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    Big N Discussion - February 27, 2019 CS Career Questions

    Big N Discussion - February 27, 2019 CS Career Questions


    Big N Discussion - February 27, 2019

    Posted: 26 Feb 2019 11:06 PM PST

    Please use this thread to have discussions about the Big N and questions related to the Big N, such as which one offers the best doggy benefits, or how many companies are in the Big N really? Posts focusing solely on Big N created outside of this thread will probably be removed.

    There is a top-level comment for each generally recognized Big N company; please post under the appropriate one. There's also an "Other" option for flexibility's sake, if you want to discuss a company here that you feel is sufficiently Big N-like (e.g. Uber, Airbnb, Dropbox, etc.).

    Abide by the rules, don't be a jerk.

    This thread is posted each Sunday and Wednesday at midnight PST. Previous Big N Discussion threads can be found here.

    submitted by /u/AutoModerator
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    Daily Chat Thread - February 27, 2019

    Posted: 26 Feb 2019 11:06 PM PST

    Please use this thread to chat, have casual discussions, and ask casual questions. Moderation will be light, but don't be a jerk.

    This thread is posted every day at midnight PST. Previous Daily Chat Threads can be found here.

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    A Tiny Guide To "Grinding" Leetcode Problems

    Posted: 27 Feb 2019 08:12 AM PST

    Hey all,

    I'm still pretty young and only in my 2nd year of college so I often can't really contribute to this subreddit in terms of raw experience...but I wanted to make a post for those of you who are studying "Leetcode" type problems to pass interviews at Big N companies.

    I have done about 250 Leetcode problems in all problem categories and read the fantastic book "Elements of Programming Interviews" by Adnan Aziz, Tsung-Hsien Lee, and Amit Prakash about 5 times and skimmed it 3 times.

    Really really really recommend EPI over CTCI but that is personal preference. EPI dives very very deep into the reasoning behind how we go from brute force solutions for each problem, to the optimal solution but it is less beginner friendly since it is more intellectually rigorous. It instills an apparatus of thinking that no other resource I have found does.

    I want to make a small guide answering questions people often have about these problems as well as things to watch out for.

    An Exhaustive List of Topics You'll Need To Know Well

    • Fundamentals of Computers (just a general knowing how computers store information etc.)
      • This is just a basal thing. Knowing how binary works, how memory is managed in a program (stack & heap), etc.
    • Big O Time & Space Complexity Computation
      • Know asymptotic bounds. If you can be flexible in how you analyze a solution you come up with (lower bounding it, upper bounding, exact bounding) it can help you see whether you can do better and make an improved algorithm
    • Arrays
      • This is pretty straightforward. Often questions that work within arrays will be solved in linear time ( O(n) ) for the most part and that linear time solution will be tricky.
    • Primitives
      • Things like bit shifting. This is more rare and I don't think this is as important since it doesn't test real thinking abilities since it mixes with one's abilities to bit shift which is an esoteric skill.
    • Strings
      • These are problems that often deal with strings like permutations, backtracking problems that have use take an exhaustive approach in producing decompositions of a string to search a possibility space (which is often a brute force way of solving a problem since it will be exponential in time), etc etc. String problems are often solved most optimally in O(n) time or O(s1 + s2) time (linear with respect to each string) if we are given 2 strings...whatever the problem may be.
    • Dynamic Programming
      • One of the most difficult subjects. This is the key: subproblems. If you can identify the subproblem, you have cracked the problem. Because from there it is all about memoization to cache and leverage previous solutions.
    • Recursion / Backtracking
      • This is a comfort thing. The more of these you do, the better you get. At some point you will naturally think of solutions in a recursive manner (if backtracking could be a possible approach used). Problems that use backtracking often say..."generate all"..."compute every"....this indicates an expression of exhaustively expressing all the possibilities of a decision space. Recursion is beautiful for this.
    • Graphs
      • Know DFS & BFS. DFS uses a stack (either implicit with the call stack and recursion or explicit if we create our own stack) & BFS uses a queue.
    • Greedy Algorithms
      • These are algorithms that take the locally most optimal solution to achieve a global optimal. In contrast to problems that use dynamic programming (which is characterized by caching previous subproblems to find a global optimum), greedy algorithms take locally optimal choices.
      • Not all greedy approaches one comes up with will work 100% of the time so it hinges on being able to use deductive logic to prove that a given approach will always work
    • Hashtables
      • Very very very common in mid-level interviews. This is a must know. It is pretty simple, when our time complexity is too high, we can often reduce time and increase space by using some sort of auxiliary structure to cache work. Hashtables are often that auxiliary structure.
    • Linked Lists
      • A tricky structure to work with. It is hard because we can't index into items. It gets easier with time but always remain tricky.
    • Sorting
      • Know the fundamental sorting algorithms. Bubble, Insertion, Selection, Merge, Quick, Heap, ...etc
    • Searching
      • If an array is sorted. IMMEDIATELY know that that is a strong hint that the optimal solution will use binary search and stay to the order of O(log(n))
    • Min/Max Heaps
      • Heaps are really cool. Just know...if you see "find the LARGEST"...or ... "find the SMALLEST"...anything to do with size...think heap. Min or max. If we want larger items we use a min heap since we can throw away small items (to leave the large ones behind). And vice versa for when we want the smaller items
    • Stacks
      • LIFO structures. Know how to implement a stack inside out. it is fairly easy so don't fear it. I'd suggest knowing how to implement all data structures stated here. Why not?
    • Queues
      • FIFO structures. Used for Breadth First Search.
    • Trees, Binary Trees, & Binary Search Trees
      • Trees are connected, acyclic, graphs. You can do DFS and BFS on them. Print all the characters in the tree in this order? Does it look like DFS? You can do that. Traverse the tree level by level? Looks like BFS. (BFS goes out level by level).
    • System and OO design Principles (sometimes)
      • Some compaines ask Object Oriented questions. A great great resource for this is the book "Clean Architecture" by Robert C. Martin. I also highly recommend his book "Clean Code" but it won't help you for interviews (but will make you a better programmer)

