SWE Accelerator Podcast

Emily Chen went from failing her first coding competition to Google, Wall Street and Director of Product at Bilt. Here's how she broke into each field with zero experience.Computer science students, new grads, and software engineers…want to land your dream software engineering job or internship? Click here 👉https://www.amanmanazir.com/coaching/?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=podcasts_description&utm_campaign=EmilyExGoogle&video=21jICVa-f5k🚀 Get my free Software Engineering Crash Course – https://www.amanmanazir.com/7dayengineer🎧 Listen to all episodes of the Software Engineering Accelerator Podcast on YouTube: youtube.com/AmanManazirListen to our new podcast, @TheEntropyShow: https://youtu.be/MDJQXbXPngg?si=vQqITmNzy3fhfcV1I’m Aman Manazir, a career coach and software engineer. I interned at companies like Amazon, Shopify, and HP in college, and the day I graduated I landed a $168,000/year* full-time software engineering job. I help you make it as a computer science student & software engineer and get your dream job offer.📄 Get my free resume template – https://www.amanmanazir.com/resume🧠 Get my free LeetCode Roadmap – https://www.amanmanazir.com/leetcode💌 Free weekly productivity insights/advice – https://amanmanazir.com/newsletter📕 All my free Notion templates – https://www.amanmanazir.com/notion📝 Sign up for Notion – https://affiliate.notion.so/2nh3pjr6l5l6📷 Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/amanmanazir/🐦 Twitter – https://twitter.com/amanmanazir👉 Emily's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilycwx?utm_source=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=member_ios👉 Emily's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iemilymoments?obrf=d3ptc2VrdDZyODYx—⏱️ Timestamps:00:00 Introduction00:48 Failing Her First CS Competition04:02 Why She Leans Into Failure05:26 Do Early Experiences Define You?07:53 "One of the Dumbest People on the Planet"10:03 Hard Work vs Natural Talent14:36 Premed to Google by 1817:23 The Stairway to Software Heaven20:34 Why She Chose MIT25:44 Celebrating Failure as Identity27:38 From Premed to Wall Street41:39 Why She Held Onto Premed43:40 Breadth Over Depth48:06 Generalists vs Specialists51:30 Why MIT Forces Soft Skills53:30 The 80/20 Generalist Advantage57:21 Big Tech vs Startups59:34 Breaking Into Product Management1:09:40 Following Interests, Not a Script1:13:24 How to Break Into Any Field1:16:15 Work Backwards From the Outcome1:17:49 Her Biggest Career Regret1:20:35 Is College Still Worth It?1:22:06 Is New York the New College?1:27:43 Where to Find Emily

He passed every Google interview round, then got the call. Years later, a secretive quant firm was paying him to do nothing. Mustafa breaks down quant non-competes, what quant really pays, and how to break in today.Want a team of FAANG engineers + recruiters to help you land your dream software engineering job/internship at big tech guaranteed? Click here 👉 https://www.amanmanazir.com/coaching/?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=podcasts_description&utm_campaign=Mustafa_Quant&video=77m6FzEGIog🚀 Get my free Software Engineering Crash Course – https://www.amanmanazir.com/7dayengineer🎧 Listen to all episodes of the Software Engineering Accelerator Podcast on YouTube: youtube.com/AmanManazirListen to our new podcast, @TheEntropyShow: https://youtu.be/MDJQXbXPngg?si=vQqITmNzy3fhfcV1I’m Aman Manazir, a career coach and software engineer. I interned at companies like Amazon, Shopify, and HP in college, and the day I graduated I landed a $168,000/year* full-time software engineering job. I help you make it as a computer science student & software engineer and get your dream job offer.