I don't disagree with the main point, but FAANG companies' interview questions are available all over the net. In many cases (most?) they'll literally tell you what they are ahead of time, so it's a lot more of a filter for grit than a filter for computer science aptitude.

Eg: I know for a while Google was pretty keen on asking about A* algorithms. A friend who worked there mentioned that to me. Not having a CS degree myself, my first reaction was that was a very "either you know it or you don't...maybe you can figure it out, but that's not gonna be fun" kind of situation.

At some point i saw the material Google gives out. A* was literally listed there as something that they were likely to ask.

Now, it does mean preparing for a very specific interview, which not everyone (or even most people) would be willing to do. And today I don't think Google has the reputation to pull that stunt off for much longer. But a couple of years ago, if you really wanted that free cafeteria? Its a small price to pay.

It's a little harder than that. That would be for the screening interview. But on-site, you'll get several algorithm interviews (I had 3 in two such companies, plus 2 system designs). The recruiter told me that you could fail one of the interviews, but you have to nail the four others.

Even if you are well-prepared, I find it quite hard to have consistant results on these algorithmic questions, especially considering the stress of the situation and the fatigue of going through several interviews in a raw. Practicing leetcode problems for months is fun, up to a point (especially if you already have a job).

That being said, I like that the rules are clearly stated and everyone is given a chance. They don't discriminate as much on your background/educations as some other companies.

What I would usually do with a programming question is ask a number of my coworkers to solve it and use that to evaluate what an "average good performance" looked like. So if most of your coworkers can solve a problem in 10 minutes, it's reasonable to expect that from someone you're interviewing.