    An Approach To Preparation

    1. Find your weak topics. For me those were trees, backtracking, dynamic programming, and linked lists.
    2. Start with easys. My first Leetcode problem was Jewels & Stones (you can search it) and it took me 30 minutes......it was just 2 for loops. Am I dumb? ... maybe ... but these problems are so far divorced from daily programming tasks that it was difficult for me.
    3. Easys will be very difficult when you just start...then they will start getting...easy...hmmmm...onto the mediums.
    4. Your summer internship interviews will be medium difficulty questions. Full-time roles will be upper medium questions sprinkled with a few hard questions. Stay rooted in the fundamentals above and you can survive.
    5. Go onto hards if you want...but don't get lost on esoteric problems that require "special" tricks. This is all about getting ready to pass an interview for a job, not so much to have bragging rights.
    6. Top it all off with polishing your delivery. pramp.com interviews helped me immensely. I did about 8 in person interviews this past season.

    F.A.Q.

    How many Leetcode until I'm ready?

    There is no finite amount. Every person comes to the table with their own weaknesses in all topics above. You will know when you are ready. You will see a problem and say..."Oh...yeah I know what principle to apply here". The more you get that spark, the higher the chances you pass.

    Should I time myself?

    Yes and no. Time is critical. Speed is critical. But timing yourself is useless if you are very uncomfortable with a specific problem class. I suggest solving many problems (peeping the solutions often is fine...just gain comfort) in your weak points. Then when you get sick of jumping to answers you will soon take the leap and just solve the problem yourself because you will become familiar with the techniques required for the approach. (this is how backtracking was for me. I went from total confusion to it becoming a default way of thinking.)

    What should I focus my studying on?

    Weak points. And then popular problems. Find a list of problems the company you are interviewing at asks. No idea whether this is a myth or not (and CTCI addressed this as false...that companies repeat questions from a list) but I have friends that told me of getting exactly questions from these lists. It isn't critical but it can help.

    Reading books vs. Leetcode/HackerRank?

    Books give you theory. Coding gives you the memory in your fingers and the necessary practice. Like...if I know a problem will use BFS, how fast can I put the logic in place for a basic search? If I know that a problem may use a heap...how fast can I throw up a priority queue with the right comparator (if it is a max or min heap...Java defaults to a min heap without a comparator)

    Hope this helps someone...or made any sense...I typed it up quickly.

