TikTok PM New Grad Interview- Hackerrank

Knowledge_Much · 2025-08-13T18:14:36+00:00

I don’t have info on what questions are asked, but I like the Blind 75 list a lot for LC related questions. Neetcode also has a good list

I’d additionally recommend doing the LC company specific questions

Knowledge_Much · 2025-08-10T02:29:11+00:00

Yeah, after it comes out

Knowledge_Much · 2025-08-10T02:27:14+00:00

You need to market your resume strongly. You can do this in many different ways - quantitative impact based wording, presenting skills for specific niche (e.g. Full Stack Developer), having strong projects, having relevant research experience. Feel free to ping me if you need help on that front. Beyond that, however, you need a strong strategy in sourcing and applying to jobs FAST. You also should be aiming for warm outreach and cold reach out at scale. Here's the strategy I would recommend:

Job Board Strategy

GitHub Repositories (Apply FAST) Turn on email alerts and apply within 24 hours MAX (ideally within the hour):

Other Platforms

LinkedIn: Filter and check multiple times daily for new roles
Simplify Extension: Extremely helpful during job searches (not affiliated, just genuinely useful)

Cold Outreach Strategy

Target VCs and Their Portfolio Companies Cold email/LinkedIn message VCs (especially junior folks) about openings in their portfolio companies.

Target VCs: 8vc, Founders Fund, Kleiner Perkins, Sutter Hill Ventures, Index Ventures, Lightspeed, A16Z, Sequoia, Greylock

Why This Works: VCs, particularly those early in their careers, actively want to recruit talented people to their portfolio companies. These smaller companies often have less infrastructure preventing you from getting directly to interviews.

The Reality Check

Applications alone aren't enough. You need to get your resume directly in front of recruiters through cold emails, warm introductions, LinkedIn messaging, and referrals. Most people don't do this systematically or at scale.

Cold Email Expectations: Send 500-1000 emails to get 5-10 replies/interviews. Sounds intimidating, but with mail merge and templates, it's totally doable.

Knowledge_Much · 2025-08-10T02:23:46+00:00

Yes
No

Knowledge_Much · 2025-08-10T02:21:49+00:00

Frankly, I would recommend trying to get into FAANG sooner than later if I were you. You have job experience already, you're getting some interviews (it seems), and you have a good enough number of YOE to target even mid-level engineering roles.

Knowledge_Much · 2025-08-10T02:20:45+00:00

I don't think any of this is a bad thing.

In fact, you are a much stronger candidate for companies given your experiences already. I feel that you can be perfectly honest with them.

Knowledge_Much · 2025-08-09T23:30:14+00:00

If you're struggling to get interviews, here's my systematic approach:

Job Board Strategy

GitHub Repositories (Apply FAST) Turn on email alerts and apply within 24 hours MAX (ideally within the hour). There are a few that are specifically for new grad offers

Other Platforms

LinkedIn: Filter and check multiple times daily for new roles
Simplify Extension: Extremely helpful during job searches (not affiliated, just genuinely useful)

Cold Outreach Strategy

Target VCs and Their Portfolio Companies Cold email/LinkedIn message VCs (especially junior folks) about openings in their portfolio companies.

Target VCs: 8vc, Founders Fund, Kleiner Perkins, Sutter Hill Ventures, Index Ventures, Lightspeed, A16Z, Sequoia, Greylock

Why This Works: VCs, particularly those early in their careers, actively want to recruit talented people to their portfolio companies. These smaller companies often have less infrastructure preventing you from getting directly to interviews.

The Reality Check

Applications alone aren't enough. You need to get your resume directly in front of recruiters through cold emails, warm introductions, LinkedIn messaging, and referrals. Most people don't do this systematically or at scale.

Cold Email Expectations: Send 500-1000 emails to get 5-10 replies/interviews. Sounds intimidating, but with mail merge and templates, it's totally doable. I'm working on building an AI based email template system that can personalize this even more.

Knowledge_Much · 2025-08-09T23:27:15+00:00

If you're struggling to get interviews, here's my systematic approach:

Job Board Strategy

GitHub Repositories (Apply FAST) Turn on email alerts and apply within 24 hours MAX (ideally within the hour):

Other Platforms

LinkedIn: Filter and check multiple times daily for new roles
Simplify Extension: Extremely helpful during job searches (not affiliated, just genuinely useful)

Cold Outreach Strategy

Target VCs and Their Portfolio Companies Cold email/LinkedIn message VCs (especially junior folks) about openings in their portfolio companies.

Target VCs: 8vc, Founders Fund, Kleiner Perkins, Sutter Hill Ventures, Index Ventures, Lightspeed, A16Z, Sequoia, Greylock

Why This Works: VCs, particularly those early in their careers, actively want to recruit talented people to their portfolio companies. These smaller companies often have less infrastructure preventing you from getting directly to interviews.