📄 Get my free resume template – https://www.amanmanazir.com/resume🧠 Get my free LeetCode Roadmap – https://www.amanmanazir.com/leetcode💌 Free weekly productivity insights/advice – https://amanmanazir.com/newsletter📕 All my free Notion templates – https://www.amanmanazir.com/notion📝 Sign up for Notion – https://affiliate.notion.so/2nh3pjr6l5l6📷 Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/amanmanazir/🐦 Twitter – https://twitter.com/amanmanazir👉 Mustafa’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/m-mustafa-arif-7075bb150?utm_source=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=member_ios—⏱️ Timestamps:00:00 Introduction00:45 Paid a Full Salary to Not Work02:17 What a Quant Non-Compete Really Is03:59 Life During the Non-Compete Year06:11 What the Non-Compete Actually Paid06:27 Why the Year Felt So Isolating07:55 Passing Every Google Round, No Offer09:43 Why Google Was the Dream11:04 Handling Rejection Out of Your Control12:00 Finding Quant After Google Said No14:41 What He Knew About Quant Before16:24 Software Engineering Accelerator 17:17 Betting on the U.S. and MIT19:56 Is a Master's Actually Worth It?22:34 Could He Have Skipped the Master's?24:03 Landing the Two Sigma Internship25:49 Quant Data Science vs Research, Trading, Dev27:21 Every Firm He Interviewed With28:23 Funding MIT With a $90K Loan30:41 Would He Still Recommend the Master's?32:19 What a Two Sigma Intern Earns33:45 The International Student Gamble35:06 Do International Students Pay It Back?37:19 Free 7-Day Software Engineering Workshop37:48 The Return Offer and $300K Comp40:04 Telling His Parents About $300K40:38 Zero Lifestyle Creep on $300K43:00 Inside Two Sigma's Machine44:51 Why He Left Two Sigma46:07 The New Role and $400K Bump47:28 Who Quant Data Science Is For49:33 How Quant Data Science Interviews Work50:34 Choosing Your Quant Niche52:41 Advice for Breaking Into Quant in 202653:20 Where to Connect With Mustafa

Lihong went from pre-law kid to Jane Street intern, IMC trader, and founder of Freeport Markets.He breaks down how he prepped for quant interviews, handled competing offers, and why he left a $350K+ role to build in AI. Plus why Jane Street is seen as the top firm in quant, and why so many quants are leaving for AI labs.Want a team of FAANG engineers + recruiters to help you land your dream software engineering job/internship at big tech guaranteed? Click here 👉 https://www.amanmanazir.com/coaching/?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=podcasts_description&utm_campaign=Lihong_JaneStreet&video=qEp6mwNw68g🚀 Get my free Software Engineering Crash Course – https://www.amanmanazir.com/7dayengineer🎧 Listen to all episodes of the Software Engineering Accelerator Podcast on YouTube: youtube.com/AmanManazirListen to our new podcast, @TheEntropyShow: https://youtu.be/MDJQXbXPngg?si=vQqITmNzy3fhfcV1I’m Aman Manazir, a career coach and software engineer. I interned at companies like Amazon, Shopify, and HP in college, and the day I graduated I landed a $168,000/year* full-time software engineering job. I help you make it as a computer science student & software engineer and get your dream job offer.📄 Get my free resume template – https://www.amanmanazir.com/resume🧠 Get my free LeetCode Roadmap – https://www.amanmanazir.com/leetcode💌 Free weekly productivity insights/advice – https://amanmanazir.com/newsletter📕 All my free Notion templates – https://www.amanmanazir.com/notion📝 Sign up for Notion – https://affiliate.notion.so/2nh3pjr6l5l6📷 Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/amanmanazir/🐦 Twitter – https://twitter.com/amanmanazir👉 Lihong’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lihong062?utm_source=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=member_ios👉 Lihong’s Website: https://freeportmarkets.com/—⏱️ Timestamps:00:00 Introduction01:00 Why He Wanted To Be A Lawyer02:08 Humanities Kid Obsessed With Soviet Math06:00 Did Math Help Break Into Quant?07:10 Why Duke Over Cambridge And Columbia09:45 Humanities Kid To Quant Trader11:14 Apply Here to Get into Quant 12:33 The Freshman Year Pivot To Trading16:16 Ditching Law For Trading18:25 Exploring Before Declaring A Major20:31 Software Engineering Accelerator21:24 Almost Kicked Out Of Duke25:11 What The Duke Saga Taught Him26:00 Landing The Akuna Internship28:42 Interview Prep Strategy And Resources30:58 How Many Prep Hours It Takes33:33 Intern Pay At Akuna Vs Jane Street35:17 How It Felt Earning At 1936:53 Inside The Akuna Internship39:36 Where Akuna Interns Ended Up41:14 Second Recruiting Cycle And Jane Street44:04 7-day Software Engineering Roadmap 44:33 Why He Didn't Negotiate Offers46:47 Why Jane Street Is Top Dog49:25 Quant Brain Drain To AI Labs52:30 Why Not Everyone Leaves For AI53:48 What Jane Street Does Differently56:20 Choosing IMC For Full-Time57:27 IMC Pay And Salary Trends58:26 Trading Semiconductors At IMC59:28 Where Quant Is Heading1:01:19 Why He Left To Found Freeport1:05:11 Would He Ever Return To Quant?