    I'm honestly not THAT good...like problems still stump me...but I've come a long way so my experiences may help someone else.

    I'll make more posts if people want more small tips.

    Edit: Holy crap. That is a lot of upvotes....um....yeah. Hey.

    submitted by /u/theethiopiankook
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    Do I tell my replacement to stick to her guns and ask for more money... off the record?

    Posted: 27 Feb 2019 04:50 PM PST

    So I'm leaving my current startup and helping find my replacement. I know what we're willing to pay for the position and just interviewed a good candidate.

    When asking what her expected salary range is, she said a number then said she'd be willing to go down for the right candidate. This broke my heart. And is the second time I've heard it. From women.

    I'm also a woman and have been trying to mentor others to stand up for themselves around the workplace and not undermine their potential.

    I'm so torn about this. Part of me wants to call her off the record and just advice her to stick to her guns and don't undermine herself, whether she works for us or not. The other of course to stay shut and not say a thing.

    This is for a highly technical role that I think she is very capable of doing... and it wouldn't affect the company at all if she stuck to her guns.

    Advice?

    I'm already feeling maybe i should just shut up... but want to get your take.

    EDIT: any legal hot water I would be looking to get myself into if told her?

    submitted by /u/reinaesther
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    Anyone experience a shift in relationship with family/friends after landing their first job?

    Posted: 27 Feb 2019 08:22 AM PST

    As a disclaimer English is not my first language so there might be some typos/grammatical issues with the text below.

    I am fairly new grad-ish and I recently got hired a couple months back at a Big-N company. When news hits my friends/family, everyone's attitude changes immediately. Everyone expects me to foot the bill when we go out or to be able to lend them some money. I am still paying off my loans, and I'm trying to build up a nice safety net for the future just in case anything unexpected happens. Generally I feel uncomfortable always having all the attention towards me when any topic of money comes up.

    I was wondering if anyone has also experienced this? If so how do you handle this?

    I love my family, and close group friends that I've made. I would like some advice on how handle all of this without burning bridges.

    submitted by /u/pandamite1
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    How are software jobs at car companies (Tesla, Rivian, Lucid)?

    Posted: 26 Feb 2019 08:03 PM PST

    I'm a huge gearhead and if you asked me at age 15 what my dream job was I'd say designing cars. 11 years later I'm a Java/JavaScript Dev in Phoenix. I'm ok with my current job, but software development seems more relevant to car companies than ever.

    I've started a car website on the side, but I'm not done implementing it and it is more about how/when to buy certain cars than anything.

    Anyone work for any cool automotive companies? How is the interview process? Any major pros or cons?

    submitted by /u/ghdana
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    Dropbox vs Bloomberg Internship

    Posted: 27 Feb 2019 04:15 PM PST

    I've gotten offers from both companies for this summer and wanted to get some more opinions on both companies to decide which I should take.

    Both would be located in NYC with similar compensation levels. I'm also planning on doing an internship in the Fall at Stripe, and I've mostly worked in small-medium sized companies (which I think I prefer?) in the past.

    I'm leaning towards Dropbox, mainly since they're smaller, but worried a bit about their future since they've seemed to fallen a bit post-IPO. Any opinions/info would be appreciated! :)

    submitted by /u/resumetrash
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    Java developer with 6 years of experience looking on how to improve

    Posted: 27 Feb 2019 01:52 PM PST

    I've been working for over 6 years on different companies but mostly Java EE, CRUD applications, some related stuff and that's it.

    I'm based in Spain/Europe, so take that into account: Our industry is shit, and the "actually good" positions are far an between, which has led me to look to remote positions which usually require a LOT more of knowledge and experience, and I'm a bit lost on how could I improve/try to be "a better developer."

    During these years, I've realized that most of my coworkers don't really care about things like code quality, workflows, organization and the likes. I'm trying to improve by writing clear, coherent and minimal code, reducing repetitive tasks, trying to understand the "whys" instead of the "hows" and reacting to that.

