Every time I think about applying to, e.g. Google, and start looking at how I need to prepare, I realize it's going to take around 40hrs of algorithm prep followed by a gruelling interview process. And at the end, I may fail due to interview nerves or whatever. It's hard to justify so much time. Then again, maybe working at these big companies is really worth it (many people seem to think so!).
Nowadays, I won't put up with more than a couple hours of interview. 1 hour I think is a good amount. Granted I work on contract and this is how things tend to be done in London. For a permanent role, my limit would probably be 4 hours on site + 3-4 hours off site (like a coding test).
The way it happened to me, it was just totally unexpected and I decided to go with it, no strings attached. Don't think too much about it, take it as an experience, you have nothing to lose after all (subjective, depends on how much you invest in prep time and if you lose work hours from your current job, so YMMV). I took it as a learning experience, I read books before interviews but did not go too 'serious' into anything, just the desire to learn and compare myself with my peers. I found the interviews to be really challenging (in the good way), questions were interesting and taught me a lot of things, both personally and in regards with peer interaction.
I would definitely recommend applying to these companies just so you can say "Hey, I tried and did it" (did it = applied, not necessarily got hired). The getting hired part is just a secondary thing, it's a personal accomplishment that may come or not, but it shouldn't necessarily be your end goal.
At least this is how I feel and how I felt after interviewing at Google.
Full disclosure: I am currently an intern at Google after having failed the full-time interview process and decided to get a Master's degree, which found me back at Google as an intern.
I keep my data structures and algorithms book on the shelf - it was printed 15 years ago and uses Java, but it's easy enough to implement in something else. I used to restudy it every few years, for interviews. You need to be ready to do tree traversal, detect cycles in lists, sort and search, create a hash, find shortest paths in graphs.
I go back and forth on whether I'd do this again. I can't say never, because a good enough job might be worth the effort and risk, but I'm hesitant. How many times in life do you want to retake your undergraduate data structures and algorithms exam? I would outright refuse to do a lengthy "homework assignment". I've done that once (7-8 hours recommended time), sent it in, crickets chirping, and a one line brush off from a recruiter a full month later. I'm actually embarrassed to admit I even did this once.
As an aside, while I generally take a dim view of professional licensing, I wouldn't mind taking a "bar exam" for software development if (big if) it were well designed and administered, and perhaps voluntary to avoid regulatory capture. The reason is, I wouldn't mind studying a hundred hours or more for this test if it was widely respected and meant I wouldn't have to keep re-taking it every time I interview.
> You need to be ready to do tree traversal, detect cycles in lists, sort and search, create a hash, find shortest paths in graphs.
Maybe it's because my focus is web, but I have never had to do any of these. My eyes typically glaze over any time someone mentions algorithms. Not because of lack of interest, but because I'm self-taught, have only had one or two academic CS classes, and have never taken a course on algorithms.
When we're hiring developers we do have a "take-home" test of sorts but you can do it in an hour or less. This is prior to our in-person general job/fit interview (my boss) and the technical interview/review (me).
Doing the review was useful for me in prepping for an interview at Google. I really learned a bunch of stuff that I'd been just brushing over for years. If you are just doing it to interview, that's probably not using the opportunity well.
Every time I think about applying to, e.g. Google, and start looking at how I need to prepare, I realize it's going to take around 40hrs of algorithm prep followed by a gruelling interview process. And at the end, I may fail due to interview nerves or whatever. It's hard to justify so much time. Then again, maybe working at these big companies is really worth it (many people seem to think so!).
Nowadays, I won't put up with more than a couple hours of interview. 1 hour I think is a good amount. Granted I work on contract and this is how things tend to be done in London. For a permanent role, my limit would probably be 4 hours on site + 3-4 hours off site (like a coding test).