I was pretty baffled when I first learnt about Netflix’s philosophy of hiring exclusively senior software engineers. What? No room for my beloved new grads or mid level engineers? How very square of them!** I recently left my job as an engineering manager at Lyft. As I’m mulling over my…

This is the final part of a 4 part series on cracking the system design interview. Part 0 provided an overview of this article series, part 1 focused on the content you need to master to nail the interview and part 2 focused on the format you should follow during…

Please read part 0 to get an overview of what to expect in this article series. Part 1 lists out the study material required to nail the system design interview. In this article, we will cover the format you should follow during the system design interview. Typically system design interviews…

Please read part 0 to get an overview of what to expect in this article series. This part focuses on the preparation materials required to nail the system design interview. Knowledge alone isn’t sufficient to excel at the system design interview, but a solid theoretical foundation is necessary. You’ll need…

If the system design interview has always been your achilles heel, this article is for you. It definitely used to be mine. Unlike coding interviews which are fairly unambiguous, there isn’t much material on preparing for the design interviews. Google searches on how to prepare inevitably take you to two…

What are some of the biggest lessons you’ve learnt as a professional Software Engineer?” Marcus asked shyly. “And here I was, thinking that I’m the one asking the tough questions” I replied, smiling at him encouragingly. I was taking a sabbatical from Software Engineering at Google and spending the Fall…

“Comments should account for 5% of the total points” my fellow teacher declared. In the fall of 2019, I was co-teaching an introductory course in computer programming and got into a disagreement on whether the students should be required to incorporate comments into their project submission. “I want the students…

This is a follow-up to my previous article “The LeetCode Phenomenon”. While the article is targeted at folks who are struggling with converting interviews into offers, I’ve covered several tips/strategies that will be useful to anyone who is in the process of interviewing or curious about interviewing. In the fall…

In the winter of 2015, I was working as a Software Engineer at Microsoft and looking for my next Software Engineering job (here’s why), albeit with little success. I remember expressing my frustration to a friend over a velvety Stout beer at a funky bar in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood on…