Ex-HRT quant Olivia breaks down why most people never crack quant trading, the resume bar candidates miss, and why smart isn't enough.From a perfect AMC 8 score to a $400K offer at 22 to getting fired within a year, she gives the real, unfiltered picture of what it takes and why even she couldn't sustain it long-term.Computer science students, new grads, and software engineers…want to land your dream software engineering job or internship? Click here 👉https://www.amanmanazir.com/coaching/?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=podcasts_description&utm_campaign=Olivia_Ex-quant&video=cmnXNkby2SE🚀 Get my free Software Engineering Crash Course – https://www.amanmanazir.com/7dayengineer🎧 Listen to all episodes of the Software Engineering Accelerator Podcast on YouTube: youtube.com/AmanManazirListen to our new podcast, @TheEntropyShow: https://youtu.be/MDJQXbXPngg?si=vQqITmNzy3fhfcV1I’m Aman Manazir, a career coach and software engineer. I interned at companies like Amazon, Shopify, and HP in college, and the day I graduated I landed a $168,000/year* full-time software engineering job. I help you make it as a computer science student & software engineer and get your dream job offer.📄 Get my free resume template – https://www.amanmanazir.com/resume🧠 Get my free LeetCode Roadmap – https://www.amanmanazir.com/leetcode💌 Free weekly productivity insights/advice – https://amanmanazir.com/newsletter📕 All my free Notion templates – https://www.amanmanazir.com/notion📝 Sign up for Notion – https://affiliate.notion.so/2nh3pjr6l5l6📷 Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/amanmanazir/🐦 Twitter – https://twitter.com/amanmanazir👉 Olivia's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/su-min-l-011515118?utm_source=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=member_android —⏱️ Timestamps:00:00 Introduction01:06 Perfect AMC 8 Score Despite No English02:05 Korean Math System vs. US Curriculum04:15 Moving to America at Age 1006:11 Learning English and Building a Mindset07:59 Competition Math Comes Easy in the US08:50 Path to Perfect AMC 8 and AIME11:32 High School Peak vs. Later Decline17:00 How High Schoolers Discover Quant Trading18:50 College Admissions Process and Caltech Decision20:55 Software Engineering Accelerator21:47 Does GPA Really Matter for Quant?24:37 High School Network vs. College Network27:38Understanding the Quant Recruiting Cycle32:13 Which Firms She Interviewed and Prepped For37:43 Inside the HRT Interview Process40:54 7-day Engineering Resource41:24Getting the HRT Offer and Reaction42:21 HRT Total Compensation Breakdown43:25 Olivia's Parents Reaction 45:16 Quant Salaries45:42 The HRT Working Experience 47:12 Highest Quant Salary 48:25 Day-to-Day Life on a Quant Salary51:20 What Quants Actually Spend Money On55:25 Getting Fired From HRT After One Year58:04 Immediate Reaction to Losing the Job1:00:14 Understanding the Non-Compete Payout1:01:55 What She Did During 18 Months Off1:05:18 Deciding to Pivot Into Big Tech1:06:30 Comparing Instagram Culture to HRT1:07:55 Instagram Compensation and the Salary Cut1:10:08 Getting Laid Off From Instagram1:11:17 Chasing Fulfillment Over High Compensation1:14:12 Reflecting on Two Job Losses in Five Years1:15:41 Advice to Her 13-Year-Old Self

She wanted to be an actress, now she's a software engineer at Meta making $200K/yr at 23 years old, with zero CS experience.Marilyn joins Aman to unpack her rejection, the layoffs she survived, and why she chose stability over passion. A raw, practical look at building a career in big tech.Computer science students, new grads, and software engineers…want to land your dream software engineering job or internship? Click here 👉https://www.amanmanazir.com/coaching/?