Yung-Yu Lin
- Senior product manager Yung-Yu Lin shares six strategies for preparing for FAANG interviews.
- Strategies include mock interviews, subscribing to company news, and contacting recruiters.
- He also suggests people make notes and ask insightful questions at the end.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Yung-Yu Lin, a senior product manager at Google in Sunnyvale, California. It has been edited for length and clarity. Business Insider has verified his employment history.
In my two-decade-long tech career, I have worked in Taiwan, where I am from, and spent the last eight years in the US.
I was a software engineer at Yahoo in Taiwan, and moved to the US to pursue an MBA in 2014. Since graduation, I have worked at Meta, Visa, and PayPal and am currently a product manager at Google.
Over the years, I have designed an interview preparation strategy that has worked for me.
Here are six things I do leading up to a big technical interview:
1. Mock interviews
It doesn't matter who you are — everyone gets nervous in interviews.
The only thing you can do is practice and familiarize yourself with the interview process.
This is why I am a big believer in mock interviews, which can be taken on several career-building sites such as IGotAnOffer, which is what I used when preparing for Google.
I took four mock interviews, which were structured so that I was paired with another candidate attempting to get into Google. We took turns role-playing as an interviewer and a candidate. It was a helpful format because I not only got a second set of eyes on my performance, but also took notes on what my partner did well and what they didn't.
2. Prepare for technical questions
As a product manager, I did not have coding rounds like other tech roles such as software engineering or data science. However, I did have technical interview rounds focused on system design questions.
Practice system design questions are available on several websites and there are books. I would go through them one to two weeks before the interview and try to answer them.
I focused on preparing different examples for each use case.
3. Drop the recruiter a message
If I am able to clear the first round, I will proactively ask the recruiter what the second round looks like.
I always try to view recruiters as partners in my application process, and tell myself that they have the most information about the role. I always ask them for any information they can share about my next interview and what a successful candidate for my role looks like based on their experience.
4. Read my own notes
In the last 24 hours before a big interview, I stop doing any mock interviews or looking at new technical questions to prevent feeling even more anxious.
Instead, I keep a notebook where I jot down what went well and my weaknesses after each interview or question practice session. On the last day, I just go through those notes and try to sleep well.
5. Subscribe to company news
To have a good discussion, and to be able to ask informed questions at the end of my interview, I set up Google Search alerts for the company I am interviewing at.
I take a look at whatever is happening in the past week and if there are any significant updates or news about the company. I would try to plan a few questions around these updates, and ask interviewers what it means for the company or industry.
6. Prep questions to ask the interviewer
One of the biggest reasons I landed my first job at Meta was that my manager was happy with the questions I asked. They told me: "When we interviewed you, you had a good understanding of the company, about the business model, about the team's responsibility."
"You will need less time to boot up and to get on board," they said.
Here are two questions I try to ask:
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What does a good team player look like?
This shows you what their team dynamics looks like, and what you should pay attention to to be seen as a good colleague. And it gives your hiring manager confidence that you're interested in being part of a team.
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What is the most challenging project of their time at the company?
This can give you signals that if you join, how big is the scale of the problems you will be working on. It can also give you insight into opportunities for growth and what domains you will be working with.
Do you work in tech, finance, or consulting and have a story to share about your career journey? Get in touch with this reporter at shubhangigoel@insider.com
