. Moreover, please get the F out of amazon. If you need help with that, please share your details.
I wonder if it’s the same person who keeps posting about “prestigious companies”
It is
Just like math is all about practice, so is programming. Sure, some can be more mathematically inclined and have better problem solving skills, but that doesn’t mean it is not possible to catch up to them. You already got into Amazon, so the problem here is probably insufficient practice in problem solving, communication skills. And that is an easy problem to solve :).
Amazons interview process was a joke, ask anyone who got in as a new grad. Also, the problem is definitely problem solving. Can that be improved if you're of average intelligence, or is it purely determined by iq?
IQ is a bullshit metric, look it up. And even if it did mean something, what’s the point? In good sales job you’d be much better off with great communication skills than higher IQ, for example. My average GPA coming out of college was 2.5, and yet I had no problem interviewing. I find my communication skills matter more than programming anyway. It is all about practice. If you were to give me the same problems I had to do when I had my interview for current job, I doubt I’d be able to solve them now (without practice), which should be surprising considering I have a few years of real world experience. I helped a lot of people get into big companies, and the only ones who did not get in were ones who did not sufficiently practice. Interestingly enough, it was the smartest people who didn’t get in - because they thought they knew everything and therefore didn’t study. And many those who I’d consider to be less intelligent than me already have management positions, so maybe I was the dumb one? :) I’d recommend you work on ways to find confidence and stop relying on bullshit metrics, intelligence, prestige, and all that garbage. It is meaningless. Your unique skill set is extremely valuable when you know how to apply it, and no one has the same unique skillset/experience you do, so the whole idea of average/above average intelligence is a dumb thing anyway. I know plenty of people who are much more talented and smarter than me, however I’m very good at noticing patterns and thinking outside the box. I’ve delivered better results in 8 hours of writing a script than others did in months designing and developing a complicated project to solve the same problem. It is all relative, my friend :).
You have an insecurity complex and a serious one. Your work does not define you. You think you've average intelligence and you hope that a prestigious company will define you.
Cool. So can you answer my question?
@flCL14: He did answer your question.... he pointed out the root cause of the problem. He went one step ahead and gave you the solution you’re looking for by asking your original question. Think of it this way: you’re asking what would work best to stop the bleeding from your wounds, and @Qlch60 pointed out that you’re the one inflicting the wounds to yourself in the first place. Although it doesn’t answer how to stop the bleeding, it does help you notice how you can stop the root of the problem in the first place.
How does one quantify “prestigious?”
1. You are probably not of average intelligence. Just working in a tech/STEM field makes it highly likely that you are above average. 2. Imagine that in order to make it onto an NBA team, you had to hit a ton of free throws. That’s it - just free throws. No ball handling, defense, passing, etc. That’s the coding interview: free throws (leetcode, etc) as proxy for being a well rounded player. 3. So you are a decent player but rusty on free throws, what do you do? Practice (do + understand sample problems). Introspect: look at your psychology, read books on performance coaching, maybe hire a performance coach for a few hours yourself. 4. Commit yourself to taking as long as it takes to improve this skill and build your confidence. 5. Do “warm ups” : do lots of interviews at other companies while you build up to interviews at your target company. 6. You are more than capable of doing this. Google and Facebook are not comprised of only geniuses. Some people were naturally good at free throws and others practiced their asses off to get good at them.
First, thanks for answering the question. Second, is it possible for a regular intelligence person to get good at these coding problems? I'm happy to put in the work, but I need to know it's possible. If it's impossible for someone of average intelligence to become good at these problems, then there's no point. And that's the evidence I see. I'd love to be disproven, which is why I post these questions. But when you press the people who say "practice helps", it turns out the reason they didn't get in the first time wasn't cause they're not smart enough like me, it's always something like they didn't even know what leetcode was, or they got past the first round but not the onsite. So I need to know: is it possible for someone like me, someone who studied but still couldn't get past the first round, to pass these interviews with practice
I'm gonna give you a positive answer, yes it is possible and very likely.
For a lot of people, Amazon is prestigious, and the folks I know at Google and Facebook are pretty damn respectful of Amazon. They probably wouldn’t join it, though 😂
They probably respect it based on long work hours, not technical talent.
Interned at Amazon 3 summers ago. Most of my friends dont consider it as great as G/FB. AFAIK the hierarchy of silicon valley street cred (for large companies) is: 1. G/FB/Apple (Apple is contentious) 2. Microsoft 3. Amazon