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=podcasts_description&utm_campaign=Marilyn_Actress&video=nO5Yzt3rLYM🚀 Get my free Software Engineering Crash Course – https://www.amanmanazir.com/7dayengineer🎧 Listen to all episodes of the Software Engineering Accelerator Podcast on YouTube: youtube.com/AmanManazirListen to our new podcast, @TheEntropyShow: https://youtu.be/MDJQXbXPngg?si=vQqITmNzy3fhfcV1I’m Aman Manazir, a career coach and software engineer. I interned at companies like Amazon, Shopify, and HP in college, and the day I graduated I landed a $168,000/year* full-time software engineering job. I help you make it as a computer science student & software engineer and get your dream job offer.📄 Get my free resume template – https://www.amanmanazir.com/resume🧠 Get my free LeetCode Roadmap – https://www.amanmanazir.com/leetcode💌 Free weekly productivity insights/advice – https://amanmanazir.com/newsletter📕 All my free Notion templates – https://www.amanmanazir.com/notion📝 Sign up for Notion – https://affiliate.notion.so/2nh3pjr6l5l6📷 Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/amanmanazir/🐦 Twitter – https://twitter.com/amanmanazir👉 Marilyn's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mareomni👉 Marilyn's TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mareomni—⏱️ Timestamps:00:00 Introduction 01:40 Software Engineer at Meta, Aspiring Actress01:54 From Classical Pianist to Computer Science06:05 Why She Randomly Chose Economics07:57 Discovering a Passion for Acting10:58 Landing the Atlassian Internship11:15 Coasting Through Her First Internship13:25 The Devastating Return Offer Rejection14:25 Freezing Up, Ghosting 12 Interviews17:57 Grinding LeetCode to Land Meta19:36 How to Recover From Rejection21:19 Don't Attach Your Identity to Companies22:41 Cracking the Technical Interview Code24:34 Is LeetCode Overrated or Underrated25:58 What Changed During the Meta Internship29:33 A Manager Who Trained Her Like a Senior33:09 Earning the Highest Rating, Return Offer35:18 Meta's Layoffs Hit Close to Home37:44 Why Big Tech Keeps Cutting Jobs40:12 Losing Her Team's Culture Overnight41:26 Posting Online and Facing Hate Comments46:07 Should Engineers Post Content Online48:34 Is Big Tech Actually a Scam51:01 Do Perks Still Matter at Work52:04 Why People Get Disillusioned With Big Tech54:39 Recruiting Right After Layoffs Happen56:24 Revealing Her Meta Salary at 2359:27 Personality Determines How Money Changes You1:00:04 Choosing Stability Over Her Acting Dream1:02:38 Why Influencing Beats Acting for Stability1:04:00 Should You Follow Passion or Logic1:05:45 Finding Time to Build a Side Hustle1:07:30 Becoming a Translator Between Tech and Creativity1:08:45 Where to Find Marilyn Online

Zen spent 4 years inside GitHub watching the AI revolution unfold and what he saw made him walk away from the best job he'd ever had. He breaks down why software engineering is broken, what AI is doing to hiring, and exactly how to break into AI engineering in 2026.Computer science students, new grads, and software engineers…want to land your dream software engineering job or internship? Click here 👉https://www.amanmanazir.com/coaching/?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=podcasts_description&utm_campaign=ZenGitHub&video=Gt2bKGJbd0U🚀 Get my free Software Engineering Crash Course – https://www.amanmanazir.com/7dayengineer🎧 Listen to all episodes of the Software Engineering Accelerator Podcast on YouTube: youtube.com/AmanManazirListen to our new podcast, @TheEntropyShow: https://youtu.be/MDJQXbXPngg?si=vQqITmNzy3fhfcV1I’m Aman Manazir, a career coach and software engineer. I interned at companies like Amazon, Shopify, and HP in college, and the day I graduated I landed a $168,000/year* full-time software engineering job. I help you make it as a computer science student & software engineer and get your dream job offer.