Big Tech interview prep
Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Netflix run recognisably the same interview: a recruiter screen, one or two technical screens, then a loop of four to six rounds decided by a hiring committee rather than by the people who met you. Preparing for one prepares you for most of the others, which is why they belong on one page.
Jump to: Google · Amazon · Microsoft · Meta · Apple · Netflix
🎤 Run a mock interview free →What preparation actually looks like here
The loop is scored on a rubric, not on vibes
Every interviewer files independent written feedback against fixed criteria before seeing anyone else's. Two consequences follow. First, being liked does not carry you — an interviewer who enjoyed the conversation still has to write down evidence against each criterion, and 'nice to talk to' is not one of them. Second, one weak round is rarely fatal on its own, because the committee reads all of them together. Candidates routinely walk out convinced they failed on one stumble and get an offer anyway.
The behavioural round decides more offers than the coding round
This is the most consistently underestimated part. Most candidates who fail a big-tech loop are technically adequate and behaviourally unprepared: they answer 'tell me about a conflict' with a summary rather than a story, with no numbers and no reflection. Amazon is explicit about it — every round scores Leadership Principles — but the others weight it heavily too. Six to eight prepared STAR stories, each with a measured result, is the single highest-return preparation you can do, and almost nobody does it.
Thinking aloud is scored, not tolerated
The interviewer is assessing how you attack an unfamiliar problem, and silence gives them nothing to write down. State your assumptions, name the approach you are rejecting and why, then commit. A correct answer arrived at silently scores worse than a slightly imperfect one narrated clearly, because only one of them produced evidence.
Expect the follow-up that breaks your answer
Whatever you produce, expect 'now ten times the traffic' or 'now the write path fails'. This is not you having got it wrong; it is the round working as designed, probing where your understanding ends. Candidates who treat the follow-up as a verdict get flustered; candidates who treat it as the actual question do well.
Levelling is decided here, and it is worth real money
The loop sets your level, and the gap between two adjacent levels at these companies is frequently thirty to fifty percent of total compensation. Scope is the signal: describe what you owned, who you influenced and what you decided — not what your team shipped while you were present.
If you have one week, spend two days on STAR stories and the rest on problems you talk through out loud, ideally to someone else. If you have one day, do only the stories — it is the part you cannot improvise and the part most people skip.
Company by company
Google interviews are known for structured, rubric-based rounds emphasizing data structures & algorithms, system design (for senior), and 'Googleyness' + leadership.
The process
- ›Recruiter screen
- ›1 phone/virtual coding round
- ›4-5 onsite rounds: 2-3 coding, 1 system design (senior), 1-2 behavioral
Question types
- ✓Algorithmic coding (arrays, graphs, DP)
- ✓System design at scale
- ✓Behavioral / Googleyness (collaboration, ambiguity)
How to prepare
- 💡Practice talking through your reasoning out loud — interviewers score communication.
- 💡For behavioral, prepare STAR stories on ambiguity, conflict, and impact.
- 💡Expect follow-ups that push your solution's scale and edge cases.
Amazon
Amazon interviews are heavily behavioral, anchored to its Leadership Principles. Every round probes them, alongside coding and system design.
The process
- ›Online assessment (coding)
- ›Phone screen
- ›Onsite 'loop': coding, system design, and multiple LP-focused behavioral rounds
Question types
- ✓Coding (data structures, complexity)
- ✓System design
- ✓Leadership Principles behavioral (Customer Obsession, Ownership, Dive Deep...)
How to prepare
- 💡Prepare 6-8 STAR stories mapped to the Leadership Principles — you'll be asked several.
- 💡Quantify results; 'Dive Deep' means they'll ask for specifics.
- 💡Show ownership and bias for action in your examples.
Microsoft
Microsoft interviews balance problem-solving, coding, and collaboration. Rounds are conversational and often include real-world design discussion.
The process
- ›Recruiter screen
- ›1-2 technical screens
- ›Onsite loop: coding, design, and behavioral with a hiring manager ('as-appropriate' round)
Question types
- ✓Coding (practical, clear communication valued)
- ✓Design / architecture discussion
- ✓Behavioral (teamwork, growth mindset)
How to prepare
- 💡Think out loud and ask clarifying questions — collaboration is scored.
- 💡Be ready to discuss trade-offs, not just the 'right' answer.
- 💡Show a growth mindset in behavioral answers.
Meta
Meta (Facebook) interviews are fast-paced with tight timing: coding rounds expect two problems in ~40 minutes, plus system design and behavioral ('Meta signals').
The process
- ›Recruiter screen
- ›Technical phone screen
- ›Onsite: 2 coding, 1 system design (senior), 1-2 behavioral
Question types
- ✓Coding — speed + correctness (2 problems/round)
- ✓Product / system design
- ✓Behavioral (impact, collaboration, conflict)
How to prepare
- 💡Practice for speed — you have limited time per problem.
- 💡Have crisp STAR stories on driving impact and resolving conflict.
- 💡For design, structure the conversation and state assumptions fast.
Apple
Apple's process is selective and focuses on core algorithmic problem-solving, system design at scale, and behavioral alignment with its innovation and privacy culture. Candidates commonly report 3-5 rounds including technical depth and cross-team collaboration scenarios.
The process
- ›Phone screen (coding + behavioral)
- ›Technical interview (deep algorithmic or system design)
- ›Onsite: coding + system design
- ›Onsite: cross-functional design
- ›Leadership / culture-fit round
Question types
- ✓Coding (hard algorithms: trees, graphs, DP)
- ✓System design (scale, privacy, hardware-software integration)
- ✓Behavioral (innovation, attention to detail)
- ✓Platform depth (iOS, macOS, ML depending on team)
How to prepare
- 💡Practice hard-difficulty algorithms — Apple asks for depth over breadth.
- 💡Bring a privacy-first lens to system design, not just performance.
- 💡Show cross-functional thinking across teams and disciplines.
Netflix
Netflix emphasizes system-design thinking and culture fit around experimentation and impact. Interviews use real-world problems (streaming scale, personalization) plus behavioral alignment with 'freedom and responsibility'.
The process
- ›Recruiter screen (role + culture fit)
- ›Technical screen (medium-hard coding)
- ›Onsite: system design, coding, team collaboration
- ›Leadership round (ownership, collaboration)
Question types
- ✓System design (streaming architecture, CDN, recommendations)
- ✓Coding (solid fundamentals)
- ✓Behavioral (freedom, responsibility, impact)
- ✓Domain (Netflix scale challenges)
How to prepare
- 💡Study Netflix's openly published architecture and culture memo — reference them.
- 💡Emphasize full ownership and measurable impact.
- 💡Discuss trade-offs and risk in high-stakes decisions.
Based on publicly documented formats; interviews change over time. This is preparation guidance, not leaked questions.