FAANG Interview Prep: What to Practice Before Solving More Problems

“FAANG interview prep” is often interpreted as

Solve more LeetCode problems. Coding practice can matter greatly for software roles. But coding alone is not a complete interview-preparation strategy.

A stronger preparation model is

coding

• technical depth
• system design where relevant
• behavioral
• communication
• role-specific preparation

First: don't treat FAANG as one interview The companies commonly grouped under the acronym have different products, organizations and hiring processes. Even within one company, interview expectations can vary by:

• role
• level
• organization
• location
• hiring team

So use the acronym as a search category—not as a claim that every interview is identical. The five-part preparation model

1. Coding

For technical roles, practice

• arrays
• strings
• trees
• graphs
• recursion
• dynamic programming
• data structures
• complexity

But practice explaining.

Use

clarify → approach → complexity → implementation → test

2. System design

For roles where system design is relevant

Practice

requirements → scale → architecture → data → failure → tradeoffs

Example questions

Design a notification system. Design a URL shortener. Design a messaging platform. Design a distributed cache. The question itself isn't the hardest part. The follow-up is.

3. Behavioral

Prepare stories involving

• leadership
• conflict
• failure
• ownership
• ambiguity
• difficult decisions
• teamwork
• impact

Don't write 50 scripts. Build a story bank.

4. Communication

Technical candidates often underestimate this.

Can you

explain a complex concept state assumptions ask useful questions admit uncertainty respond to criticism Practice speaking aloud.

5. Role specificity

This is the part most generic FAANG guides miss.

A

frontend engineer

should not prepare exactly like a

distributed systems engineer.

A

product manager

should not prepare exactly like a

machine learning engineer. Start from the job description. Don't solve problems randomly Build a difficulty progression.

Level 1

Known problem types.

Level 2

Variation.

Level 3

Unfamiliar problem.

Level 4

Timed problem.

Level 5

Live explanation + follow-up. This trains adaptability. A common failure mode Candidate spends three months solving hundreds of coding questions.

Then the interviewer asks

“Tell me about the hardest system you've built.” The candidate hasn't practiced the conversation. Don't create that gap. Build a complete mock loop

Try

Coding → technical deep dive → system design → behavioral → candidate questions Then review the weak area. Don't simply repeat the entire loop every day. Use company research carefully

Read

• official job description
• official careers guidance
• role requirements
• product information
• current company information

Avoid assuming a five-year-old interview report still describes the current process. The 14-day FAANG practice plan Days 1–4: coding Days 5–7: technical/system design Days 8–9: behavioral Days 10–11: role-specific

Day 12: full simulation

Day 13: weakness practice

Day 14: final simulation

Then stop cramming. What Mockly should do differently

Don't give candidates

“FAANG Question #42.”

Give them

“Simulate a senior software engineering interview for this actual job description.” Then let the simulation adapt. That's the difference between a question bank and interview practice. [Run a big-tech mock interview with Mockly] Related: Software Engineer Mock Interview → System Design Interview → Coding Interview Practice → Behavioral Interview Questions