    And well, no one in the team really cares about that. My manager seems to be the only one who likes it, but I have the feeling that he sees it as a "welcomed addition" rather than "something to improve as a team", and the coworkers don't really give a damn about it unless explicitly ordered by the manager to do so.

    On the other hand, our team is tiny. We are two developers, with other two chipping in from time to time, communication is close to none (Id doesn't help that I'm not the most popular guy around there).

    So, I'm worrying about three things:

    1) I've read articles, books and such on good code quality. I try to live for these principles and write code that adhere to it. I've gone to lengths to refactor and adapt stuff, because, honestly, I find easier reading several functions with descriptive (At least to me) names than a block of 500 lines of code that do a lot of different stuff. I think I'm doing good, but I'm worried that I'm doing "good for me" and not really improving on quality because the others don't really care/provide feedback.

    2) As I said, our team is tiny and thus, domain knowledge is king. Even though I enjoy the smaller team size, I'm worried this is making me comfortable in a team size that will give me problems if I get to work in a bigger team (6-8 developers). We don't do agile (nor even a deviation from it), which seems is what the cool kids do nowadays, so that's another point.

    3) Our tech stack is limited, and not being used by a lot of companies in my city. Everyone and their mother is ticking boxes in a Framework list. If you don't have them, you are screwed, and who cares if you are an engineer and can adapt.

    So, I'm a bit looking to what could I do to improve/being able to jump to a better company, as growth here is impossible, projects are limited and the culture is not the best place to me. I have some side projects, but are in domains that actually I care about personally (Unity/C#/AR), and I feel like working on Java stuff would be "roll 1D100 for the tech table and put one level on the tech listed."

    submitted by /u/Neuromante
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    What should you do if you get asked a technical question and you have no idea how to answer it?

    Posted: 27 Feb 2019 04:04 PM PST

    Do you just tell them straight up that you have no idea or should I still try to attempt it?

    submitted by /u/Jaded_Diver
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    Work is accusing me of leaving early. I didn’t. What should I do?

    Posted: 27 Feb 2019 04:58 PM PST

    Basically during the day I made a quick stop to pick up one thing in the city. I came back with lunch. Took around an hour. They were berating me and asking where I was. We didn't have anything scheduled

    Then at around 4 I made a quick call with my mom for about half an hour and wasn't at my seat

    They claimed I "left at 3", which I didn't. Both my manager and my managers manager were berating me over this and sending me tons of messages basically yelling at me

    They told me I would need to meet with my manager tomorrow

    This feels really weird to me. What should I do about this?

    submitted by /u/Dreadsin
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    Does a bad recruiter indicate that the company is bad? (xpost from r/jobs)

    Posted: 27 Feb 2019 06:51 PM PST

    I applied for a position at a tech company that's pretty well-known in terms of the industry it's in/what it does.

    The recruiter that reached out to me has, so far, been hit or miss. They're quite nice, but aren't really that great at communicating. They'll send lots of emails without periods at the ends of sentences (minor, yes, but I've never encountered this with a recruiter before), call me without confirming any of the times that I said I was available to speak (I was still open, just never got word from them that they were as well), and just do little things of that nature.

    When I talk with them on the phone, they're totally fine, and the company isn't some kind of kids-in-a-cardboard-box scam, but I can't help but wonder if he's reflective of the greater company culture. FWIW, he's a remote employee.

    Does anyone have any input on how recruiters might reflect what a company is actually like?

    submitted by /u/InternalChance5
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    Please help me decide offers.

    Posted: 27 Feb 2019 06:22 PM PST

    Hello,

    I have 2 New Grad offers and can't seem to decide which one to take. Both are government companies.

    Company 1: Pays 50k a year starting, rent won't be an issue since it is in the city my parents live in. My plan if I stay with this company is to stay for a year and apply to some more prestigious companies in the area.

    Company 2: Very small town in the middle of nowhere, not much to do. Big cities are about 3-5 hours away. Salary is 70k a year starting, I'd be part of a new grad program which means I can't switch companies during the first 2 years. Low COL. Weather I'm not used to.

    Thank you for the help!

    submitted by /u/PositiveSundae
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    What’s something you’ve done to stand out for a role you were seeking?

