This year's TikTok recruitment situation of SDE New Grad can be described as "rapid". It is no longer enough to pass the OA by just studying the questions. The interviewer has a deep understanding of code specifications, communication logic and System Sense requirements are in line with the social recruitment standards. At ProgramHelp, we have witnessed many outstanding students get stuck on simple algorithm question variations or BQs due to a lack of practical thinking in the industry. The UCSB classmate I am going to review today had an extremely tortuous experience - from job confusion to cross-border interview process, and finally successfully won the TikTok SDE Offer through our interview assistance.
I hope this detailed TikTok interview experience can provide a real reference for you who are looking for a job.
Offer Timeline
Early September: The internal referral code was internally recommended, and the SDE position was recommended. However, 2 weeks later, it was discovered that there was chaos within the company, and it was changed to the MLE position. Then it was rearranged and the delivery position was changed; at the end of September, I did OA and asked multiple questions.
October: On the first side, I took a reverse linked list test and a question similar to move zeroes;
Early November: The second interview was with a domestic interviewer. He went through his resume first, and then asked questions. There were two mediums: one was similar to remove k digits, and the other was similar to champagne tower;
Mid-November: Final interview, including resume + coding + BQ, a total of one hour;
End of November: I got the offer, but it was different from the original delivery position. The whole process was cross-border, cross-group, and cross-job that was quite confusing.
Challenges encountered
Client's undergraduate degree is in computer science and he is also interested in working in Data. When he found us, he was torn between whether to find a job as a Software Engineer directly after graduation or whether to study for a master's degree in Data and then find a DS position. During the summer vacation, he was very anxious and confused.
Solving difficulties: After the service started, we conducted a system evaluation for the Client, and after discussion, we decided to recruit full-time SDE positions in the fall of our senior year.
We sorted out the application timeline for Client, the tasks to be completed at each node (question review, projects), and arranged two current Mentors from the company (one from LinkedIn and one from Google).
Systematically train LeetCode question-answering abilities, junior System Design abilities, and resume-related BQ abilities; after the start of autumn recruitment, we will continue to recommend internal positions and submit positions every week.
After getting the interview, I conducted a mock interview and finally got the Tiktok New Graduate development position offer.
This month’s TT three rounds of VO interviews & Timeline
10/05 Direct recommendation to HM
10/21 Urged HR to arrange an interview
11/10 Made an appointment with HR call
11/11 HR call. Simple chat about the group and position. I made an appointment via email that afternoon for two rounds of back-to-back VO.
11/13 First round of coding (US team): I took the variant of LC 210 and wrote it in 25 minutes within 40 minutes. Then I followed-up asked multiple edge cases and optimized the code;
11/16 Second round of coding (domestic interviewer): The other person’s English was average and the interview was difficult. He only took one test, LC 402, and wrote it quickly. There was still a lot of time left but he didn’t ask any more questions;
I called HR on 11/21, received news that I had passed two rounds of interviews that afternoon, and made an appointment with HM;
11/27 HM round: I asked a dozen regular BQs about my resume, and HR said I would give the final decision this week;
Both rounds of coding were 10+40+10 (intro + LC + Q&A). No questions were asked about mobile. The HM interview lasted about 40 minutes;
The interview was with the Music team, and HM said that only Android HC was left in the team.
TikTok interview full process assistance plan
In view of the core pain points of TikTok New Grad recruitment: "high volume, strict standards, and easy to mess up the process",ProgramHelp Create a full-link job search service system to accurately solve the job hunting dilemma across countries, groups, and positions. We provide candidates with core services such as OA assistance, interview assistance, and proxy interviews that perfectly match the focus of TikTok's multi-round coding interview and HM interview, helping candidates stand out in the high competition and efficiently obtain their favorite offers.
