"ByteDance doesn’t test algorithms anymore in frontend interviews?"

That’s what one candidate told us right after finishing a real TikTok (ByteDance overseas) interview.

But he quickly added:

"They didn’t ask LeetCode, but it wasn’t easy at all—it was just more practical, more engineering-focused. Without you guys from CSOAHELP backing me up, I wouldn’t have made it through."

Let’s walk through this real TikTok interview question, from how the candidate was initially unprepared to how he impressed the interviewer—all thanks to CSOAHELP’s live remote support that helped him stay calm and sharp throughout the session.

The problem didn’t seem hard at first. The interviewer presented a function that needed to match employee data with their respective job titles:

/**
 * Given:
 * An array of data, where each entry is an object with id and value keys
 * An object of ids, where key is the name and value is the id or array of ids
 * Create an array of employees with id, value, and their selected title
 * Do not mutate the arguments passed in (selectedTitles & employees)
 */
const employeesWithTitles = (selectedTitles, employees) => {
}

Alongside the following data:

const selectedTitles = {
  engineer: [43, 5, 61],
  productManager: 3,
  manager: 10,
}

const employees = [
  { id: 5, value: "Miles" },
  { id: 61, value: "Francis" },
  { id: 91, value: "Tanmay" },
  { id: 3, value: "Ataur" },
  { id: 10, value: "Nan" },
  { id: 43, value: "Andrew" },
  { id: 30, value: "Xu" }
]

The candidate paused for a moment. Very normal—he misjudged the direction of the question, expecting dynamic programming or some complex data structure. But the reality is that TikTok wanted to test abstract thinking with structured data, practical reasoning, and the ability to clean and organize data.

At that point, our CSOAHELP remote support team jumped in via the secondary screen with a clear, simple explanation:

You can answer it like this: "I understand the goal is to link each employee ID to its corresponding job title. To do this, I’ll first build a map from ID to name, then iterate over the job titles and their associated IDs, and fill in the matching employee info."

He delivered that explanation well. So we followed up with code that he could either repeat or directly write out:

The interviewer nodded, inviting him to continue. The real test had just begun.

Next, the interviewer asked: what if we also have a priorTitles object, which records each employee's previous title? How would you only return employees whose title has changed?

The candidate had no idea. We quickly provided the new plan: “You need to create a map of employee ID to previous title and compare it to the current title. Only include those whose title changed.”

We also gave him a new code block to recite or type:

He passed smoothly. Though he wasn’t skilled in data abstraction, the step-by-step hints in his native language and reusable code templates helped him pull through with clarity.

But the interviewer wasn’t done yet. One last question:

Now imagine that employee data comes from two asynchronous sources: fetchOverseasEmployees and fetchDomesticEmployees. Their formats differ. How would you unify them, merge the data, and still identify which employees had title changes?

This was a real-world engineering challenge, involving async handling, data normalization, and error resilience. The candidate started showing signs of stress, speaking slower.

We sent immediate guidance: “Use Promise.all to fetch both sets concurrently. Format domestic data to match the overseas structure (convert employeeId to id, extract name or firstName from user). Then combine them and call your previous function.”

And of course, the full final code snippet:

The candidate was visibly relieved. The interviewer reviewed the code and said this was exactly the kind of practical, modular engineering they were looking for—and complimented his clear structure and thought process.

You might assume this candidate was an expert. He wasn’t. Afterward, he admitted: “If I’d done that solo, I would’ve messed up the first question.”

But thanks to our structured prompts and real-time text support—delivered in clear, native language—he was able to internalize and repeat high-quality solutions without fumbling.

CSOAHELP’s remote interview support was built for exactly this kind of scenario:

We don’t do the work for you—but when you’re stuck, we provide sharp, structured guidance in real time. When necessary, we give you repeatable code blueprints that you can adapt and present naturally. Think of us like a senior engineer quietly coaching you during crunch time, giving you that edge that changes everything.

Interviews at top tech companies today are no longer just about solving a problem. They’re about how you think, how you communicate, and how you handle real data and constraints in practical business settings.

Are you ready?

CSOAHELP helps you bring your best to every high-stakes interview moment.

经过csoahelp的面试辅助，候选人获取了良好的面试表现。如果您需要面试辅助或面试代面服务，帮助您进入梦想中的大厂，请随时联系我。

If you need more interview support or interview proxy practice, feel free to contact us. We offer comprehensive interview support services to help you successfully land a job at your dream company.