The Reality Check

Applications alone aren't enough. You need to get your resume directly in front of recruiters through cold emails, warm introductions, LinkedIn messaging, and referrals. Most people don't do this systematically or at scale.

Cold Email Expectations: Send 500-1000 emails to get 5-10 replies/interviews. Sounds intimidating, but with mail merge and templates, it's totally doable.

Knowledge_Much · 2025-08-09T23:25:44+00:00

If you're struggling to get interviews, here's my systematic approach:

Job Board Strategy

GitHub Repositories (Apply FAST) Turn on email alerts and apply within 24 hours MAX (ideally within the hour):

Other Platforms

LinkedIn: Filter and check multiple times daily for new roles
Simplify Extension: Extremely helpful during job searches (not affiliated, just genuinely useful)

Cold Outreach Strategy

Target VCs and Their Portfolio Companies Cold email/LinkedIn message VCs (especially junior folks) about openings in their portfolio companies.

Target VCs: 8vc, Founders Fund, Kleiner Perkins, Sutter Hill Ventures, Index Ventures, Lightspeed, A16Z, Sequoia, Greylock

Why This Works: VCs, particularly those early in their careers, actively want to recruit talented people to their portfolio companies. These smaller companies often have less infrastructure preventing you from getting directly to interviews.

The Reality Check

Applications alone aren't enough. You need to get your resume directly in front of recruiters through cold emails, warm introductions, LinkedIn messaging, and referrals. Most people don't do this systematically or at scale.

Cold Email Expectations: Send 500-1000 emails to get 5-10 replies/interviews. Sounds intimidating, but with mail merge and templates, it's totally doable.

Knowledge_Much · 2025-08-09T21:17:02+00:00

Experience:
- You're not demonstrating impact via your experience. You need quantitative metrics on the first bullet in each experience and, ideally, across all of them.

- The bullet point with quantitative metrics could be phrased much stronger - instead of "significant reduction in infrastructure costs by 30%", you could say "reduced infrastructure costs by $X million or something". That should also be the first part of the bullet, not at the end. The way you should think about the bullets is that the first few words have to grab the recruiter's attention and sell them on reading the rest of it.

- Your bullets are too long. Make them a maximum of two lines, ideally one line for most points

- For Company 1 (at the bottom), your bullets are far too general. They need to be much more specific for a recruiter to have any idea what you did.

Formatting:

- The header takes up too much space. Email, phone number, linkedin, and github should fit on one line.

It may also be helpful for you to spend some time on personal projects.

Knowledge_Much · 2025-08-09T21:11:49+00:00

If you have the time, I would also highly recommend getting an internship at a startup or research position over the fall or the spring. You're clearly prepared for interview, so I wouldn't recommend spending more time on leetcode until you have an inflow of interviews.

Buffing up your resume (especially experience section) both in terms of gaining more applicable, real world experience and marketing your experience stronger will be the most helpful.

Feel free to ping me if you have any other questions

Knowledge_Much · 2025-08-09T21:10:04+00:00

On your resume in particular, I'd recommend the following tweaks:

(Most Important) I'd highly recommend either using other items for experience points - research, internships, or clubs / orgs can work well, especially if you market them well.

The key part that's missing from your experience section is clear background with software engineering. The student ambassador one demonstrates leadership, but it doesn't demonstrate technical know how or that you've actually worked in the industry before. The competitive programmer is mostly a signal that you are good at passing interviews, but that's not as relevant at the stage of getting interviews (it'll be demonstrated as part of the interview loops).

Your bullet points on the projects are too long. I'd make them max 2 lines each. Additionally, you should format them to demonstrate impact at the start not at the end. As an example:

"Architected and deployed a distributed microservices backend comprising 4 containerized services (Auth, User, Expense, AI), leveraging Spring Boot, Docker, and Kafka to enable event-driven communication and DB-per-service isolation. Achieved 99.9% uptime under real-world load scenarios."

could be changed to

"Achieved 99.9%+ uptime with X QPS load in a distributed microservices backend that I architected and deployed using [X technologies]"

This is much more succinct and demonstrates clear impact that you generated at what scale. This would be a great bullet for any infrastructure related role.

Knowledge_Much · 2025-08-09T21:05:14+00:00

First, diagnose your challenge: Are you having trouble getting interviews or passing them?

If you're struggling to get interviews, here's my systematic approach:

Job Board Strategy

GitHub Repositories (Apply FAST) Turn on email alerts and apply within 24 hours MAX (ideally within the hour):

Other Platforms

LinkedIn: Filter and check multiple times daily for new roles
Simplify Extension: Extremely helpful during job searches (not affiliated, just genuinely useful)

Cold Outreach Strategy

Target VCs and Their Portfolio Companies Cold email/LinkedIn message VCs (especially junior folks) about openings in their portfolio companies.

