Contributing to Tech Interview Roadmap

Thank you for your interest in contributing! Your contributions help thousands of candidates prepare for interviews at any tech company — from FAANG to startups.

📋 Table of Contents

• Code of Conduct
• How Can I Contribute?
• Development Setup
• Contribution Guidelines
• Pull Request Process
• What We Need Most

📜 Code of Conduct

• Be respectful and inclusive
• No discrimination, harassment, or exclusionary language
• Disagree on ideas, not people
• Assume good intent
• Celebrate effort, not just "brilliance"

🤝 How Can I Contribute?

1. 🐛 Report Issues

Found a bug or outdated information? Open an issue with:

• Title: Clear description of the issue
• Description: What you found and why it's a problem
• Suggested Fix: (Optional) How to resolve it

Examples of issues to report:

• Broken links
• Outdated company interview processes
• Factual errors
• Unclear explanations

2. 📝 Add Your Interview Experience

We want authentic stories from real candidates!

Create a file: 08-Company-Specific-Notes/EXPERIENCES/<company>-<role>-<date>.md

Example filename: google-backend-feb2026.md

Use this template:

# [Company] - [Role] - [Date]

**Contributor:** [Your name or "Anonymous"]
**Role Applied:** [e.g., "Backend Engineer (L4)"]
**Date Interviewed:** [Month/Year]
**Outcome:** [Hired / Rejected / Offer declined]

## Interview Loop

### Round 1: [Type] — [Duration]

- **Topic:** [What was asked]
- **Your approach:** [How you tackled it]
- **Result:** [Pass / Weak pass / Fail]

### Round 2: [Type] — [Duration]

[Same format...]

## What Surprised Me

- [Unexpected difficulty or insight]

## What I'd Do Differently

- [Lessons learned]

## Advice for Next Candidates

1. [Tip 1]
2. [Tip 2]
3. [Tip 3]

3. 📚 Improve Documentation

Help make our guides clearer and more actionable:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a branch: git checkout -b improve/dsa-roadmap
3. Make your changes
4. Submit a Pull Request

What we look for:

• ✅ Accuracy (cite sources or your experience)
• ✅ Clarity (can a junior understand this?)
• ✅ Actionable advice (not vague tips)
• ✅ Real examples and templates

4. 🏢 Add Company-Specific Content

Have experience with a company not yet covered?

Create: 08-Company-Specific-Notes/<company>-specific.md

Include:

• Company's hiring philosophy
• Typical interview loop structure
• Common question patterns
• What they value (throughput vs quality? etc.)
• Salary/leveling typical ranges
• Time-to-decision benchmarks

5. 💻 Contribute to the Website

The website is built with Astro. See Development Setup below.

Ways to contribute:

• Fix bugs or styling issues
• Add new features
• Improve accessibility
• Optimize performance

6. 📊 Add LeetCode Data

Have company-tagged LeetCode problems to add?

1. Create a CSV file in leetcode Question/ folder
2. Format: id,title,acceptance,difficulty,frequency,url
3. Run the database builder script

🛠️ Development Setup

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ or Bun (recommended)
• Git
• A code editor (VS Code recommended)

Setup Steps

# 1. Fork the repository on GitHub

# 2. Clone your fork
git clone https://github.com/YOUR-USERNAME/FAANG-Playbook.git
cd FAANG-Playbook

# 3. Add upstream remote
git remote add upstream https://github.com/swadhinbiswas/FAANG-Playbook.git

# 4. Navigate to website directory
cd website

# 5. Install dependencies
bun install   # or npm install

# 6. Start development server
bun run dev   # or npm run dev

# 7. Open http://localhost:4321

Project Structure

website/
├── src/
│   ├── components/     # Reusable UI components
│   ├── content/        # Markdown documentation
│   │   └── docs/       # All guide content
│   ├── layouts/        # Page layouts
│   ├── lib/            # Utilities and helpers
│   ├── pages/          # Route pages
│   │   ├── docs/       # Documentation routes
│   │   └── leetcode/   # LeetCode section
│   └── styles/         # Global CSS
├── public/             # Static assets
├── scripts/            # Build scripts
└── astro.config.mjs    # Astro configuration

Useful Commands

# Development
bun run dev          # Start dev server
bun run build        # Build for production
bun run preview      # Preview production build

# Database (LeetCode)
bun run scripts/build-leetcode-db.ts  # Rebuild LeetCode database

📝 Contribution Guidelines

Writing Style

• Be direct: No marketing fluff. Assume the reader is preparing for a real interview.
• Use evidence: Cite sources, real quotes, or your experience.
• Be specific:
  • ❌ "Interviewers value clarity"
  • ✅ "Interviewers dock points if you code for 10 minutes before explaining your approach"
• Use examples: Templates, checklists, and real code are 10× more useful than bullet points.

Content Standards

Formatting

• Use Markdown (.md) files
• Organize with headers (## H2, ### H3)
• Keep paragraphs short
• Use tables and bullet lists
• Use relative paths for internal links: [DSA Roadmap](../01-Foundations/01-DSA-and-Coding.md)

Commit Messages

Follow conventional commits:

feat: add Google L5 interview experience
fix: broken link in system design guide
docs: improve behavioral interview examples
style: format code blocks consistently

🔄 Pull Request Process

1. Before Submitting

• Test your changes locally
• Check for broken links
• Run the build: bun run build
• Update any affected documentation

2. Creating the PR

1. Push your branch to your fork
2. Open a Pull Request against main
3. Fill out the PR template:
   • Title: Clear, specific description
   • Description: What and why
   • Screenshots: If applicable

3. Review Process

1. Maintainers will review within 1 week
2. Address any requested changes
3. Once approved, your PR will be merged
4. You'll be credited as a contributor!

🎯 What We Need Most

Priority contributions (in order):

1. 📝 Real interview experiences — Your actual interview transcript, what went well/poorly
2. 🏢 Company-specific hiring loops — Detailed, recent experiences at FAANG companies
3. 🏗️ System design examples — Deep dive solutions with diagrams
4. 👥 Role-specific guides — Frontend, Platform, Mobile, etc.
5. 💰 Salary/leveling data — Anonymized offer data
6. ❌ Failure case studies — "I failed because..." + lessons learned

❓ Questions?

• Open a GitHub Discussion
• Create an Issue

Thank you for making this roadmap better for everyone! 🎯