📄 Get my free resume template – https://www.amanmanazir.com/resume🧠 Get my free LeetCode Roadmap – https://www.amanmanazir.com/leetcode💌 Free weekly productivity insights/advice – https://amanmanazir.com/newsletter📕 All my free Notion templates – https://www.amanmanazir.com/notion📝 Sign up for Notion – https://affiliate.notion.so/2nh3pjr6l5l6📷 Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/amanmanazir/🐦 Twitter – https://twitter.com/amanmanazir👉 Zen's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@zenvanriel👉 Zen's AI Engineer Program: https://aiengineer.community/join —⏱️ Timestamps:00:00 Introduction 01:15 From $500/Month Tester to AI Engineer02:30 Why Zen Studied Cognitive Science and AI03:48 How He Actually Learned to Code04:55 Is Software Testing Still a Valid Entry Point?05:57 Why LinkedIn Got Him Into Microsoft06:42 How Microsoft Found His Profile07:34 What to Post on LinkedIn With No Experience09:44 The Microsoft Internship Interview Surprise11:34 Do Soft Skills Matter More in the AI Era?12:13 The Azure Cert He Failed Three Times14:58 Why AI Advice Is Always Generic16:20 How to Find Mentors You Can Actually Trust17:33 Inside GitHub During the AI Boom19:04 How Zen Stays Up to Date Without the Hype20:28 What the AI Culture at GitHub Really Looked Like22:18 The PR Pushback Story: 6000 Lines Rejected25:12 How to Find the Middle Ground With AI Coding27:38 Will AI Actually Replace Engineers?29:09 Why He Left the Best Job He Ever Had30:36 The Moment AI Safety Became His Mission31:34 The Problem With Agents Reviewing Agents32:53 Why Accountability Is Everything in Engineering33:15 The Paradox of Criticising AI While Using It Daily35:02 Startup vs Enterprise: How to Use AI Differently38:08 The AI Detox Before His Safety Lab Interview39:15 Should Engineers Detox From AI Regularly?40:55 How He Used Claude Code to Prep for Interviews41:59 The Deepfake Hiring Story45:18 How Interviewers Are Catching AI Cheaters46:36 Why Struggling in an Interview Proves You're Human47:39 What Interviews Will Look Like in Two Years50:33 Why Internships Are the Cheat Code Now52:01 Why Referrals Matter More Than Ever54:22 How His Student Landed an AI Engineer Offer55:45 What Even Is an AI Engineer?56:49 The Step-by-Step Pivot Into AI Engineering59:26 Top Skills to Be Competitive in AI Engineering1:01:34 Do You Actually Need to Be Good at Math?1:03:15 Is LeetCode Dead for AI Engineering?1:04:18 Where to Find Zen Online

He sent 500 applications junior year and heard back from almost nobody. No internship. Just rejection while his friends posted Meta and Amazon offers on LinkedIn.One year later: DoorDash, Apple, final rounds at Nvidia. $200K+ as a new grad. No big tech internship on his resume.Pranav breaks down the exact system that flipped everything, the timing window most students miss, research maxing from scratch, and why he set a goal of 1,000 applications.This is the blueprint.Computer science students, new grads, and software engineers…want to land your dream software engineering job or internship? Click here 👉https://www.amanmanazir.com/coaching/?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=podcasts_description&utm_campaign=PranavDoorDash&video=R7lwx0zk-cs🚀 Get my free Software Engineering Crash Course – https://www.amanmanazir.com/7dayengineer🎧 Listen to all episodes of the Software Engineering Accelerator Podcast on YouTube: youtube.com/AmanManazirListen to our new podcast, @TheEntropyShow: https://youtu.be/MDJQXbXPngg?si=vQqITmNzy3fhfcV1I’m Aman Manazir, a career coach and software engineer. I interned at companies like Amazon, Shopify, and HP in college, and the day I graduated I landed a $168,000/year* full-time software engineering job. I help you make it as a computer science student & software engineer and get your dream job offer.