    Posted: 27 Feb 2019 06:02 PM PST

    Did it work?

    submitted by /u/GrainObtain
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    What should I do if I don't get an internship before senior year?

    Posted: 27 Feb 2019 11:13 AM PST

    I am a Junior at a Big10 university currently looking for a summer internship. I've read most of Cracking the Coding Interview, spent hours practicing Leetcode, and went to every career fair but still haven't recieved an offer (farthest I got was final round interviews at Capitol One).

    Now that it's almost March, I'm beginning to really doubt myself and worry about my future career. It seems like the consensus on this sub is that internships are a must (and I agree, since experience in the workforce would be invaluable for me), but what if that doesn't work out?

    Any and all advice would be very much appreciated.

    submitted by /u/WillieMustDie
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    Are there any places in the US that are crying out for tech workers?

    Posted: 27 Feb 2019 02:45 PM PST

    Obviously there has to be places outside of Silicon Valley, Seattle and NYC...

    Are there any perhaps brain drain states/cities that are desperate for skilled tech workers?

    submitted by /u/jjake101
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    Summer 2019 internship with Disney for their streaming services

    Posted: 27 Feb 2019 05:48 AM PST

    I have a phone screening coming up next week. I checked glassdoors for some example questions. Did anyone here intern at Disney? Any tips or advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

    submitted by /u/t_hack
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    What companies have hiring events of invitationals?

    Posted: 27 Feb 2019 07:46 PM PST

    Ones that include software engineering roles, especially for new graduates?

    submitted by /u/RedStrikeBunny
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    What are some jobs that are appropriate for a CS degree but doesn’t involve software engineering?

    Posted: 27 Feb 2019 07:39 PM PST

    Let's suppose you were tired of coding and wanted to try out another kind of role. What doors does your CS degree open?

    submitted by /u/lotyei
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    Are there any tools for practicing code review skills?

    Posted: 27 Feb 2019 07:38 PM PST

    Something akin to:

    you are given a code sample with a lot of mistakes in it, and your task is to mark down all the spots where there are mistakes.

    At the end, you are also provided with a list of all the mistakes and how many you found/missed.

    submitted by /u/Seraverte
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    Want to change focus from embedded to cloud software

    Posted: 27 Feb 2019 10:46 AM PST

    Hey all, just need some help. I got my first job out of college 2 years ago at a defense contractor that I was co-oping at. I have remained here, learning software engineering principles and really brushing up on my c++ and some scripting. Problem is I am really plateauing in what I am learning here and I feel like at this point I need to move on to a more modern, internet centric company. I hope to build my own business in a few years and want to see how a modern, world class engineering company runs. I have taught myself Python and am learning JavaScript for a personal project, but it seems like I cannot get an interview from a non-defense company. Does anyone have any advice for getting into a company like the big 4, or at least into a company doing web development, given the background I have? Thanks.

    submitted by /u/Seamonster13
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    Why do many people ignore the Midwest?

    Posted: 27 Feb 2019 08:51 AM PST

    It seems everyone wants to work either in SF Seattle or NYC. Even though Chicago Indianapolis etc have great jobs, low cost of living, less traffic, etc. Almost no one in my class applies to work for Midwest companies. I know this from career fairs.

    One of my friends just turned down a good post graduation offer from a government branch for some reason.

    Maybe most CS people are undercover surfers or something?

    submitted by /u/glekglekglek
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    I just got an offer for an internship verbally and am expecting a paper confirming it by the end of this week. Should I still be on the lookout for internships? I really need one this summer and I’m hoping nothing goes wrong where they take it away.

    Posted: 27 Feb 2019 07:13 PM PST

    Basically, I just got an offer and they were excited to have me. Everyone liked me and I went beyond with their technical questions.

    The issue I'm having is that I have another interview with another company this Friday and I'm not sure if I should cancel or not. Also, should I still be on the internship hunt? I heard stories on Reddit about interns being denied their position a few weeks before it was supposed to start.

