u/Pure-Age-6174 wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
Thanks man, really appreciate your detailed response, but what if you are really capable like can do the job and you give like months and months of interviews you know. 2 months and 5 rounds and you just hear the other candidate had more "hands on" experience. Really puzzled by t
u/michaelnovati replied · ★ FEATURED
I can't speak for all companies, but I am very confident in how the FAANG-level companies see this.
These companies don't make hiring decisions based on your resume.
They have interview types (e.g. system design, and technical behavioral) to test your practical experience and compare it to what they need for that position at the company.
You could say you have 10 years as a "Vice President Software Engineer at Goldman Sachs" (this is a real job title) and be leveled as a mid-level engineer at Meta.
Sadly the whole point of these interviews is to test real experience and you can't fake it. If you have the experience, you can fail because of lack of preparation and practice, but if you don't you can't magically get it without having it.
Unfortunately it's the job market and people aren't hiring junior engineers right now so there really isn't too much you can do.
The Codesmith strategy (that is NOT OFFICIALLY endorsed and explicitly disavowed, but that anecdotally, most grads who are placed do) works well at non-tech companies in different industries that don't really know or care about experience, and exaggerating gets you past the recruiter screen, letting the truth and your interview performance get you the job in the technical screens that follow.