📄 Get my free resume template – https://www.amanmanazir.com/resume🧠 Get my free LeetCode Roadmap – https://www.amanmanazir.com/leetcode💌 Free weekly productivity insights/advice – https://amanmanazir.com/newsletter📕 All my free Notion templates – https://www.amanmanazir.com/notion📝 Sign up for Notion – https://affiliate.notion.so/2nh3pjr6l5l6📷 Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/amanmanazir/🐦 Twitter – https://twitter.com/amanmanazir👉 Pranav's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pranavinno👉 Pranav's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pranav-lende?utm_source=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=member_ios👉 Pranav's TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pranavinno?_r=1&_t=ZS-96xnEzhuNl6—⏱️ Timestamps:00:00 Introduction01:45 500 Applications and Almost Nothing Back04:11 No Junior Year Internship: The Death Sentence04:56 Senior Year: DoorDash, Apple, and the Turnaround05:23 What Actually Changed Everything07:30 YC AI Startup School and the Wake-Up Call09:13 Why the Room You're In Changes Everything11:27 How to Manufacture a Competitive Environment13:11 Hackathons and the Value of CS Schools14:45 The Real Reason Top Universities Win16:51 The .edu Email Hack for Research18:46 The Exact Timing Window to Apply20:55 New Grad vs Internship Recruiting Cycles22:19 Why Research Maxing Closes the Gap25:04 How to Email Professors and Actually Get Responses28:14 How to Turn a Response Into a Research Position30:45 Senior Year Recruiting: The Full Setup31:48 LeetCode Is Make or Break — Here's How36:10 The Pareto Problem Set Breakdown37:29 The Offers: DoorDash, Apple, Nvidia, Quant39:21 Why He Chose SF and DoorDash41:21 Getting a 200K Offer and Telling Nobody43:13 Why He Kept Recruiting After the Offer44:50 Is the CS Market Cooked or Is That Cope47:33 The Roommate Story: Proof Tenacity Wins50:43 What's Next: SF, DoorDash, and Building Something

Sourish walked away from a $250K TikTok ML job with no plan, self-studied AI, and landed at one of Silicon Valley's hottest AI labs. Now he interviews candidates himself and he's exposing exactly what it takes to get in.Computer science students, new grads, and software engineers…want to land your dream software engineering job or internship? Click here 👉https://www.amanmanazir.com/coaching/?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=podcasts_description&utm_campaign=SourishAI_TikTok&video=1kZDGkReE6w🚀 Get my free Software Engineering Crash Course – https://www.amanmanazir.com/7dayengineer🎧 Listen to all episodes of the Software Engineering Accelerator Podcast on YouTube: youtube.com/AmanManazirListen to our new podcast, @TheEntropyShow: https://youtu.be/MDJQXbXPngg?si=vQqITmNzy3fhfcV1I’m Aman Manazir, a career coach and software engineer. I interned at companies like Amazon, Shopify, and HP in college, and the day I graduated I landed a $168,000/year* full-time software engineering job. I help you make it as a computer science student & software engineer and get your dream job offer.📄 Get my free resume template – https://www.amanmanazir.com/resume🧠 Get my free LeetCode Roadmap – https://www.amanmanazir.com/leetcode💌 Free weekly productivity insights/advice – https://amanmanazir.com/newsletter📕 All my free Notion templates – https://www.amanmanazir.com/notion📝 Sign up for Notion – https://affiliate.notion.so/2nh3pjr6l5l6📷 Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/amanmanazir/🐦 Twitter – https://twitter.com/amanmanazir👉 Sourish's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@sourishk07 👉 Sourish's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sourish07?utm_source=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=member_ios—⏱️ Timestamps:00:00 Introduction02:30 Quitting TikTok With No Plan05:57 The $250K Compensation Breakdown07:10 What He Couldn't Say While Inside08:15 Chinese-Only Culture At ByteDance10:56 The TikTok Ban From The Inside12:30 Life After Quitting: The Reset14:26 Why Video Diffusion Changed