How I Failed My Netflix Interview 

Never forget how to use your dic

I think the main takeaway should be "don't make interviewing with your dream company your first big experience"

the problem is you practiced in a completely different situation than the actual interview, get your friend to watch you code and look dissapointed when you do leetcode

Basically: The less you care, the better your performance. What many seem not to notice is: On the first stages of the process you didn't took it serious because you though they wouldn't invite you anyway... You still went through the process and always made it into the next round. However, At the coding interview you suddenly cared, you where hyped, motivated... and completely blacked out.

It's always a great feeling to get a call back from a huge company like Netflix that you think you're underqualified for. I got a job very recently at a Fortune 50 company out of school that I thought I had little chance at. They loved me after one interview though! Guys, don't sell yourself short. Have confidence when you go into an interview. If you're not going to cheer for yourself, nobody will. Harsh but true reality

Don't blame yourself too harshly! This is exactly why many interviewers don't like to do live coding tests, you are basically evaluating how the interviewee programs under pressure, which will almost never actually happen in the job.

My main advice for everyone that wants to obtain an interview in a big company like Netflix and, more importantly, succeed in getting the job, is simply that if you don't think you're ready to apply, apply. You really can't learn what's the best behavior you can put on a interview without doing some interviews, and probably failing. That's part of the fun, getting better every time, and finally succeed. Don't be afraid, worst case scenario you don't have the job. Exactly the same if you don't try.

relatable, as someone who has been through this it gets better as you interview more

This was a touching story, I almost teared. I'm sincerely sorry. To get a job today a person must be apparently a flawless, exceptional working machine. With autism and ADHD I had to simply give up. Competition is too fierce and employers don't need to insist on less than stellar interviews: when they throw you away there are countless other left among which, statistically, a few will perform better.

You'll get there. You didn't really "fail" the interview, because you did reflect on it and made the right conclusions, so ultimately it's a win. Next time you'll perform a little bit better - and if that doesn't work, then you learn and adjust again. It's learning by doing. Oh, and also it's about the trajectory - it's not where you are, but is where you head.

dude this editing is looking rly good :D keep it up

This is the first time I can relate to a software engineering interview. Need more creators like you

Your videos help me feel so much better, thank you

I've solved over 300 LC and in my first interview, i couldn't create a linkedlist :)

Its funny…this can happen to anyone I work for a FAANG company. I’ve interviewed around 20+ folks with leetcode tests by now. I was shocked when folks couldn’t program in an interview. Then, after a long stretch of 6m+ since I gave an interview, found myself interviewing for a very cool gig. I passed 3 interviews. On the finale one…I blanked out on how to do simple python crap. I forgot critical things I did daily for my job. It can happen to anyone. On the other hand, I got red flags on work/life balance and it was a $50k salary cut, but it was great practice.

Truly inspiration thank you! I cried whle watching this video

It takes courage to tell these stories. Well done :D.

Their loss. If the interview can only be done by people that don't get nervous, they are losing out on soooo many good candidates. Especially since this interview is most likely not what your day-to-day job situation would look like.

I just cleared all interviews for this big tech, got an offer - but I was still salty about fumbling in the coding round (got the solution, but not the most optimal one). Been beating myself up for preparing so hard yet failing where it mattered, and this video just wiped that intrusive thought XD. Laughed for nine minutes straight

Funny video dude! The biggest champions of them all have failed more times than others have even tried. Failure will boost your drive for success. Thanks for sharing though, gonna start the nightmare of getting into software engineering as a rookie myself soon too 😅 Good luck and never give up!

I'm a senior Machine learning engineer with 4 years of experience, have been coding since 11th grade, the going blank in an interview is still a thing for me and I just fucked up the DSA round for Adobe last month. So no matter how experienced you are, the nerves can win anytime.

