Character introductions (all are pseudonyms)
- Ququ: the author.
- Matchmaker (Hongniang): the person who recommended Ququ.
- Xidu: the technical expert who interviewed Ququ the first and second times (Alibaba Finance) — reached the second round interview.
- Jin Buhuan: the manager in the second round interview (chubby).
- Dongxie: the technical expert who interviewed Ququ the third time (Tmall) — reached the second round interview.
- Botong: the technical expert who interviewed Ququ the fourth time (Alipay) — reached the first round interview.
- Nandi: the technical expert who interviewed Ququ the fifth time — reached the final round interview (Ant Financial).
- Beigai: the technical expert who interviewed Ququ the fifth time.
- Zhang Liang: the HR who interviewed Ququ the fifth time.
- Nianci: the HR who interviewed Ququ the fifth time.
Preface
In November 2011, Ququ and a brother from the jianghu came to Hangzhou (later, within less than half a year, that guy went back again). He gave up the C# skills he had mastered for many years and went to learn iOS (OC), whose consequences were unknown. The reason for giving up was simple at the time: iOS paid a lot. (At that time, Ququ had studied C# deeply, involving GDI+ drawing of controls, multithreaded security management, Remoting applications, Microsoft's 3C, double buffering, etc.)
Through the introduction of that jianghu brother, Ququ got a position (iOS development) at a place called Bangxun Hall. Later, he stayed at this hall for a full 3 years. When he first arrived in Hangzhou, he didn't know at all that Alibaba's headquarters was in Hangzhou, nor did he think about working at Alibaba. It was purely to get a higher salary.
Before Ququ set foot in the jianghu, he had already heard of Feng Qingyang's heroic achievements (he read his stories again and again, several books' worth). At that time he only worshipped him; he never thought about working there or anything.
Later, through the Matchmaker's introduction, Ququ began to become interested in working at Alibaba. Combined with his previous worship of Feng Qingyang, it seemed to resonate with a longing that had been dormant in his heart. "Then let's go try it." Thus came the following five "martial arts contests."
Xidu Seemed to Let Ququ off the Hook
Around October 2012, Ququ sorted out his résumé. Actually, he didn't have much solid iOS experience, but he sent it to Xidu. Not long after, he received an invitation from Xidu. Ququ went over without any preparation, thinking that after nearly a year of practice, iOS shouldn't be much of a problem. At that time he had only done a few launched projects (things like China Enternet event), and so he went over (Alibaba Finance – Binjiang Campus). Just arriving at Alibaba, he really felt like a country bumpkin entering a big city. The Alibaba manor was really huge. When entering, he had to stick a paper card on his body that said "Visitor." Walking into the campus, there was a chubby statue, all asymmetrical, head raised, grinning, like a Michelin tire. The whole campus at first glance was as big as the Bird's Nest. He heard there were more than 8,000 people.
Before long, Ququ and Xidu met at a coffee shop called Starbucks. Xidu wasn't tall, wore glasses, and his hair on his forehead didn't reach his eyebrows (straight bangs). His eyes were bright and piercing. He wore jeans and a jacket interwoven with orange stripes and red squares. His outfit influenced Ququ for a long time, leading Ququ to believe that all Alibaba technical people dressed like that (and indeed, in the following rounds, that was true). Xidu didn't ask especially hard questions. He raised questions in a consultative tone. From the way he asked, Ququ felt respected (cell optimization, memory management; at that time NetEase's page transition method was popular, so he asked Ququ how he implemented it, how controls were implemented, etc.). To be honest: Ququ had been learning iOS by himself for nearly a year and didn't know whether his encapsulation was right or wrong, but he felt he chatted well with Xidu, and also voiced his confusions. He also felt he had met a true expert, and his admiration was written all over his face. They talked for a long time. Xidu took out several currently popular apps and asked Ququ: if Ququ were to implement this, how would he implement that?
Finally, when parting, Xidu said: "There should be no problem. Go back and wait for the notification." Ququ was very excited and also felt relaxed. So he went back happily. But one week, two weeks passed, and no notification arrived. Finally, a month passed, and at last he got a phone call: the general meaning was, you're dead. Reason: internal position changes, no hiring at year-end. The disappointment in his heart—no need to say more. Still, it also made Ququ begin to have the idea that he would not rest until he got into Alibaba.
