The big tech interview process at Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia and Tesla, compared from their own pages, plus one prep plan for several.
The big tech interview process follows the same skeleton almost everywhere: you apply, take a screen or online assessment, talk to a recruiter, pass a technical or role screen, sit a loop of several interviews, and wait for a decision. The companies differ in four places that matter for preparation: what each interviewer scores you against, who has a voice in the decision, the rules of the coding environment, and how long you wait. Amazon judges every candidate through its Leadership Principles and adds a Bar Raiser from another team, Meta publishes a fixed menu of coding, design and behavioral interviews, and Nvidia will not make an offer until you have interviewed in person.
This page compares seven large tech employers from their own careers pages, then turns that comparison into one plan for preparing for several at once.
If you have seen these employers grouped together in job posts and prep courses, our explainer on what FAANG means and which companies it covers sorts out the acronyms.
Netflix is not among the seven companies compared below, so its stages and culture-focused interviews have their own Netflix interview process guide.
The shared big tech interview process, and where it bends
Every company here that publishes its process runs some version of application, screen, loop and decision, so a candidate who has done one loop will recognise the next, but the early steps bend. Google may send its Hiring Assessment before any interview, Amazon's SDE II prep page describes a timed online assessment as the first step for that role, and Microsoft says a team may simply schedule a brief screening call after reading resumes.
Loop size varies too. Amazon says you will meet two to seven people, Meta's guide says four to six interviews of 45 minutes, and Nvidia says you may have several interviews depending on the role, each usually lasting 30 to 60 minutes.
Company by company, from their own pages
Amazon
Amazon's interviewing page lists four stages (online application, assessments, phone screening and the interview loop) and says the process differs from role to role. In the loop you meet each interviewer one at a time for 45 minutes to an hour, and the group may include managers, teammates, stakeholders and a Bar Raiser, whom Amazon describes as someone from another team focused on hiring quality.
The behavioral side carries the most visible weight here. Amazon says all candidates are evaluated through the lens of its Leadership Principles, that its interviews focus on behavioral-based questions, and that it avoids brain teasers. Its SDE II prep page adds the technical detail: a 90-minute online assessment with two coding questions, followed by system design scenarios and a work style survey tied to the principles, then a loop of four 55-minute interviews that includes at least one software systems design question. The same page lists the interview outcome within five business days of the loop. Our Amazon interview guide, with Leadership Principle questions and a two-week prep plan goes through that loop question by question.
Google's hiring page says the process typically takes roughly six to eight weeks once interviews start. Before interviews you may be asked to take the Google Hiring Assessment, which Google says is designed to measure workstyle skills, and possibly a role-related assessment such as a coding exercise. Then come one or two short recruiter conversations, sometimes a small project, and a panel of interviews over video or in person.
Google stresses consistency: every candidate is assessed with the same clear rubrics for the role, the questions are open-ended, and there are no brainteasers. On the decision, Google says it takes into account "a number of perspectives", and its interview tips page adds that it applies various internal reviews, so an outcome can take several weeks. Ask your recruiter how the final decision and team placement work for your role. Our guides cover what the Google Hiring Assessment measures, how to answer "Why Google?", the behavioral questions Google asks and interviews for Google Maps roles.
For every Google stage in order, from the assessment to the offer, read our step-by-step guide to the Google interview process.
Meta
Meta publishes the most detailed guide of the group. Its Full Loop Interview Guide for software engineers says the loop has four to six interviews of 45 minutes, covering coding, design and behavioral. In coding you should expect about two problems in roughly 40 minutes, the interviewer will not compile your code, and the guide states that Meta does not ask dynamic programming questions.
The design interview is either systems design or product architecture design, depending on the position, so it is worth asking your recruiter which one you will get. The behavioral interview is a single 45-minute session scored on five focus areas: resolving conflict, growing continuously, embracing ambiguity, driving results and communicating effectively. Our page on the five areas Meta's behavioral interviewers judge has example questions for each one. After the loop, Meta suggests following up with your recruiter if you have not heard within a week.
Our walk-through of the Meta interview process covers the recruiter call, technical screen, full loop and team matching in more depth.
Microsoft
Microsoft is less prescriptive about stages: next steps vary by role, and interviews may take place by phone, on Microsoft Teams or in person. The company says it uses structured interviews and a consistent framework, and its technical interviewing page describes short 45-minute rounds in which you code in the language you are strongest in, without pseudocode, in a third-party tool where you can run and compile your code.
Two habits stand out on Microsoft's pages. Microsoft expects you to test your own solution and point out corner cases before saying you are done, and it says it interviews for aspects of its culture, starting with a growth mindset it frames as being a "learn-it-all instead of a know-it-all". It recommends the STAR(R) model for answers. Our guide to each stage of the Microsoft interview process covers what every stage tests, how the 45-minute technical rounds work and a two-week preparation plan.
