I got referred to a research engineer job in a team called special projects (robotics). The job description and the requirements are very vague with no mention of specific programming languages, robotic simulators, or specific proficiency.

I am confused how to prepare for the technical loop interview. I keep getting advice not to wait to be approached by the recruiter as the process can go quite fast, but I just do not know what to prepare. Anyone can help with what I would expect to be interviewed for technically (python? ROS?, …)

Note: I am a postdoc for a top uni worldwide and my expertise is mainly in experimental work, prototyping and building new robots from scratch. My software skills are limited to what get my robots to work, reading sensors, data visualization, and modeling through reduced order models and some NN.

I had my Google onsite Round 2 today. The problem was design-heavy with multiple methods and ended up being 80+ lines of code using object-oriented design. I’d consider it a fairly difficult question.
I managed to complete the implementation, although I got interrupted a couple of times by the interviewer while coding (he later apologized for it) but later ran out of time during drying run and couldn't able to find a bug.

I’m trying to set realistic expectations and assume this round will be a Lean Hire.

My interview feedback (based on my own assessment) would roughly be:
Phone Screen (DSA): Lean Hire
Googliness: Strong Hire
Onsite 1: Hire
Onsite 2: Lean Hire
Given this mix, what are the chances of still moving to team matching and eventually getting an HC (Hiring Committee) approval? I know nobody can predict the outcome, but I’m curious if anyone has been in a similar situation with a mix of Hire and Lean Hire ratings and still made it through.
I’ve intentionally kept my expectations very low to avoid overthinking, but I’d love to hear real experiences from people who’ve gone through Google’s interview process.

I've passed two interview loops of system design interviews up until this point in my career for mid level engineering roles. I'm a senior engineer now going through recruiting again and am curious if the system design interview rounds will be roughly evaluating the same things for senior vs mid level or if they're expecting me to be substantially more technical in how I answer the question.

For IC4 mid level eng, knowing the components and their attributes and math was enough. What's the throughput, CAP theorem, how do you load balance, what type of load balance strategy, what type of storage, what type of cache. This is stuff you can study on any guide.

So will the system design interview for senior eng be harder? That aforementioned sys design study guide will have a LOT of content and I'm wondering if senior system design interviews are gonna really hammer these concepts home, and you'll fail if you don't know all of them.

I'm gonna be interviewing for some big tech companies soon with the traditional 5 round onsite interview process. I've heard that how well I do in the system design interview will determine my leveling. Problem is, I'd like to believe I'm effective as a senior eng but I was a product eng in big tech, meaning the low level storage and infra problems have largely been abstracted from me.

I'd like to hope that the system design interview will be similar to the mid level interview expectations.

Thanks for reading folks! Curious your experiences as an interviewer in big tech and as an interviewee.

Hey everyone,

I am genuinely losing my mind with manual applications. Just today, I saw a job posting that went live 5 minutes ago, and it already had dozens (if not hundreds) of applicants.

Up until now, I have been filling out every single application manually. The result? Absolutely zero interviews. I am realizing that by the time I type out all my info, clear the captcha, and hit submit, I am already buried at the bottom of a massive stack. I don't want to keep making the same mistake and falling behind.

I am ready to look into paid or free tools that help speed up the actual application filling process. To be clear, I can handle tailoring my resume on my own separately, so I don't need a heavy AI resume writer. I just need something that acts like autofill on steroids so I can get my foot in the door before the application window slams shut.

What is actually working for you guys right now to speed-apply? Are there specific extensions or platforms that are worth paying for?

Appreciate any recommendations or advice. Thanks!

I have an onsite loop coming up for an Engineering Manager role at Google, based in Poland (Warsaw). Looking for input from anyone who's been through the EM loop recently, ideally in an EMEA office.

A few things I'm trying to figure out:

• What does the EM loop actually cover these days — googleyness, leadership/people management, technical (coding/system design), and "roleplay" rounds? How much weight does each carry?
• For the technical rounds, is it still Leetcode-style coding, or more architecture and technical judgment given it's a management track?
• Anyone have real examples of the behavioral/leadership prompts? I've read the usual "tell me about a conflict with a report" type questions, but curious what actually came up.
• Poland/EMEA specific — did the process differ from what people describe for US-based EM interviews, or is it the same loop worldwide?
• How much do they probe on org design, hiring, and performance management versus day-to-day team execution?
• Timeline and comp negotiation — how long between onsite and offer, and is there room to negotiate in the Polish market specifically?

Any recent experience (last 6-12 months) would help most, since I know the process shifts. Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone! I’ve interviewed at Google twice over the past two years. Both times, I passed the technical rounds and made it to 3–4 team matching (TM) interviews.

The first time, I managed to get an offer after the first TM for the Warsaw office, but it was for a junior position and the salary was quite a bit lower than what I was making in Germany. I asked the recruiter if there were any other options, which, looking back, I think was a mistake.

The second time, I focused on the Dublin office. After clearing all the onsite rounds, I had three TM interviews, but all of the positions were filled by internal transfers shortly after. Friend who referred me tried asking around internally, but it didn’t help.

Given the tough job market right now, do you guys think it’s worth applying again? Joining Google used to be a dream of mine. But to be honest, I’m so exhausted from grinding LeetCode that I don’t think I have it in me this year.