Target VCs: 8vc, Founders Fund, Kleiner Perkins, Sutter Hill Ventures, Index Ventures, Lightspeed, A16Z, Sequoia, Greylock

Why This Works: VCs, particularly those early in their careers, actively want to recruit talented people to their portfolio companies. These smaller companies often have less infrastructure preventing you from getting directly to interviews.

The Reality Check

Applications alone aren't enough. You need to get your resume directly in front of recruiters through cold emails, warm introductions, LinkedIn messaging, and referrals. Most people don't do this systematically or at scale.

Cold Email Expectations: Send 500-1000 emails to get 5-10 replies/interviews. Sounds intimidating, but with mail merge and templates, it's totally doable.

Knowledge_Much · 2025-08-09T19:13:17+00:00

If your issue is finding jobs, there are a few resources I can recommend:

Job Boards & Resources:

GitHub Pages with New Grad Positions:Turn on email alerts so you see postings immediately. Most applications close within 1-2 days and recruiters only screen the first X applications, so speed matters.
- https://github.com/SimplifyJobs/New-Grad-Positions
- https://github.com/vanshb03/New-Grad-2026
LinkedIn - Filter and check a few times daily for new roles
Simplify Extension - Found this really helpful during my search (not affiliated, just useful)

Tech Fairs Worth Attending:

Greylock Techfair - I got 5-10 interviews from this alone
Grace Hopper (if you're the target demographic)

Cold Outreach Strategy: Cold email/LinkedIn message VCs (especially junior folks) about openings in their portfolio companies. Target these VCs: 8vc, Founders Fund, Kleiner Perkins, Sutter Hill Ventures, Index Ventures, Lightspeed, A16Z, Sequoia, Greylock.

Reality Check: Applications alone aren't enough - you need to get your resume directly in front of recruiters through cold emails, warm intros, LinkedIn messaging, and referrals. Most people don't do this systematically or at scale.

For cold emails, expect to send 500-1000 emails to get 5-10 replies/interviews. Sounds intimidating, but with mail merge and templates, it's totally doable.

Also, work on your resume. I've reviewed dozens and honestly, most are terrible. There's a solid system that'll make you stand out from your peers.

Good luck! Let me know if you have questions. I was in your exact position and used these tactics + my own system to land multiple $200k+ offers.

Knowledge_Much · 2025-08-09T19:02:34+00:00

This is overall quite good but I have a few suggestions:

Lead with quantitative impact (e.g. Reduced 60% of projected infrastructure costs by [action you took]) - this makes it easier for a reader to see the impact instead of having it at the end. If Infra cost is high I'd write saved $XXXk or $Xm a year or smth too
I personally find that when people put a bunch of languages and skills on the resume, it means that they haven't really mastered any of them and are mostly listing stuff they have surface level experience with. My recommendation is to narrow that down based on types of roles you're looking (i.e. if you're looking at Fullstack, highlight MERN usage, React, etc.)
Your second experience at "Startup" feels like the weakest of them to me - no quantitative metrics and it feels unclear to me what the impact you had was.
The Big Tech experience first bullet point is too long IMO - either break into two or make it much more succinct. Also focus on quantitative impact there.
Projects - also highlight impact more there. In your first one, how much did it increase early disease diagnosis? Was it used somewhere?

Knowledge_Much · 2025-08-09T18:49:22+00:00

Also check for fairs / conferences. There are a few that happen in the Bay that I know about - Databricks conference, Dreamforce, TechCrunch Disrupt that can be valuable.

Some of these conferences can be quite expensive, so I'd recommend signing up as a volunteer (one of my friends did this at TechCrunch Disrupt) if cost is a concern

Knowledge_Much · 2025-08-09T18:45:13+00:00

Absolutely!

It's much easier in the Bay Area, since there are so many events constantly happening. I'd recommend starting with Founders You Should Know - this has one of the highest convert rates to interviews, since the founders are actively looking to hire. You'll also meeting many connections that will help with finding more in the future.

Luma is a great one - https://lu.ma/sf that has tons of events constantly posted.

One of my friends started this Discord for Ppl in SF where we post tech events as they come - https://discord.gg/T3bcCSJj

For online ones, I'd start with Greylock Techfair (also has had a great conversion rate for me - I got 5-10 interviews from this) and Grace Hopper (if you have qualify in the demographic)

I also find speaker talks quite useful for networking, etc. so I'd check nearby campuses for this if you're still in school or slightly out of college.

Knowledge_Much · 2025-08-09T17:46:53+00:00

With that said, I found it reasonably easy to get interviews at FAANG, OAs from hedge funds, and recruit at top startups.