    Basically I need an internship and don't want anything to get in the way of that. It feels strange to give up my search because I feel it can easily be taken away.

    submitted by /u/Herman999999999
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    Student Questions Moving Into the Industry

    Posted: 27 Feb 2019 07:11 PM PST

    Hello! I am currently a student and will be graduating in May. I believe I'm very strong in theory and algorithm aspects of computer science, but I haven't done many projects aside from my two internships. Both projects were web development. What kind of projects can I work on to improve my coding going into the workforce? (I'll be starting at Google in August) Also, I am currently enrolled in an AI course for fun but I'm really disliking the way it's taught. It feels like we're just writing crappy game AI code for a game that my professor created. Would it be better for me to drop this class and learn AI on my own, or stay in the class and learn how to write in poorly documented code libraries?

    submitted by /u/Bacoconananut
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    Do any of you consult outside of your 9-5?

    Posted: 27 Feb 2019 06:54 PM PST

    If so, do you tell your current employer? Do you need to?

    I'm considering taking up some part time consulting work, but I'm worried that it would put a target on me for my current employer. Also I would like to avoid any legal troubles (if they make an argument that I'm working for other companies during my "work time" for my current salaried position)

    submitted by /u/doctorfunkerton
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    Anyone take a job as a developer at a company whose business you don't know a whole lot about?

    Posted: 27 Feb 2019 06:51 PM PST

    So I graduated with a degree in software development this month and started working full-time at a biotech company as an applications developer. It was the second place I applied to and they offered me a highly reasonable salary and I wanted to take it while I had an offer.

    I've worked there three days and have no idea what I'm doing. I mean obviously I understand the programming / database side of things but to understand the programs and what they do you need to know synthetic biology.

    When I interviewed there they said that they could teach me everything on the science side of things but it seems like a LOT to learn just to be able to help develop these programs.

    Anyone else in a similar situation? Am I overreacting and should just give it time?

    submitted by /u/SaysFuckNo
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    Company keeps asking for more time to evaluate my application. Is this normal?

    Posted: 27 Feb 2019 02:54 PM PST

    Nearly two months ago, the recruiter for this company (Big N) contacted me regarding an internship I applied for. I completed the phone screen, then did not hear back for a month. During this time, I of course interviewed for other positions. About three weeks ago, I reached out to follow-up with the company regarding my phone screen. They responded that I had moved to the technical interview round. I completed the technical interview 2 weeks ago. Around this time, I received an offer from another organization. I let Big N know that I had a pending offer deadline during my technical interview. I also emailed the recruiter to let her know as well. They assured me that I would get a decision by the deadline.

    Last week, with the deadline approaching, I reached out to the recruiter as I had not heard back. She responded a few days later, apologizing for the delay and that she was busy. Understandable as it was a long weekend. She proceeded to let me know that they wanted to do one final behavioral interview AFTER my deadline. She said that she could reach out to try to get me a decision ASAP after my interview. Now, I really wanted this position, so I secured a deadline extension from the organization that I had the offer from. I completed that interview on Monday. Again, the interviewer told me that I would surely receive a decision by my deadline (today).

    Recruiter called me today and let me know that the hiring managers (who I interviewed with) decided that they wanted to have a chance to interview with all the applicants before making a decision. They did not deny me, but rather, they wanted MORE time to evaluate me against the other applicants. Since today was my deadline, I had the choice to drop the other offer and continue or accept the offer and end the process.

    I believe that I did really well during the interviews. The interviewers kept saying how technically qualified I was for the position and how my behavioral answers matched really well to the company culture. I never assumed that I was certain to get the position, but I felt that I had a very good chance. It was perfect project and location-wise. Since they were hiring for 3 positions and kept asserting how qualified I was, I felt that they could make a decision by today (they wanted to go to the end of this week).

    I ended accepting the offer that I had as I would rather have an internship this summer than taking the chance of getting rejected. However, I am extremely disappointed by the way this company conducted the interview process. I feel like they totally didn't respect my time and I lost out on a great opportunity as a result. Is this common among Big Ns?

    submitted by /u/AshingtonDC
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    Booz Allen Internship return offer

    Posted: 27 Feb 2019 08:26 AM PST

    Anyone interned at Booz Allen over the summer? How was your experience and what was your return offer for full time?

    submitted by /u/ms0798
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