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FAANG Interview Checklist

The ultimate 45-minute checklist to ensure you hit every rubric requirement.

Before You Code (0-15 mins)

  • [ ] Did I read every word of the prompt carefully?
  • [ ] Did I check the constraints for Time Complexity hints?
  • [ ] Did I ask clarifying questions about edge cases (empty, negative, duplicates)?
  • [ ] Did I walk through Example 1 and Example 2 out loud?
  • [ ] Did I state the Brute Force approach first?
  • [ ] Did I propose the Optimal approach and explain the Time/Space trade-offs?
  • [ ] Did the interviewer explicitly agree with my optimal approach?
  • [ ] Did I write 3 lines of pseudo-code comments?

While Coding (15-35 mins)

  • [ ] Am I using descriptive variable names?
  • [ ] Am I talking out loud to explain my intent?
  • [ ] Is my code clean and avoiding deep nesting?
  • [ ] Am I handling the edge cases we discussed earlier?
  • [ ] If I received a hint, did I incorporate it without getting defensive?

After Coding (35-45 mins)

  • [ ] Did I stop myself from saying "I'm done"?
  • [ ] Did I manually dry run my code with a small example?
  • [ ] Did I explicitly track variable state in comments during the dry run?
  • [ ] Did I state the final Big O Time Complexity?
  • [ ] Did I state the final Big O Space Complexity (including the call stack)?
  • [ ] Do I have 2 questions prepared to ask the interviewer at the end?

The "Golden Rule" of Interviewing

If you ever feel lost, remember the Golden Rule: Communicate.

An interviewer cannot help you if they don't know what you are thinking. An interviewer cannot pass you if they don't know how you communicate. Talk through the problem, treat the interviewer like a teammate, and you will dramatically increase your chances of a "Strong Hire" rating.