[throwawayosiu1]

I've tried getting interviews at Google and the only time their recruters have contacted me back were from internal referrals (none of those worked out in the end as they wanted me to move to SF, and I wanted to work from Canada).

How would one go about getting your foot in the door at such companies (I've had similar experiences with both Microsoft & Facebook as well) ?

[gaylemcd]

Referrals are honestly a great strategy.

Often employees will be open to referring you even if you don't know them well. Use social media, Facebook groups, Quora, etc. Recruiters want to be found.

Have an active github.

Make yourself Google-able. Have a website where you list projects. Screenshots help make things feel more "real", especially if it's a recruiter/sourcer who might not understand some of the technical details.

Hackathons and conferences also. They're swarming with recruiters.

[fhrow4484]

For people not in college anymore, those are great advices.

Having been on the recruited and recruiting side for one of the big 5, I'd add an extra advice: Don't panic if you don't have any of the things mentioned above, especially when still young in College.

I didn't have an active github, nor a website, nor screenshots of my side projects. If you're genuinely passionate when you talk about it (no matter how small you think this is), the recruiter will notice this.

One of the most important advice that was given in this article for me is: "Show initiative even at the risk of failure"

-> You did X in a class project : It won't matter so much because you had to do it to pass your class. If it's a group project it will matter even less because there's no way for the recruiter to know if you did 90%/50%/5% of the job.

-> You did a small Android app or a personal command line tool for you, but you didn't publish it at all on github, and it's a private thing (a tool to help your grandma do X remotely), it's fine, but like the Amazon interviewee who started her game company: Mention this on your resume and to the recruiter!!

I've also seen people downplay achievements because they thought it looked lame compared to what is produced by Google/Amazon/FB/Microsoft ... but those products have dozens if not hundreds of engineers behind them, PM, UX teams etc. Of course your project will be lame compared to it. Still put it on your resume.

If you're going at a top CS school, having all of these doesn't matter as much, the recruiters usually know that the projects/classes you took are not trivial (via Alumni giving feedback on those), if you go to an average one, you need to show your passion in one way or another, working on a small side project you genuinely enjoy is a great way of showing this.

Finally, if you have very little time for side projects because you're busy working multiple side jobs to be able to pay your tuition and rent, mention it somehow when talking with a recruiter. You certainly don't want the recruiter to perceive you as what the authors describe "mentally lazy" when in fact the reason you're not doing that much in the side-project side is because you're working your ass off to simply be able to graduate. You can also use some of those side jobs experiences to show the recruiter you have some applied leadership/teamwork skills.

[parmen10]

This github/side project thing is at the far end of diminishing marginal returns. It of course wouldn't hurt but most people I've met at these companies (where I also worked for a while) do not have side projects or public code.

So if your goal is to get the interview, go through referrals. Don't expect anything from side projects.

[gaylemcd]

Oh, you don't have to have side projects. But if you are struggling to get noticed, it can help.

[throwawayosiu1]

another quick question: in general, would it be considered ok to find recruters (and maybe employees from the same team that's hiring) on LinkedIn and contact them?

[lazyasciiart]

Find a team that works in the location you want to work at. Get a referral for that team.