Apple
Apple's interview tips page is short and does not list a standard set of stages. It says you should be ready to discuss specific examples from your work, that interviews lean on open-ended questions about how you have performed in the past, and that certain roles may also involve a presentation, case study, technical assessment, or writing or coding exercises, which your recruiter will explain.
Without a published sequence, your recruiter and hiring manager are the only reliable source for your loop's shape. Our Apple pages cover what candidates report about the Apple interview process, the LeetCode problems tagged to Apple, Apple retail interview questions by role and the Phase 2 retail interview.
Nvidia and Tesla
Nvidia's how-we-hire page is short but has the strictest rules here. You will meet the hiring manager, team members and employees from other groups, and you must complete an onsite, in-person interview at an Nvidia office before you can be considered for an offer. Technical candidates may get a coding exercise, usually on HackerRank, on a whiteboard or a laptop Nvidia provides. Nvidia suggests limiting applications to the top three to five roles that best match your interests and experience, warns that feedback may be shared across teams if you interview with several, and says interns typically do phone interviews only. Our guides cover Nvidia's interview stages and timeline and the Nvidia Ignite internship interview.
Tesla's careers pages returned an access error when we checked them for this guide, so we have nothing first-party to report about its process. Our Tesla coding interview guide brings together what public prep guides describe and labels each source. If IBM is also on your list, our guide to IBM's interview rounds covers its process.
What the comparison shows
Side by side, these pages show four differences that should change how you prepare.
- Behavioral weight is uneven. At Amazon every candidate is evaluated through the Leadership Principles, while Meta puts behavioral questions into one 45-minute interview out of four to six, so the same story bank has to work much harder at Amazon.
- The decision is spread across people you may not expect. Amazon adds a Bar Raiser from another team, Nvidia includes employees from other groups, and Google describes several perspectives and internal reviews, so prepare to explain your work to someone outside the hiring team.
- The coding environment changes the skill. Meta's interviewer does not compile your code, Microsoft gives you a tool that runs it, Amazon's SDE II page asks for syntactically correct code with no pseudocode, and Nvidia may hand you a whiteboard.
- Waiting times differ by weeks. Amazon's SDE II page lists an outcome within five business days of the loop and Meta suggests following up after a week, while Google describes six to eight weeks overall and Nvidia a matter of weeks.
How to prepare once for several companies
Most of the work carries over. The data structures the companies name overlap heavily: Microsoft and Meta both list arrays, queues, hash tables and trees, and Amazon's SDE II page points to data structures and algorithms and stresses well-tested code. Meta and Microsoft also ask you to talk through your reasoning and test your own code. For experienced engineers, system design also carries over, since Amazon expects at least one design question at SDE II, Meta has a dedicated design interview, and Microsoft lists distributed systems and system design among its preparation areas.
The story bank carries over too, if you build it with all your target companies in mind. Write eight to ten stories from your own work, each in a situation, task, action and result shape, then tag each one against every framework you will face. As an illustrative example, one story about pushing back on a teammate's technical plan could serve Amazon's "Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit" principle, Meta's "resolving conflict" focus area and the learning and growth theme of Microsoft's growth mindset, provided you tell it with a clear decision and outcome each time. A framework with no story tagged to it is a gap to fill before the loops.
Then add the company-specific layer in the final week before each loop. For Amazon, check that every Leadership Principle has at least one story. For Meta, practise writing code you cannot run. For Microsoft, rehearse testing your solution out loud. For Nvidia, solve a few problems on paper or a whiteboard, and for Apple and Google, study the team's product area and the role description, because Google says it asks role-related questions and Apple expects you to show expertise specific to the role.
How to sequence interviews across several companies
You want offers to land close together, so start with the process that takes longest according to its own page, which for Google is six to eight weeks once interviews start, and ask each recruiter about timing. If you can, put the company you care least about first and use that loop as a full rehearsal for the ones that matter most.
Be open with every recruiter about your other processes and deadlines. Nvidia explicitly asks candidates to share timing concerns so it can try to speed things up. Keep applications focused: Google allows up to three applications every 30 days, and Nvidia's warning that feedback may be shared across teams means a scattered set of applications can follow you from team to team.
Rehearse the loop before you sit it
Gaps in a story bank tend to show only when you say the stories aloud to someone asking follow-up questions. Verve AI's AI Mock Interview lets you run that rehearsal with an AI recruiter, using its behavioral question bank, a software engineering bank that covers algorithms and system design patterns, or custom questions you have saved for a particular company, and afterwards you get "a detailed performance report with personalized feedback and scoring". Keep it as practice, because the companies in this guide publish clear rules about AI during the interviews themselves (all read on 10 November 2026):
- Google's hiring page says: "AI tools are not permitted to be used during your interviews."
