don’t know what’s wrong

[u/BluejayOk2851]

been getting a couple internship interviews for big tech companies, but haven’t passed any.

a lot of them i’m doing well on the technical, aced it and explained all my thinking etc and solved follow ups. i think im socially pretty decent of a person and vibe well with interviewers.

for some reason just can’t get picked a lot of the times. is luck an actual factor in this or what.

also, has anyone else interviewed for many great companies but not receive an offer?

[u/Bitner77]

is luck an actual factor in this or what

yes, like 70% of it is luck, the rest is how well you are prepared. If you are amazingly prepared, but your interviewer is shit, has a bad attitude, biased, or any of the 100 other reasons, they will fail you regadless.

[u/BluejayOk2851 → u/Bitner77]

I had what I thought was a good chat with an interviewer, we went over time, and I solved the technical problem well and my resume grill too.

In this case, what could I have done better? Could it have come down to school name or my résumé’s overall fit for the role compared to someone who did just as well?

Because rn i’m feeling quite discouraged. I feel like a failure, I don’t know anyone who’s gotten a few big tech interviews and failed all of them.

[u/LakhorR → u/BluejayOk2851]

OP, I’ve been in your position so many times. I think I have a 90-95% interview fail rate or something lol (including failing interviews at big tech companies). I feel like the ones I did pass, were just down to luck.

There could be so many reasons why you didn’t pass an interview and trying to make sense of it is going to drive you insane. Non-exhaustive list of possible reasons, none of them could be true:

- There was a better candidate and positions to fill were limited (go to excuse, may not be true)

• Hiring budget froze, wiping out previously open positions.
  
• You didn’t have the skills they were looking for. It’s possible to have your resume selected for an interview despite lacking skills they need and then the interviewer notices this after reviewing your resume. Or they were willing to make concessions but the following reasons below happened which made them change their mind.
  
• You flunked the technical portion of the interview and the interviewer thought you were regarded despite technical interviews not being a good gauge of on-the-job skills and competencies
  
• They didn’t like your “vibe” or thought you were too desperate (caused by nervousness, really stupid reason to fail someone because everyone needs a job to live and survive lol, but I’ve heard coworkers talk about failing interviewees due to this reason)
  
• Interviewer discriminated you based on appearance (racism, misogyny, thought you were ugly etc…). Can’t really do much about this unfortunately.
  
• Interviewer was having a bad day and either had a higher bar at the time or just felt like failing candidates

It’s a shit show and that’s why people say it’s a numbers game. You aren’t a failure, the interview system is a failure

[u/BluejayOk2851 → u/LakhorR]

Yeah, i mean in this case I know I solved the technical correctly, but I just feel like all the leetcode i did went to waste…

Sometimes I do so much prep but it doesn’t get used, and I feel so frustrated…

I’ve gotten opportunities which I thought were amazing and sometimes I feel ashamed for not being able to get offers from certain places.

How did you have motivation to go on? I feel like me telling myself it’s a numbers game and there’s luck involved is cope and excuses, I want to be real if there’s some genuine issue.

Thanks for sharing your story, really appreciated this insight

[u/LakhorR → u/BluejayOk2851]

> “How did you have the motivation to go on”

Honestly… I kind of didn’t? It takes a toll on you mentally and physically. I was operating at like 10-20% of my normal capacity and most of my energy was dedicated to taking care of myself. If I even did send out any applications, it would be like… once a day. I’ve just been lucky to get bailed out by an offer whenever I was at my lowest, but that is a form of luck and I recognize not everyone is that lucky.

[u/8004612286 → u/BluejayOk2851]

Are you explaining your thinking well?

[u/BluejayOk2851 → u/8004612286]

i’m trying to be as intricate as possible and explaining why i use xyz data structure etc. and i’ve done hundreds of lc, but feeling very discouraged for failing a lot of big tech interviews…

[u/darkspyder4]

• vibing well with someone is the bare minimum, is there something you bring that is "better than average" candidate?

• labelling yourself a failure is much more destructive to your long term health and career, this is a minor setback not a complete judgement of you.

Like the other poster said luck and timi g is also a factor. Keep applying

[u/BluejayOk2851 → u/darkspyder4]

is it common for people to fail a lot of big tech interviews? i’ve gotten like 4 and failed them all in the past months.

[u/LakhorR → u/BluejayOk2851]

Yes, see my above comment. I’ve been in your position

[u/BluejayOk2851 → u/LakhorR]

i replied! appreciate your comment a lot.

and how did you get past this and still continue to apply and learn?

i feel like with each job posting even if its tailor made for me, theres still a few concepts that school doesn’t teach u, that you don’t know unless you used xyz tool.

[u/zerocoldx911]

You’re competing against seniors

[u/BluejayOk2851 → u/zerocoldx911]

is it common for people to fail a lot of big tech interviews? i’ve gotten like 4 and failed them all in the past months.

i’m in my junior year

[u/zerocoldx911 → u/BluejayOk2851]

Yes it’s very competitive just take the learnings for the next one

[u/BluejayOk2851 → u/zerocoldx911]

i’ve done hundreds of leetcode just for the interviews i’ve done to not have anything in relation to them.

is this also luck based? what the interview consists of? because it just tells you tech stack for most JDs, you don’t know if they’ll give you LC, OOD, trivia, etc…

[u/Renovatio_Imperii → u/zerocoldx911]

Not for internships.

[u/zerocoldx911 → u/Renovatio_Imperii]

True I assume it was an actual role. Junior roles are even more competitive since they got displaced by AI

[u/ImportantSquirrel]

I'm senior but had the same experience as you. I would ace interviews and still get rejected. The problem is there are just way too many people competing for too few jobs. So even if you ace an interview, there is somebody else who aced it even harder. It took me several months of interviewing before I got an offer. Even now I'm afraid if I get laid off I won't find another job. I'm thinking of leaving the field altogether.

[u/BluejayOk2851 → u/ImportantSquirrel]

what do you think is the difference? luck? random factors? i’m feeling discouraged too

[u/Renovatio_Imperii]

Are there other rounds in the process? You might be failing behavioural questions.

[u/BluejayOk2851 → u/Renovatio_Imperii]

no, one and its mix of technical trivia, resume grill, technical

[u/Renovatio_Imperii → u/BluejayOk2851]

Are you sure there are nothing wrong with technical trivia and resume grill portion of the interview? I think it is more likely something went wrong there rather than luck.

[u/BluejayOk2851 → u/Renovatio_Imperii]

i feel that my resume grill could’ve been explained better. my technical trivia was right, however not like the straight out of textbook definition, if that’s ok.

what do you think based on my answer?

[u/Renovatio_Imperii → u/BluejayOk2851]

Technical trivia shouldn't be an issue. Resume grill definitely depends on what you mean by explained better. If your interviewer is confused about your project, and does not understand what you are trying to achieve, how you achieved it, and why it is impressive, that might be an issue.

[u/Objective_Ad_1191]

Worked at big techs. Do not feel frustrated. My past companies held 0 expectations towards interns. Interns never got production projects. Naturally, intern hiring is not serious. Most of the time, students from prominent schools are preferred. There is an unspoken rule in big companies. Your ethnicity and gender matters. The minority get better chance of getting hired, regardless of their competency.

[u/BluejayOk2851 → u/Objective_Ad_1191]

is it common for people to fail a lot of big tech interviews? i’ve gotten like 4 and failed them all in the past months.

[u/Objective_Ad_1191 → u/BluejayOk2851]

Normal. Don't beat yourself up. Even in full-time hiring, selection process is full of unspoken criteria outside competency.