Loving the pixel art way of educating. Keep it going bro😮

I am at the same exact situation where are you were! Thank you so much and I will try to depressurise myself during those times

I can relate.. These interviews with live coding and unrealistic exercises that you'll never use in practice are the worst. Half of coders out there are introverts who thrive when left alone to work. These practices miss out on a lot of talent..

same thing happened to me at a paypal interview and i've been a software engineer for 7 years! its hilarious how you trip at the most basic stuff, next year I'm gonna apply like crazy just to practice the coding screenings and not get nervous

Another tip I would like to add on here is always start by brute forcing it. While runtime is important, you code the *correct** solution first optimize later ALWAYS in real life scenarios. For instance in the contains dupes question using a hash map is a more optimized approach, but the brute force solution is hilariously simple. This is good when yo dic isn’t working and I like the metaphor. Cave man that shit first, and let it be known that you know the runtime is trash. You will still advance to the next round even if you don’t have time to optimize. Especially at an entry level position.

Hilarious. Thanks for sharing your experience!

your videos are hilarious lolll Good luck with your next interviews!

Cheer up my man, these things happen. For me it was completely forgetting how to use a stack. My advice for next time would be to ask the interviewer if you can google/ check the language official documentation. Also don’t worry too much about system design in the future, it’s just like anything else, if you study it enough you’ll get it. All the best

This style of interview process really only serves to poison the mind. You have no idea the number of devs I work with that don't have a clue on how basic system architecture works or how to read documentation, but oh boy they can invert a binary tree in O(1) and grind leetcode all day.

You probably failed at the best stage. I recently had a final interview that required an hour long presentation about myself on-top of 2 hours of coding and behavioral questions. Didn't end up getting a job and wasted a day of PTO :/

I’ve had the same experiences, don’t let it sweat you, better things over the mountain

Honestly that's so much nerve rollercoaster-ing for a sloth. Good job! 👍

Wow. Thanks for sharing your experience. I feel I’ve really learned something. I’ve learned that between your channel and Fireship, I don’t have a snowball’s chance in (tutorial) hell, of ever changing careers. 😂 So, thank you (both) for helping save my valuable time and realizing that the best I could (ever) hope for is being a hobbyist. Seriously though, love your channel, but the dread is real.

Hey nice to see channel BIG! (good use of dictionary!)

I know this too well sadly. I have been trying to get a developer job for 5 years now, but fail every single interview because of the coding test. I am "lucky" to have both PTSD and ADHD, which is a very bad combo because it means I am constantly stressed AND lack any form of concentration if I'm in a room with other people. If you ask me to solve a piece of code, the only way I can do it is to lock myself in a room with no interferences and then spend 30 minutes or more getting familiar with the question and different ways to solve it before deciding on one. It sucks because the whole reason why I learned how to code was because I wanted to get a job that I could handle from my home where I am not tense or distracted.

Well, atleast the failed interview has let you make this banger video. First time here, left a sub and going to check out more of ur vids!

Thanks, this motivates me alot

Nice video, I was sad about something, but then youtube recommended me this video. After watching the video now i know how hard is these interviews and i never gonna get a job. Oh, you thought I was gonna say THIS IS SO INSPIRING!!!!!, I hope those caps bait you further.

This is why mock interviews are the most important part of the prep

Some good advice: try writing out some commented sudocode as you explain your solution. Then if you get stuck on how to write one part in the language chosen, they might help you if they see your sudocode is heading in the right direction. Also, remember that you will probably interview at multiple places. So if you get nervous, remember that the rest of your life is really not hanging in the balance. Chill out and enjoy it

I also interviewed at my dream company (at the time) as one of my first interviews. Needless to say, I didn't have the experience of proper interviews and even though I did the leetcode grind too, it wasn't enough. Interview at a bunch of smaller places you don't really care about first imo!

i have heard so many times , even seniors have also said, after explaining the solution i literally forgot how to write code even if it is very simple, no problem bro, wish u luck for your next steps

yep sometimes revising the basics is all it really needs

Loved your video man. Good work ;D

Thanks for this video man. This is the worst thing that can happen to anyone while interviewing. Embarrassing and now I'm scared. lol!