Everything16:51 When Job Hunting Actually Started17:57 Second Recruiting Cycle Was Harder20:15 Companies He Talked To20:46 Why He Chose Luma AI22:04 What Luma AI Actually Does23:06 His Role: Optimizing The Inference Stack23:33 Roadmap To Land At A Top AI Lab26:14 How Long Should You Actually Study27:23 Quit Or Study On The Side28:14 How To Know When You're Ready29:35 How To Get In Front Of Companies30:26 Which Networking Events Are Worth It32:20 What Startups Actually Ask In Interviews33:10 How Many Interviews Before Luma33:41 Why Experience Changes The Game36:05 Breaking Down AI Company Types41:23 Salary Ranges Across AI Companies43:49 Highest Salaries He's Heard Of44:31 What He Sees Interviewing Candidates46:37 10 Years At Google Still Failed47:43 The Harvard Candidate Who Got Caught Cheating49:30 Should Interviews Go Back In Person52:11 Philosophy On Learning Hard Things Fast56:24 Are We Training Ourselves To Be Useless58:01 Hot Takes: Are SWEs Cooked58:22 Should You Still Major In CS58:50 Big Tech Vs AI Startup In 202659:41 Is The Big Tech Dream Dead1:00:09 Is LeetCode Still Relevant1:00:31 The AI Belief He Got Totally Wrong

NeetCode just invested in the company trying to kill LeetCode. Aman sits down with Rounds founder Fardeen Khimani to break down why tech hiring is broken, which companies are ditching LeetCode, what's replacing it, and what every engineer needs to do to get hired in 2026.Computer science students, new grads, and software engineers…want to land your dream software engineering job or internship? Click here 👉https://www.amanmanazir.com/coaching/?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=podcasts_description&utm_campaign=RoundsLeetcode&video=Ld3vyudRY68Stop sending hundreds of applications into the void. Take one free technical assessment and have companies reach out to YOU: startups to Fortune 500s, $100K-$300K+ roles 👉 https://www.rounds.so/partnerships/aman-manazir🚀 Get my free Software Engineering Crash Course – https://www.amanmanazir.com/7dayengineer🎧 Listen to all episodes of the Software Engineering Accelerator Podcast on YouTube: youtube.com/AmanManazirListen to our new podcast, @TheEntropyShow: https://youtu.be/MDJQXbXPngg?si=vQqITmNzy3fhfcV1I’m Aman Manazir, a career coach and software engineer. I interned at companies like Amazon, Shopify, and HP in college, and the day I graduated I landed a $168,000/year* full-time software engineering job. I help you make it as a computer science student & software engineer and get your dream job offer.📄 Get my free resume template – https://www.amanmanazir.com/resume🧠 Get my free LeetCode Roadmap – https://www.amanmanazir.com/leetcode💌 Free weekly productivity insights/advice – https://amanmanazir.com/newsletter📕 All my free Notion templates – https://www.amanmanazir.com/notion📝 Sign up for Notion – https://affiliate.notion.so/2nh3pjr6l5l6📷 Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/amanmanazir/🐦 Twitter – https://twitter.com/amanmanazir👉 Round's Website: https://www.rounds.so👉 Round's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fardeenkhimani/—⏱️ Timestamps:00:00 Introduction02:30 NeetCode Invested In His Competition04:30 How Rounds Landed Fortune 500 Clients07:41 Why Engineering Managers Hate LeetCode08:55 The Cheating Epidemic Breaking Tech Hiring09:21 What C-Suite vs Engineers Actually Want10:30 Steel Manning LeetCode's Case13:31 Why LeetCode Favors The Wealthy17:30 Which Companies Are Killing LeetCode First19:55 Meta, Google & Amazon Ranked20:33 What's Actually Replacing LeetCode21:53 The New Technical Interview Breakdown22:48 Is LeetCode Completely Dead?23:30 System Design, Behavioral & AI Rounds Explained27:07 How To Prepare For The New Interview27:55 Are Entry Level Roles Actually Cooked?31:44 Why The Market Isn't As Bad As You Think35:37 What A Successful Engineer Looks Like Now37:30 Why CS Is Still Worth Studying39:33 How To Actually Network (Do This Instead)41:00 Startups vs Big Tech Hiring Differences42:30 Big Tech Golden Handcuffs Warning43:30 Where The Next Big Opportunities Are45:28 The Story That Proves LeetCode Is Dead