- Meta's Full Loop Interview Guide says: "we ask that you not use any unauthorized outside assistance during interviews", and lists "using AI tools, like ChatGPT" as outside assistance; Meta's hiring page FAQ, read on 12 November 2026, now says "many of Meta's interviews now include an AI assistant built into the interview environment" and that "No outside AI tools or assistance are authorized", a shift our page on Meta's move toward AI-enabled interviews discusses, so ask your recruiter which format you have.
- Microsoft's hiring page says: "During assessments and interviews, candidates should demonstrate their own skills without outside assistance unless explicitly permitted."
- Nvidia's how-we-hire page says: "The use of unapproved outside tools, such as ChatGPT, during the interview will result in the disqualification of candidacy."
FAQ
How long does the big tech interview process take?
It depends on the company. Google says roughly six to eight weeks once interviews start, and warns that an outcome can take several weeks after the loop. Amazon's SDE II page lists an outcome within five business days of the loop, and Meta suggests following up if you have not heard within a week. Nvidia says most candidates get a decision within a matter of weeks of their first interview.
How many interviews are in a big tech loop?
Amazon says you will meet two to seven people, and its SDE II loop is four 55-minute interviews. Meta's software engineering loop is four to six interviews of 45 minutes, and Microsoft describes 45-minute technical rounds. Nvidia says you may have several interviews depending on the role, each usually lasting 30 to 60 minutes. Ask your recruiter for the exact list, because it tells you how to split your practice time.
Is the FAANG interview process the same at every company?
The skeleton is the same, but the scoring is not. Amazon assesses every candidate against its Leadership Principles, Meta scores behavioral answers on five focus areas, Google uses the same rubric for everyone applying to a role, and Microsoft interviews for aspects of its culture such as growth mindset. One coding and system design routine carries over, while the story bank needs tagging for each company's framework.
Which company should I interview with first?
Start with the longest process, which by its own page is Google's six to eight weeks once interviews start, so the offers arrive close together. If you can, put the company you care least about first and treat that loop as a rehearsal. Tell every recruiter about your other processes and any deadlines you hold, so each of them can plan around your timeline.
Sources
- Amazon stages (application, assessments, phone screening, loop; varies by role): https://www.amazon.jobs/en/landing_pages/interviewing-at-amazon
- Amazon loop (two to seven interviewers, Bar Raiser from another team, 45 minutes to an hour each, Leadership Principles lens, behavioral questions, no brain teasers, STAR): https://amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire/interview-loop
- Amazon SDE II (90-minute OA with two coding questions, system design scenarios, work style survey, four 55-minute interviews, at least one design question, interview outcome within 5 business days, syntactically correct code with no pseudocode, data structures): https://amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire/sde-ii-interview-prep
- Amazon "Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit" principle name: https://www.amazon.jobs/content/en/our-workplace/leadership-principles
- Google process (six to eight weeks, Hiring Assessment, recruiter conversations, small project, panel, rubrics, no brainteasers, "a number of perspectives", AI rule, three applications per 30 days, role-related questions): https://www.google.com/about/careers/applications/how-we-hire/
- Google interview tips (internal reviews, several weeks for an outcome, STAR, in-person for some roles): https://www.google.com/about/careers/applications/interview-tips/
- Meta software engineer Full Loop Interview Guide, linked from this page (four to six 45-minute interviews, coding, design, behavioral, two problems in about 40 minutes, no compile, no dynamic programming, data structures to review, five behavioral focus areas, outside-assistance rule, follow up after a week): https://www.metacareers.com/swe-prep-onsite
- Meta hiring process page FAQ (AI assistant built into many interviews, no outside AI tools; read 12 November 2026): https://www.metacareers.com/hiring-process/
- Microsoft hiring tips (screening call, phone/Teams/in person, structured interviews, responsible use of AI rule): https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/hiring-tips.html
- Microsoft interview tips (culture aspects, growth mindset, "learn-it-all", STAR(R)): https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/hiring-tips/interview-tips.html
- Microsoft technical interviewing (45-minute rounds, strongest language, no pseudocode, run and compile, testing, data structures, system design and distributed systems): https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/hiring-tips/technical-interviewing
- Apple interview tips (examples, open-ended questions about past performance, presentations or exercises for certain roles, process continues for the team): https://www.apple.com/careers/us/interview_tips.html
- Nvidia how we hire (interviewers from other groups, onsite before offer, 30–60 minutes, HackerRank on whiteboard or laptop, several interviews depending on role, three to five roles, feedback shared across teams, timing concerns, interns phone only, ChatGPT rule): https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/about-nvidia/careers/how-we-hire/
- Verve AI Mock Interview (question banks, custom questions, report wording): https://docs.vervecopilot.com/features/mock-interview
Ryan, CEO of Verve AI
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