Meeting Xidu Again
In the summer of 2013, "ding-dong" — Ququ suddenly received a text message from Xidu: "Have you recently considered changing jobs? (To Small & Micro Loans)" Of course he had. Over these six months, Ququ not only summarized all the questions Xidu had asked, but also implemented other people's controls in his own way (copying the effects, with his own code). He began doing component-style development, and his skill in effects grew a lot. He also began to have his own class libraries, factory patterns, and so on. Just like that, he sent his résumé over again and was quickly summoned. This time it was at Alibaba's Alipay Building (Xihu District). At the entrance, needless to say, a yellow visitor card was stuck on him. At that moment he thought: when will I be able to hang an employee badge around my neck? (When he first saw Alibaba employee badges, they were orange-yellow, which made Ququ later think that anyone with an orange-yellow badge was an Alibaba employee.) Arriving at the 18th floor, he went in feeling like a bumpkin entering a city again, looking here and there. When the elevator stopped on the 18th floor, the first thing that entered his eyes was "Alipay." He told the MM that he was there for an interview. The MM made a phone call, then led Ququ to Siguoya (to find Linghu Chong). Ququ reflected on his faults at Siguoya for a while. Then Xidu arrived, exchanged pleasantries, apologized about last time, briefly asked what he had been working on recently, and the technical part was considered over—after all, they had already had contact once. Xidu said: "How about you wait a moment? I'll have Jin Buhuan come over." Ququ nodded: "OK."
After a little while, a chubby guy came. Only later did Ququ learn that he was the top scorer in Chongqing's science college entrance examination. He wore glasses, was chubby, and had a cold. After exchanging a few pleasantries, he leaned back in the chair, with his thighs and belly reclining at a 135-degree angle, and said: "I need to stay away from you; I have a cold." Ququ said: "It's fine." But in his heart, he cared quite a bit. At that time he felt he also had a bit of a cold, and he was nervous inside. Jin Buhuan asked a few non-painful, non-itchy questions: "Talk about your career plan." "Talk about Apple's future development." "Talk about your requirements for yourself." For the first, Ququ answered: the general idea was that in the next 3–5 years he would make his technical skills solid, hope to become a bigwig, and also hope to become a team leader. For the second, Ququ answered: in the future, iOS development environments and development tools would become simpler and simpler (he usually didn't pay attention to this issue, only thinking about how the development tools were becoming what). For the third, Ququ answered: focus on native development, and so on.
Then Ququ simply left Siguoya like that. He waited 1 week. Result: dead. The reason, the Matchmaker said, was: "You shouldn't have said you wanted to be a team leader." Others said Ququ seemed unstable and would leave after a few days.
Half a month later, he heard that Jin Buhuan had resigned from Alibaba (feeling unbalanced inside).
Later, he summarized a few of Jin Buhuan's questions.
Phone Duel with Dongxie
"Hello, I am Dongxie from Alibaba." (This interview happened less than a month after the previous one ended; when the call came, Ququ hadn't even reacted.) "%&%&*&（%（*……%&*……" and it started. At that time, to be honest, Ququ was a bit hurt. He felt, how could Alibaba be like this? Before this, he had also heard about all kinds of unfairness at Alibaba. He was both angry (Alibaba's recruiting was unfair) and resentful (he wasn't good enough himself). But he still had to interview well. However, he inevitably carried some emotion into answering the questions. Still, the moves Dongxie used this time were all things used in projects, plus some details people usually don't pay much attention to: like KVO-KVC, animation groups, cell reuse, multithreading, memory management, event delivery, the difference between UILayer and UIView, the difference between NSObject and id, why UIButton integrates UIController, the memory distribution of a program, and many more. By the end of the whole interview, he regretted the emotion he had shown earlier. This time he had met an expert. For some questions, Ququ didn't answer very well (and with emotion, too). The final outcome was predictable: result dead.
Ququ began to reflect and to prepare for the next interview (though he didn't know when it would be). He summarized these three interviews in great detail. The result of this interview was within expectations, but he wanted to cry.
Start working hard, summarizing; work hard again, summarize again.