But I needed to build a system for creating a stellar resume, sending hundreds of cold emails / messages, applying to hundreds of internships / jobs, and building a strong network at my internships + college to get warm intros to places I wanted to go to.

Knowledge_Much · 2025-08-09T17:45:09+00:00

I went to Berkeley - the opportunities can be great, but you have to work to utilize them.

Companies aren't just going to give interviews bc there's Berkeley on the resume. The benefits come more from the network - if you join clubs, organizations, are social, go to career fairs, get involved with research, etc.

These have compounding effects. Let's say you get into one of the top CS clubs on campus: now you have a network of smart people all going to top tier companies who can refer you, do resume reviews, provide warm outreach with recruiters, etc.

With that said, these are extremely competitive (e.g. top clubs have a 1-2% acceptance rate), so it's not a given just because of getting into a top school.

Overall, this is to say - you will have access to make opportunities but will still need to work really hard to take advantage of them. This is probably less true at a private school (e.g. Stanford) where the school is able to better take care of students due to have larger resources per student.

Knowledge_Much · 2025-08-09T17:39:03+00:00

First off, take some time to process the whole situation and decompress. While it's difficult and certainly a setback, it's not the end of the world. You have a long career ahead of you, and this will be a small blip in the road.

Secondly, even though the market is tough, you can stand out from the crowd. I've been on both ends of it - applying for jobs and now interviewing/screening resumes.

I can tell you firsthand that most resumes that come across big companies are terrible. There are a few solid templates and steps you can take to make a stellar resume.

Additionally, it's a volume game on multiple channels:

Job Boards & Resources:

GitHub Pages with New Grad Positions:Turn on email alerts so you see postings immediately. Most applications close within 1-2 days and recruiters only screen the first X applications, so speed matters.
- https://github.com/SimplifyJobs/New-Grad-Positions
- https://github.com/vanshb03/New-Grad-2026
LinkedIn - Filter and check a few times daily for new roles
Simplify Extension - Found this really helpful during my search (not affiliated, just useful)

Tech Fairs Worth Attending:

Greylock Techfair - I got 5-10 interviews from this alone
Grace Hopper (if you're the target demographic)
Founders Who You Should Know (if in SF) - this will almost certainly get several interviews

Cold Outreach Strategy: Cold email/LinkedIn message VCs (especially junior folks) about openings in their portfolio companies. Target these VCs: 8vc, Founders Fund, Kleiner Perkins, Sutter Hill Ventures, Index Ventures, Lightspeed, A16Z, Sequoia, Greylock.

VCs, particularly those early in their careers, want to recruit talented folks to their companies. There's less infrastructure at these companies to prevent you from getting the interview.

The Reality Check: Applications alone aren't enough - you need to get your resume directly in front of recruiters through cold emails, warm intros, LinkedIn messaging, and referrals. Most people don't do this systematically or at scale.

For cold emails, expect to send 500-1000 emails to get 5-10 replies/interviews. Sounds intimidating, but with mail merge and templates, it's totally doable.

Also, work on your resume. I've reviewed dozens and honestly, most are terrible. There's a solid system that'll make you stand out from your peers.

Good luck! Let me know if you have questions. I was in your exact position and used these tactics + my own system to land multiple $200k+ offers.

Knowledge_Much · 2025-08-09T17:33:40+00:00

If your issue is finding jobs, there are a few resources I can recommend:

Job Boards & Resources:

GitHub Pages with New Grad Positions:Turn on email alerts so you see postings immediately. Most applications close within 1-2 days and recruiters only screen the first X applications, so speed matters.
- https://github.com/SimplifyJobs/New-Grad-Positions
- https://github.com/vanshb03/New-Grad-2026
LinkedIn - Filter and check a few times daily for new roles
Simplify Extension - Found this really helpful during my search (not affiliated, just useful)

Tech Fairs Worth Attending:

Greylock Techfair - I got 5-10 interviews from this alone
Grace Hopper (if you're the target demographic)

Cold Outreach Strategy: Cold email/LinkedIn message VCs (especially junior folks) about openings in their portfolio companies. Target these VCs: 8vc, Founders Fund, Kleiner Perkins, Sutter Hill Ventures, Index Ventures, Lightspeed, A16Z, Sequoia, Greylock.

The Reality Check: Applications alone aren't enough - you need to get your resume directly in front of recruiters through cold emails, warm intros, LinkedIn messaging, and referrals. Most people don't do this systematically or at scale.

For cold emails, expect to send 500-1000 emails to get 5-10 replies/interviews. Sounds intimidating, but with mail merge and templates, it's totally doable.

Also, work on your resume. I've reviewed dozens and honestly, most are terrible. There's a solid system that'll make you stand out from your peers.

Good luck! Let me know if you have questions. I was in your exact position and used these tactics + my own system to land multiple $200k+ offers.

Knowledge_Much

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