She made $1.2M at Google, then quit with 4 offers in the worst market ever.Ex-Google Senior Engineer Maddy Zhang breaks down how she escaped golden handcuffs, landed offers at OpenAI, Meta and Databricks, and what every engineer needs to know about promotions, AI engineering and surviving the AI takeover of SWE.Computer science students, new grads, and software engineers…want to land your dream software engineering job or internship? Click here 👉https://www.amanmanazir.com/coaching/?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=podcasts_description&utm_campaign=MaddyZhang_GoogleEngineer&video=7JwZHBfYFdk🚀 Get my free Software Engineering Crash Course – https://www.amanmanazir.com/7dayengineer🎧 Listen to all episodes of the Software Engineering Accelerator Podcast on YouTube: youtube.com/AmanManazirListen to our new podcast, @TheEntropyShow: https://youtu.be/MDJQXbXPngg?si=vQqITmNzy3fhfcV1I’m Aman Manazir, a career coach and software engineer. I interned at companies like Amazon, Shopify, and HP in college, and the day I graduated I landed a $168,000/year* full-time software engineering job. I help you make it as a computer science student & software engineer and get your dream job offer.📄 Get my free resume template – https://www.amanmanazir.com/resume🧠 Get my free LeetCode Roadmap – https://www.amanmanazir.com/leetcode💌 Free weekly productivity insights/advice – https://amanmanazir.com/newsletter📕 All my free Notion templates – https://www.amanmanazir.com/notion📝 Sign up for Notion – https://affiliate.notion.so/2nh3pjr6l5l6📷 Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/amanmanazir/🐦 Twitter – https://twitter.com/amanmanazir👉 Maddy's YouTube: https://youtube.com/@maddyzhang?si=5QlcdxOXkeWYTriM 👉 Maddy's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madeline.m.zhang?igsh=YmtjM2djN3Vid3Bj—⏱️ Timestamps:00:00 Introduction01:35 Why She Left Google After 4.5 Years04:01 Her $315K Google Salary Revealed04:28 The Golden Handcuffs Problem04:56 The Moment She Decided To Leave06:44 What She Was Looking For Next07:32 12 Companies, 4 Offers, Full Time Job09:34 Internal Promotion vs Jumping Ship11:00 How She Managed Energy While Recruiting12:42 What A Code Freeze Actually Is14:03 Why Referrals Matter More Than Ever15:21 Wildest Interview Stories17:45 What Is A Frontier Model Lab18:04 Who AI Engineers Actually Are18:43 AI Researcher vs AI Engineer Explained19:19 Do You Need A PhD For AI20:01 Skills Nobody Talks About But Jobs Want21:00 How To Break Into AI Engineering22:08 How To Actually Get Interviews22:58 What The Interview Loop Looks Like25:05 AI Assisted Interviews Are Here27:30 Why Google Rejected AI Interviews28:48 How Different Companies Hire Differently30:06 Honest AI Engineer Salary Ranges32:32 47 Rejections Before Her First Internship34:04 How She Stopped Taking Rejection Personally35:24 How Important Is That First Internship37:08 The Waterloo Co-op System Explained38:13 Does GPA Actually Matter41:09 Her Manager Pushed Her To Promote Early44:22 What To Do With A Bad Manager45:40 How To Ask For Promotion Packets47:04 How Reorgs Affected Her Career48:09 Why Reorgs Happen And How To Survive49:58 Will Software Engineering Exist In 5 Years51:34 Advice For Terrified CS Freshmen52:27 Is Google Still The Top Dog53:43 Is LeetCode Dead In 202654:20 Hot Take: Is LeetCode Actually Valuable56:35 Why People Hate LeetCode57:54 Has She Ever Used A Linked List58:03 AI Cheating Is Everywhere Right Now1:00:36 Does Anyone Actually Get Away With It1:03:02 Do Personal Projects Actually Matter1:03:55 The Truth About Job Hopping1:05:13 She Outlasted 80% Of Google's Workforce