That sounds unlike faang interviews (the only one person being a swe part). Which one was it and what were the interviews like?
The non-team thing is common but they do it to bring “objectivity” to the process and since it’s leetcode or system design questions, it usually doesn’t matter unless you’re applying for a highly specialized role.
I can speak for google and Amazon - you might not even apply for a specific team till you’re in, and do that afterwards. Facebook also did team match post boot camp.
The interview revolved almost 100% around their leadership principles, of which humility is not one, so that should pinpoint it. And I said no one was a software engineer. All six were management.
Google told me the interview would be in my choice of language. I chose C#, passed the first interview, then the second interview was in C and was based on language trivia. The kind of stuff you won’t know unless you work with C on a daily basis.
That is right in line with the experience of a good friend of mine.
He went on a Google interview, and they said he could solve a problem in the language of his choice. They gave him the assignment and left the room. Since we were at Apple at the time, he was coding daily in Objective-C. So he solved the problem in that.
Despite having said "use any language," the guy came back and said, "Oh, not THAT one."
And that's not even covering the douchebaggery that reportedly occurs once you work there. Another trusted friend, who worked there for years, reported being forced to rank coworkers with a graphical tool that shows pictures of them... and requires you to move them up or down on the screen to put some above others. It makes it impossible for you to put people on an equal level.
This is not from someone who makes stuff up, not to mention that this would be an oddly detailed thing to make up.
> The interview revolved almost 100% around their leadership principles, of which humility is not one, so that should pinpoint it. And I said no one was a software engineer.
"Leadership principles" sound like Amazon. As far as I know they purposely get all their SDEs involved in hiring, and the bulk of their interviews is based on hard-skills, even when the interviewer's goal is to assess "leadership principles".
Also, one of their explicit interview goals is to have the candidate leave the interview round with a good impression of the company.
Nothing in your story adds up. Either you're embellishing it too hard or you're misusing the FANG keyword.
The non-team thing is common but they do it to bring “objectivity” to the process and since it’s leetcode or system design questions, it usually doesn’t matter unless you’re applying for a highly specialized role.
I can speak for google and Amazon - you might not even apply for a specific team till you’re in, and do that afterwards. Facebook also did team match post boot camp.