The big takeaway from this is that development companies should be setting you coding exercises within the context of the environment you are going to use. I'm a lead / architect level developer after having been in the industry since I graduated in 2010. I do so many different languages day to day that to be honest sometimes I forget the structure of a for loop or something else in the given language. It happens. Especially as you get older and development becomes a reflex action rather than something you have to think about. That's not a bad thing. Most IDEs scaffold that sort of thing for you. In fact most of the time I'm using VS shortcuts and snippets because it's more efficient. There will never be a situation where in a real software engineering job you are forced to code without the proper tools so why companies insist on running tests in these online editors which are the equivalent of the old days of coding in notepad or notepad++ (which is what we had to do back in the early 2000s) is beyond me. It would be like asking an electrician to wire up a house using just their bare hands and no tools.

I feel for you man but holy shit the way this video was edited… hilarious 😂

As a software engineer with seven years of experience, I quit my job and took a one-month holiday break. Following that, I had a job interview without proper preparation, and I completely messed up. I forgot my fundamentals, and I felt so bad that the rest of the interview went poorly. So, yes, it can happen to anybody, and I still regret not handling my nerves better.

😂 this was my exact experience. Worst part was I had seen and done the same exact question a day before

Wow what a lovely funny video ! Im really happy algorithm showed me your channel ! I feel youre really underapriciated. Keep it up !

bro it is wild how similar your experience is compared to mine. I even got stuck on setting a value to a hashmap in js, something i do with my eyes closed usually lmao

this was hilarious and entertaining, great video

2022 was the peak of the hiring frenzy so you were in the right place at the right time

From having to go through a six month long hiring process for X unnamed mobile carrier I explain this to people and their jaws hit the floor. It's pretty standard. It was an initial job application (8 times because its competative), a pre-screening with simple questions, an initial in person, then a practical skills assessment where you're solving various issues with phones (I was tested on iOS and Android), then 3 interviews one with the hiring manager and HR, one with the hiring manager and the regional director, then one with the regional director and my home store manager. From there it took two months pressing for call backs and being proactive about interest to actually land the job. And before I'm commissionable it's 8 - 12 weeks of training! Brand names are hard! You need to truly demonstrate you're the right one for them.

I was actualy crying from laughter while reading those netflix emails you actualy made my day 😂😂😂😂

Last line is gold

Im in Europe where job applications are pretty different. Just wanted to say that I got my current job as a cloud engineer after a single 1 hour interview which had both HR and technical interview, also had the positive response the following day. Dont think ill ever accept to go though a 5+ step interview, that stress aint it.

I love the sloth animations! They are soooo cute!

Your videos are the perfect combination of @NeetCode and @Fireship. As both entertaining and full of great information helpful to Software Engineers going through the interview and interview prep process.

DW bro I bombed AWS and Google interviews as well (back in my final years 2018/2019). My advice would be giving yourself more time to prepare. I made the mistake of rushing those interviews because I had exams, a seminar, and a thesis all coming to an end. So I wanted to find a job for after that. But I didn't realise I'd get tons of job offers anyway (from small local companies). I should have waited until school was done, and interviewed while working for one of those smaller companies (which I ended up with anyway). I also didn't realise I'd have more free time (to prep for interviews, and in general) while working compared to school. Anyway, you learn from this and in a few years you'll find yourself rejecting the very companies you dreamed of working at.

Good info for general interviewing

I learned this the hard way, but whatever you're chasing the most in your life, you won't always get it.

Thank you very much for sharing

that not able to code thing happened to me 2 times, I was scared to give interviews after that

relatable af. I got through round 1 of the technical interview somehow at a top tier company. During round 2, I get an easy enough problem but for some reason the code I was writing was really weird. Like I had already explained my approach to the interviewer, yet I was somehow writing some other code. While it did work after a couple of tweaks, it was really bad code for such a simple problem. Next day I tried doing that code myself, took me 4 mins and 5 lines of code to solve it. Needless to say I didn't clear the interview

This is the exact reason why I interview with places I don't really care for first before hitting up places I do care about

I feel this in my bones. Coding under time pressuring supervision is a form of torture. My first time, I too completely blacked out and performed like a chimp with a keyboard.

