Curious what "normal" really looks like right now, because LinkedIn makes it seem like everyone got a referral on the first try. Drop your real number, no judgment.
63 applications, 5 interviews, 1 offer. The funnel is brutal at the top.
Microsoft · pendingFour rounds, each interviewer actually read my resume, and the "as-appropriate" round (the AA) was a genuine conversation about tradeoffs instead of a gotcha. DSA was medium, one design round scaled to my level. Still waiting to hear back but wanted to say a calm, well-run loop…
A loop where they read your resume feels rare enough to post about. Fingers crossed for you.
UberI can see you in the "who viewed your profile" list. You can see me. We could end this so easily with two words either way. Instead, six silent visits and counting.
The LinkedIn stalking-but-not-replying is a special kind of cruel.
BrowserStack · pendingReasonable take-home (a few hours, not a weekend), then a live round where they picked my code apart in a good way, "why this data structure, what breaks at scale". If you fake a take-home you will get caught in the follow-up. Waiting to hear back.
I cannot pay rent but I can reverse a linked list in three languages under stress. The grind is real, the ROI is a rumor.
The linked list has never once come up in my actual job. Not once.
Zerodha · acceptedStartup with a wild upside vs a steady product company. Picked steady. My anxiety-to-income ratio has never been healthier. Exciting is overrated when you actually need to pay rent.
Cringed at the playback, saw every "um" and rambling STAR story, fixed them. Nobody wants to watch themselves, which is exactly why it works. Ten minutes of tape beats an hour of reading tips.
The playback is painful and it is the single highest-ROI prep thing I have ever done.
TCSStarted at a service company on a modest fresher package, switched to a product company after two years and the fixed nearly 3x-ed. If you are early-career and stuck at a mass recruiter, the switch is worth grinding DSA for. The delta is life-changing.
You've reached the Mariana Trench. That's everything for now.