Top Tech Company Application / Timeline / Specifics

Breaking down the specific details for top tech companies reach out / tips I have to hear back from companies

Overview

This is just an accumulation of the tips and tricks that I have for specific tech companies. I’ll note anytime the information is not from me, and is just a data point.
This is particularly focused for interns / new grads.

Read my table of content for other articles. If you have not already joined my Discord, (especially if you are paid! you should!)

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References

Articles that I’ll reference:

How to actually "get interviews" at big tech as an intern / new grad

The Framework that Got Me Offers from Google / Meta / Amazon + more

Companies

Amazon

General Amazon Process

Amazon tends to be the easiest to get in. Somethings to note:

1. If you apply too early in June / July, you might actually get called in. Thus, I recommend only apply when ready, and following my other article’s timeline of how to get the interview for when to apply

2. Amazon tends to process OAs in batches, meaning that when you apply, then tend to send out batches of OAs in October, November, December. So don’t be worried if you see a bunch of people get OAs but you didn’t. You can always use my tips in the other article to have two running applications though potentially.

3. Amazon interviews tend to be upper easy to medium leetcode. But I would say they tend to be much more loose on people getting in, often even if your performance was just solving the question - for an intern at least - they let you in. I’ve seen people get number of island, two sum, sliding window. All very generic easy leetcode questions and patterns.

4. Amazon internship tends to be very easy to get in. Being only a single interview round, versus their full time is 3 rounds.

5. Amazon for new grads, depending how late you get your offer can put you on a waitlist. If this is the case, they usually do end up accepting people, but depending on the economic condition, I’ve seen people get dropped.

6. Top things I would study for Amazon is: arrays, strings, graphs

Timeline:

Apply between September to October, and then wait for OA. Track using CSCareers to see if OAs are being sent out in batches.

Notes about Amazon OA

Usually after the Amazon programming OA is a workplace assessment. Some tips on this is:

a) Sometimes you need to refer back and forth between diagrams, to answer a question. It can be annoying to click back and forth, so you can just take a photo of the diagrams using your phone.

b) Be sane. For ex. one the questions is “What to do if your project timeline gets cut in half” and one of the options is to work overtime. (That is not the answer). But a lot of work-heavy culture / backgrounds will answer that.

Google

Google is extremely random to get. It mostly just depends if you get lucky enough to receive their OA. Once you do, I recommend to read Leetcode Discussion, in order to get a sense of the questions. It won’t be exact as it randomizes from a bank, but it should give you some ideas.

In addition, once you pass that, then you are onto the technical interview, I recommend to prepare on Leetcode Explore Page for Google. The question’s won’t be the same, but it should help give you the level of difficulty / rigor. In addition…