Oh man, I’m interviewing for the Netflix new grad role soon and this video was a breath of fresh air. I have pretty much identical resume, projects, and experience. I also applied without any hope of hearing back and freaked out once I get the OA, and freaked out even more to get the interview email. It’s really nice to know I’m not the only person who feels this way lol. I’ve been freaking out the past few days studying leetcode, feeling like an imposter, wondering why they’re even interviewing me, etc. I’ve only done one technical interview before and ofc the second one is with a company like Netflix. Oh well, we’re lucky to be able to say we were able to interview :)

How much time of your videos is spent on making the art? It really is great, cute and funny.

Nice editing sloth! Can you explain your video creation process, looks neat!

I had the SAME experience with another company, also figuring it out easily 3 minutes after it was over when I was alone with my thoughts.

i have question for you can python do Js based redirection and why all browser prevent to be controlled by python aumation

just having an interview with netflix would make me happy. for my field that is, im not in software

great video man

what software did you use to make this video?, keep it up really good video man

i feel u man. almost happened to me on an internship interview. such a shitty feeling it was.

For anyone who wants to do more of these types of problems, I would recommend them looking into competitive programming. Competitive programming is pretty much doing questions similar to leetcode / interview questions taken to level 10. Like most competitive programmers would find 99% of interview questions pretty trivial, so it’s a good way to prepare for it as well.

0:54 ive done this with part time jobs. i know i wont really get them but i applied anyway, and then they get you for an interview. if its a big brand, they just interview you anyway for some reason, idk why lol. maybe its to keep them busy, or have future workers in their inventory so they can pull one out if they really need to. but because they are a big brand, they can afford to interview basically a lot of people, but it doesnt mean you will pass the interview

Similarly I had applied to google as a “joke” because “I’d never get a response” - ended up getting an interview but never went through with it since my leetcode was extremely lacking

thanks for the video, greetingsfrom Argentina!

Similar experience with me as a new grad. I Applied to Google as a joke. They actually accepted my application. I passed the coding assessment, and then I had 5 interviews same day. 1 behavioral and 4 coding. Did excellent on 2, alright on 1, and complete nuked 1 😂. Took the L but it was a great confidence booster because I felt like I wasn’t even supposed to be there in the first place. Will shoot my shot again at some point in the future.

are you using ai or drawing all pixel by urself? If you are using can you tell me which ai are you using

Great video! Just discovered your channel

This is so so common I’ve been the interviewer and seen it happened and I’ve been the interviewee and had it happened. Realistically this is one of the worst aspects of our industry and we need to move past it. If you can pass the take home assessment and answer some actual interview questions like hey how would you approach this situation tell me about your process that’s all your employer should need. I have worked with my current management to remove whiteboard assessments from our interview process and we saw the quality of engineers that we hired improve. If you freeze or fail an assessment where you are asked to solve some random leetcode with another person over your shoulder watching just know that’s ok and it doesn’t mean you are not a good dev.

Smart Sloth speaks like muscle man i love it :D

7:27 Can we assume that dict will be ordered? I know that now python has ordereddict but not sure about the default dict

Whatever happens happens for the best.

"I'm not the main character, I'm just the side character that died" 💀Bro you're so funny

dude, love the video aesthetics, what a vibe. How do you get the pixel art? or do you do them all by yourself? it's awesome

Reminds me of a live coding interview that I couldn't implement the fetch api in React... I just blanked out... Sweating profusely and I failed woefully... Shit happens, but I've also aced a number of live coding sessions after that... You'll get better with time...

the toughest was the online assessment because in oA ROUND they do ask tougher question like competitive programming

It's like somebody is telling my story but in my case it was Amazon and it was 3 interview i got completely blanked out.

Oh man, as someone who lived in Memphis for a while, seeing Christian Brothers show up at 3:58 was wild.

Man I have the same mental blocked in my interview. it is just connecting to ship station and getting the lowest price for shipping and i fumbled it fuuuuc

Wow your experience is pretty much similar compared to my first interview. I couldn't recall hashmap.

7:53 lol @ the typo where you shit on yourself. Really the cherry on top.

I had exactly the same problem when interviewing for Google in 2012. It sucks

I just flunked my systems interview test for a sys admin role xD I should have studied more on the general stuff like networking, how the internet works instead of raid, redundancy and linux commands

As a student this was very good to know nobody talks about this stuff at school