Cracking the Coding Interview - Fooo

Behind the Scenes | The Yahoo Interview
Resume Selection & Screening: While Yahoo tends to only recruit at the top 10 – 20 schools,
other candidates can still get interviewed through Yahoo’s job board (or – better yet – if they
can get an internal referral) If you’re one of the lucky ones selected, your interview process
will start off with a phone screen Your phone screen will be with a senior employee (tech
lead, manager, etc)
On-Site Interview: You will typically interview with 6 – 7 people on the same team for 45
minutes each Each interviewer will have an area of focus For example, one interviewer
might focus on databases, while another interviewer might focus on your understanding of
computer architecture Interviews will often be composed as follows:
5 minutes: General conversation Tell me about yourself, your projects, etc
20 minutes: Coding question For example, implement merge sort
20 minutes: System design For example, design a large distributed cache These questions
will often focus on an area
from your past experience or on
something your interviewer is currently
working on
Definitely Prepare:
Decision: At the end of the day, you
will likely meet with a Program Manager
or someone else for a general conversation
(product demos, concerns
about the company, your competing
offers, etc) Meanwhile, your interviewers
will discuss your performance and
attempt to come to a decision The
hiring manager has the ultimate say
and will weigh the positive feedback
against the negative
If you have done well, you will often
get a decision that day, but this is not
always the case There can be many
reasons that you might not be told for
several days – for example, the team
may feel it needs to interview several
other people
Yahoo, almost as a rule, asks questions
about system design, so make sure you
prepare for that. They want to know that
you can not only write code, but that you
can design software. Don’t worry if you
don’t have a background in this - you can
still reason your way through it!
What’s Unique:
Your phone interview will likely be performed
by someone with more influence,
such as a hiring manager.
Yahoo is also unusual in that it often gives
a decision (if you’re hired) on the same
day. Your interviewers will discuss your
performance while you meet with a final
interviewer.
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