Part 14: Interview Framework — The DSA Handbook

14.0intermediate
Pattern recognition: the fastest skill to develop
The twenty patterns that cover ~95% of new-grad FAANG coding rounds, the top five that cover half on their own, and the recognition rhythm that names the pattern in the first 90 seconds.
10 min
14.1intermediate
The first five minutes: clarifying questions
What to ask in the first five minutes. The questions interviewers grade you on, the prompts that signal seniority, and the failure mode that costs the most candidates the round.
9 min
14.2intermediate
Communicating during the interview
Thinking aloud, narrating trade-offs, and the interviewing.io data showing the 4-4-2 candidate beats the 3-3-4 candidate on outcomes.
10 min
14.3intermediate
Complexity discussions
How to answer 'what's the time complexity?' in one sentence: derive vs memorize, time alongside space, the right qualifier (worst/average/amortized), all four signals at once.
9 min
14.4intermediate
The mock interview process
When to start mocking, which platform to use, how many mocks you actually need, and how to run a debrief that converts a session into signal.
10 min
14.5intermediate
Common pitfalls
The five highest-leverage failure modes at FAANG-tier loops: jumping to code, silent solving, missed clarifications, unstructured complexity answers, and the signal failures that look like skill failures.
10 min
14.6intermediate
Amazon Leadership Principles, briefly
Which Leadership Principles surface most in coding rounds, why the chat at minute 5 and minute 50 is part of the rubric, and the rounds where 'I'll just be excellent at the algorithm' fails.
10 min
14.7intermediate
Amazon Leadership Principles narration
STAR-format micro-narrations for the technical rounds, plus the eight to twelve full stories the behavioral and Bar Raiser rounds expect candidates to walk in carrying.
9 min
14.8intermediate
Meta's AI round: the format
What Meta's AI-assisted coding round actually is in 2026: 60 minutes, three phases, a model menu, and a rubric that grades how you use the AI more than what the AI produces.
10 min
14.9intermediate
Meta's AI round: prompting tactics
Prompting tactics for an AI-assisted coding round. The three-tier hierarchy (orchestrator, spot-checker, typist) that produces the behavior the rubric scores.
10 min
14.10intermediate
Meta's AI round: common failures
Candidates who treat the assistant as a solver, candidates who can't explain their own code, and the system-prompt hardening that breaks any prep built on 'AI will catch the bug'.
15 min
14.11intermediate
Per-company tracks: index and how to use
When to open a per-company track, how to layer it on Parts 0-13, and the three signals that tell you it's time to move from pattern practice to company-specific calibration.
5 min