Xidu Recommended Ququ to Alipay; in Front of Botong, Ququ's Face Was Covered with "Cow" Tears
Finally, the opportunity came. No matter what, Ququ once again arrived at the Alipay Building. To be honest, before coming, he felt worried and afraid; the night before, he had insomnia. Of course, Xidu gave Ququ a lot of advice (he said: "I know you are a person who gets things done. On my side there's no problem, but sometimes interviews don't just rely on technical skills," and he said a lot; "Speak boldly about what you know and your strengths. Use UML to draw out your program architecture." Ququ was very grateful for this). At that time, Ququ felt that the interviewer was definitely not Xidu, but Botong, the boss of Alipay. From the start, he used the left-right mutual combat technique: "Talk about how you would optimize it if you feel there is a memory leak; talk about the project or demo you are most proud of that cannot be found on the Internet; talk about the principle of closures;" *&&^&^&*^&*^*&^&* He didn't ask any iOS questions at all. Botong said: "Alipay interfaces are all low-level, with tens of millions of calls every day, so knowledge of computer fundamentals and C must be solid." Ququ had nothing to say in response. "Can you give me a chance?" Botong said: "No, but you're still young; you can come back again." Just like that, Ququ left crestfallen. On the way, he felt that the difference between him and Botong was the difference between earth and sky. No matter what, Ququ reported the situation to Xidu. Xidu smiled: "In your daily work, you not only need to do projects well, but also organize your knowledge points. Theory and height take time. You're already quite good; it's just that this time luck wasn't on your side."
Alas, after going back, Ququ organized the knowledge of operating systems, computer organization principles, advanced OC and XCode programming, and began writing blog posts, etc.
Continue preparing for the next opportunity with Alibaba (won't stop until getting in).
Preparing to leave the company where he had worked for three years; coincidentally, the Matchmaker came to make an introduction.
After three years in Hangzhou, I felt it was time to go through another Alibaba interview. I resigned from my current job first — after all, the platform felt too small, and the Boss was paying less, so I wanted to switch platforms. After three years of tempering, yours truly is now a team leader too. I have my own project architecture, my own management methods, and my own way of running projects. It's easy to find a job outside, and the compensation offered is basically 1.5 times my current salary. I had originally planned to just find a suitable platform and call it done, but who knew that chatting with Hongniang on QQ would win me another opportunity at Alibaba. Counting it up, this is the fifth time. I figured I might as well go try again — if it still doesn't work out, I'll train for another two years. To summarize these three years: the first year was external forging of tendons, bones, and skin — the routines; the second year was internal training of one breath — the mental method; the third year combined internal and external to test whether I had trained correctly — the unity of mind and action (a bit exaggerated). Of course, in these three years, yours truly also summarized his lessons from failure (interview aspects included). Before coming, I made many preparations; this time, I didn't have insomnia.
The first round began: sparring with the Southern Emperor over the phone. The questions were basically the same as before, along with some project approaches, some programming ideas, etc. They were mostly macro questions, plus some micro knowledge points. In the end, I passed.
The second round began: sparring with the Northern Beggar at the Ten Thousand Swords Manor on the 15th floor of Alipay. The questions were: technical questions, data structures, runtime stuff, operating mechanisms, etc.
The third round began: sparring with Zhang Liang at the Ten Thousand Swords Manor on the 15th floor of Alipay. The questions were: career plans, what I wanted, why I came to Alibaba, why I resigned, etc.
The second and third rounds of interviews lasted more than 2 hours in total. I felt very satisfied with this opportunity. I said everything I should have said, and I also shared what I had prepared.
A few days later, the fourth round of interviews began: I met Nianci. The questions were about painful experiences, proud experiences, what I thought the reason would be if I were rejected again this time, life-related matters, and so on. We chatted for over an hour.
From start to finish, these four rounds took a total of 1 month and 20-some days.
After many twists and turns, the hero invitation (offer) finally arrived.
After one and a half months of interviews, I was finally notified to go for a physical examination (which I passed). Just today, I received Alibaba's electronic offer. Beyond my joy, I wrote this article as a keepsake.
Of course, during this period, I also received offers from several other companies. The most memorable one was Stone (HR). Thank you for thinking so highly of me. In the end, I wasn't able to work with you, and I regret that too (I feel quite guilty inside, and I hope you can forgive me).
Finally, many thanks to Hongniang (Kong) and Western Venom (Guo) for their recommendations! Thank you!
From: CSDN