For context, I’m a backend engineer with 6 years of experience, currently working at a large international company in Germany. I’ve solved around 500 LeetCode problems. Last year, alongside Google, I also interviewed with Uber and Amazon, but they ultimately went with other candidates.

2025 AI/ML grad, ex-Founding AI Engineer at an early-stage startup,

currently upskilling before starting my job hunt for SDE-1/AI-ML roles at top product companies.

Haven't applied anywhere yet — want the resume solid first.

Tear it apart, tell me what's not industry-ready.

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for feedback on my resume before I start applying for Summer 2027 internships.

Background:

• 4 years of industry experience in AI and software engineering.
• Experience working on Generative AI, LLMs, RAG systems, AI governance, backend development, and distributed systems.
• I'll be starting my M.S. in Artificial Intelligence in Fall 2026 and will be recruiting for AI/ML, Software Engineering, and AI Research internships for Summer 2027.

I'd really appreciate honest and constructive feedback on:

• Overall resume structure and readability
• Whether my experience bullets are impactful
• Whether the resume sounds too metric-heavy or contains weak claims
• Skills or sections that should be added or removed
• Anything that could improve my chances of getting interviews at companies like IBM Research, Microsoft, Google, Meta, NVIDIA, OpenAI, Anthropic, and other AI-focused organizations

I've anonymized the resume for privacy.

Thanks in advance for taking the time to review it!

Cross posting for more vis and discussion.

Hi all, looking for some perspective and advice. Currently a TPM at MSFT and interviewing for a Tech Finance role at Apple and not sure if this is a good career move.

Currently 12+ yoe - L65 at MSFT base 205k in Seattle at my cliff (430k on cliff) and interviewing for an ICT6 base 285k in Cupertino with signon (unknown $ but assuming +600k).

My background is in strategy, operations, strategic planning, tech Finance, data analysis & BI, SaaS tech dev, with both TPM & PM roles. I have significant experience at org level programs and change, but less than i would like at super deep technical platform building/management.

My concern is this new role feels MORE in the weeds and less strategic while also moving out of an operations and technical role to a super detail oriented financial planning & reconciliation one. At the same time, I could be talked into seeing the value in going deep on org level capex/opex/staffing planning & reconciliation to build the muscle. And not to mention having Apple on the resume + big $.

As I think about building my skillset & experience to move to TPM director/VP level roles in the FAANG community, im worried this may have more downside than upside towards that effort.

Looking for your advice, if you would take this role, and what I may be missing here. TIA.

I recently attended a mid‑level frontend interview where the interviewer asked about 20 in‑depth questions and grilled me on them. I answered most of the questions quickly and solved two easy programming problems. During the interview, he asked how I push code to Git and what processes should run in the CI/CD pipeline after a push — he wanted the entire architecture from pushing code to pre‑prod through to production. I completely blanked and said our DevOps team handles that, which I think didn’t sit well with him. He also asked about git rebase, which I answered.

If anyone knows a clear, interview‑friendly way to explain the CI/CD flow and Git workflows, please comment — I don’t want a generic ChatGPT answer, so I’m asking here for real, practical advice.

Hi everyone,

I have an onsite first-round interview coming up for a Software Engineer role at Pure Storage / Everpure in Santa Clara. The round is two 1-hour interviews: one Algorithms/Data Structures and one Concurrency, both whiteboard-style.

The recruiter mentioned that the algorithm round is likely custom/multi-part rather than direct LeetCode, and the concurrency round may involve applying concepts like locks, semaphores, condition variables, deadlocks, race conditions, etc. in a problem-solving/coding setting.

I’m mainly looking for advice from anyone who has gone through similar Pure Storage SWE interviews:

• What kind of algorithm question style should I expect?
• How deep does the concurrency round usually go?
• Any specific topics/problem types worth prioritizing?
• Any tips for whiteboard-style communication?

Not asking for exact questions, just trying to prepare in the right direction. Thanks!

I'm a recent CS graduate currently working at a startup, and I want to make FAANG (or equivalent top tech companies) my long-term goal.

There are so many roadmaps online that it's overwhelming. I'd really appreciate advice from people who've actually made it.

Specifically, I'm looking for:

• What should I focus on first?
• DSA roadmap (topics + LeetCode progression)
• When to start System Design
• Projects that actually help
• Backend vs Full Stack vs Mobile—does it matter?
• How important is open source?
• Resume tips that helped you get interviews
• Timeline (6 months, 1 year, 2 years?)
• Common mistakes you wish you had avoided
• Resources you found most valuable

If you were starting from Day 0 today, what exact roadmap would you follow until you landed a FAANG (or FAANG-level) offer?

Thanks in advance! I'd love to learn from your experiences.

Hi Reddit,
A few weeks ago, I applied for an SDE role at Zoom. Yesterday, a recruiter called me to schedule my first interview, which is tomorrow.
What surprised me is that the very first round is with the Hiring Manager. I was expecting an initial coding or screening round, so I’m not really sure what to expect.
Since I don’t have much time to prepare, I’d really appreciate any advice on what topics I should focus on or what kind of questions are usually asked in this round. If anyone has gone through Zoom’s hiring process recently, I’d love to hear about your experience.
Feel free to reply here or DM me. Thanks in advance!