The easiest way to get into the Big Tech
Big Tech, and especially companies like Microsoft, Google, Meta, Netflix, etc. are highly desired places to work for software developers. And there are many good reasons for this. They tend to offer compensation way higher than smaller companies. You will be surrounded by nice and highly enthusiastic people.
You may even have a chance to make a big impact by working on a product that millions of people will use. Not to mention that having “ex-Google” or “ex-Amazon” in your resume will unlock many opportunities for you.
While there were some mass layoffs in Big Tech in 2023 and 2024, the good news is these companies are hiring again. Another good news is that if you want to end up working for Big Tech, there is a process you can follow to maximize your chances of getting there. After all, these companies tend to follow very similar hiring processes.
Of course, it won’t guarantee that you will get hired by Google because it’s still up to you to put the required work in. Also, there might be circumstances outside your control that will prevent you from getting hired. Nevertheless, if you want to have a go and try to get a job in one of these Big Tech firms, I will show you what you need to do.
Become someone Big Tech will want to approach
All Big Tech companies have an online application form that you can fill out. However, as someone who works for Microsoft and who knows several people working for various similar companies, the number of people that I know who got invited for an interview after completing this form is close to zero.
Many application forms get rejected simply because there are way too many people filling them out. The majority of people who get hired by Big Tech are approached by recruiters. Therefore, to maximize your chances of getting into a top tech company, you will need to become someone that these recruiters will want to approach.
At the very least, you need to ensure that your LinkedIn profile is well-filled. You will need to highlight your experience and the impact you’ve made.
However, your chances of being contacted by a Big Tech recruiter will be significantly increased if you are an active contributor to the tech community. You can start writing your tech blogs. You can create your own YouTube channel. You can even start writing technical books.
The louder you speak about yourself — the greater the chance that you’ll be heard by the right people.
Keep cracking Leetcode
Almost all Big Tech companies use Leetcode style coding tests in the technical interviews. At least, all the FAANG companies do. If you are new to this acronym, it stands for Facebook (as Meta used to be called), Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google. Therefore, to have even the slightest chance of passing a technical interview at one of these companies, you absolutely must practice Leetcode.
Not everyone likes the Leetcode challenges, but if it happens to be you, don’t despair. Most developers can easily make themselves enjoy doing the challenges, so the process of practicing for a technical interview turns from a grind into a pleasant way to pass your time. I have previously written an article on how to start enjoying this practice.
There are also specific milestones you can aim at. A standard recommendation for any Big Tech company is to complete 200 medium-difficulty Leetcode challenges before your big interview. Companies rarely ask you to solve anything above the medium difficulty level during the interviews and 200 should be enough to make yourself good at them.
Also, make sure you cover a variety of different areas as you practice. Don’t just focus on one area, like strings or arrays. Oh, and it’s extremely rare for Big Tech companies to care about what specific programming language you use. The good news is that you can practice with whatever language you are comfortable with.
Don’t neglect the soft skills
Remember that it’s not your Leetcode skills that the Big Tech companies actually care about. They test your ability to work with others. Therefore, they care way more about your ability to explain your thought process well than your ability to actually solve the challenges.
Let’s imagine two hypothetical situations. One candidate solved all Leetcode challenges during the interview and was able to provide highly optimized solutions. However, it was all done in silence. The second candidate didn’t manage to solve a Leetcode challenge, even though he was close to solving it. However, as he was solving the challenge, he was explaining all his steps and ensured the interviewer understood the explanations.
This may be counterintuitive, but the second candidate has a much greater chance of landing the job. In fact, the first candidate has almost no chance. Big Tech cares a lot about your communication skills. Without displaying them, you will probably fail the selection process.
Master system design
The second important feature of almost all Big Tech interviews is system design. You will be asked questions about designing a system or will even be asked to design one. The system in question can be anything. It can be a social media platform. It can be an e-commerce website. It can be something else entirely.
Fortunately, there are ways you can prepare yourself for this part of an interview. One of the best resources is the System Design Primer on GitHub. It’s a resource that contains a wealth of information and a lot of examples.
However, to truly internalize the system design concepts, try to build your own system in a language and framework of your choice. Remember that we don’t tend to retain the information well if we merely read it. However, we do remember things well if we practice them. Therefore, the best way of preparing yourself for a system design interview is to design your own system.
Wrapping up
Today, we covered the most important aspects of getting noticed by Big Tech as a candidate and preparing yourself for their interview. Of course, there might be more to it. But the good news is that every Big Tech company will tell you exactly what the interview will consist of and what you need to practice to prepare for it.
There are also certain creators that you can follow who post helpful content. Here are three I will recommend today.
- is an ex-Twitter engineer and is one of the best writers in the system design space. He explains how real-life system works in an easy-to-understand manner by providing many useful visualizations and diagrams.
- is another great author who specializes in system design. His articles are of very high quality and, once again, are very easy to understand. He is a very valuable creator to follow if you are preparing for your system design interview.
- is an ex-Amazon engineer who writes about pretty much all things we discussed today: data structures and algorithms needed for Leetcode challenges, system design, and other useful information about the skills needed to land a job in Big Tech.
That’s it for today and I’ll see you next time!