FAANG Interview Help — AI for Coding, System Design & Behavioral

1. Coding (data structures & algorithms)

Two-pointer, sliding window, BFS/DFS, heaps, dynamic programming, and graphs — usually two problems in 45 minutes. Graded on optimal complexity, clean code, and edge cases. The AI returns a working solution with Big-O so you can explain the trade-off, not just the answer. See coding interview help and 15 LeetCode patterns.

2. System design

For mid/senior: "design a URL shortener / news feed / rate limiter." Graded on requirements, API, data model, scaling, and trade-offs. The AI lays out the standard skeleton so you cover every stage. See system design interview.

3. Behavioral (company-specific rubric)

This is where the brands diverge most: Amazon grades against Leadership Principles, Google against Googleyness, Meta against fast-ramp signals. The AI keeps your answer in STAR shape and tuned to the company's rubric.

1. “Two Sum / find a pair summing to a target.” (Coding — hashing)

The canonical warm-up. Start with the brute-force O(n²), then improve to a single pass with a hash map for O(n) time and O(n) space. Always state the complexity and confirm edge cases (duplicates, no valid pair) before you call it done.

2. “Find the longest substring without repeating characters.” (Sliding window)

Recognize it as a variable-size sliding window: expand the right edge, and when a character repeats, shrink from the left. Track seen characters in a set or map. Verbalizing the pattern name signals to the interviewer that you've generalized, not memorized.

3. “Number of islands / clone a graph.” (BFS/DFS & graphs)

Graph traversal is a FAANG staple. Identify nodes and edges, pick BFS (queue) or DFS (recursion/stack), and track visited state to avoid cycles. State the time complexity in terms of vertices and edges, e.g. O(V + E).

4. “Design a URL shortener (TinyURL).” (System design)

The most common entry-level design prompt. Walk the standard skeleton: clarify requirements and scale, design the API, choose an encoding (base62 of an ID), pick the data store, then layer in caching and how reads outnumber writes. Narrate trade-offs at each step.

5. “Design a news feed / rate limiter / chat system.” (System design, senior)

For mid/senior loops. Drive requirements first, then sketch components and data flow (fan-out on write vs read for a feed; token-bucket for a rate limiter). The grade is on structured reasoning and trade-offs, not naming one “right” architecture.

6. “Tell me about a time you took ownership of an ambiguous problem.” (Behavioral)

Answer in STAR, then tune to the company's rubric — this maps cleanly to Amazon's Ownership and Bias for Action Leadership Principles. Lead with your individual contribution and a measurable result.

7. “Tell me about a conflict with a teammate and how you resolved it.” (Behavioral)

Tests collaboration and self-awareness (Google's “Googleyness,” Meta's fast-ramp signals). Show that you listened, found common ground in the data, and reached an outcome — avoid framing the other person as simply wrong.