Landing a FAANG interview is easy (I graduated from a low-tier state school and have only done startup & government jobs). Just don’t say anything crazy during the recruiter phone screen and they’ll let you in.

I did mediocre on the interviews, they were undecided on whether to hire me or not. They sent in a take home problem. I only spent a few hours on it, but easily could’ve spent weeks perfecting the solution.

Anyways, if I had 1) prepared for the interviews and 2) spent the entire weekend on the take home project, I probably would’ve passed.

And even though I didn’t get the offer, they still ping me about every six months to see if I want to apply again.

Just try applying and see what happens!

I have been told I have an excellent resume by Google recruiters and gotten a recommendation from a manager I worked with in the past there and still not gotten an interview.

With that said, I think it is because at the time the Boston office was mostly specialists and I'm a generalist. I'm also not from a top 10 school in a city filled with top-10 schools which didn't help, I'm sure.

But that was years ago. Maybe I'd have better luck these days.

I applied about 6 years ago to work at HQ. I went to community college and a bottom-tier state school and got an interview. Sounds like you just may not have been a match with the available jobs.

> Sounds like you just may not have been a match with the available jobs.

People say this a lot, but Google is pretty explicit that they decide whether to hire you first, and only then consider where they might put you.

Yes & no. Maybe as a generalist SWE this is true. But if you’re applying for a more specialized position you might encounter limits in terms of how many of that role is needed.