Breaking into Big Tech Off-Campus

We sat down with Rahul M., a recent graduate who successfully cracked Amazon for the SDE-1 role off-campus. Here are his top takeaways.

The Strategy

1. Competitive Programming: Rahul emphasized an uncompromising consistency on LeetCode. "Aim for 400+ well-selected problems. Consistency over volume."
2. Open Source Contributions: Having a merged PR in a recognizable open-source repository helped his resume bypass the ATS parsers.
3. Referrals: Applying directly on career portals rarely works. Always find SRM alumni working at the target company on LinkedIn and request a referral.

Final Advice

"Keep giving contests to manage time pressure, and always participate in mock interviews. Communicating your thought process is just as important as writing the optimized code."