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Ask HN: Is all of FAANG like this?

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Re: Ask HN: Is all of FAANG like this?

#601

Post by scarface74 »

gravypod wrote: post #340
scarface74 wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it really take skill to get into a FAANG or just the ability to do algorithms well enough to get past the interview?

I think that if you selected: 1. a random person from the tech industry, and 2. a random person who has worked at a FAANG company for 1 year. I'd assume that on average person 2 is no worse an engineer than, and potentially a better engineer better than, person 1.

If you go by Joel Spolsky’s simple interview criteria - smart and get things done and think about the two characteristics in a quadrant. “Whether you can reverse a binary tree on the whiteboard” as the filter, completely optimizes for the “smart” and doesn’t test at all whether you can “get things done”.

I’ve interviewed and hired software engineers at small companies where we needed each software developer to be impactful. We needed someone with history of “getting things done”. We can’t tell that by your ability to do leetCode.

On a side note, an Amazon recruiter reached out to me about a software developer position on LinkedIn a few months ago. I knew I had no interest in going through an algorithm interview to prove I was “smart”.

I asked her could she put me in touch with someone from the AWS consulting side since I did have experience with “getting things done” from working for small companies in general and using many of the AWS fiddly bits specifically.

As I suspected, the entire loop was concerned with past projects and “tell me about a time when...”. I breezed through the interview without a single algorithm question even though I am actually doing some hands on the keyboard coding - implementations not sales.

Re: Ask HN: Is all of FAANG like this?

#602

Post by scarface74 »

mywittyname wrote: post #304
scarface74 wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And that means if you care about writing iOS apps, you have to buy a Mac whether you like it or not.

It also means, if a critical mass hate developing on Macs, then iOS software will suffer. App store fees are already a business pain point for app developers. And web browsers are getting capable enough now that it's probably feasible for a lot of apps to go back to being browser only. It's going to be hard to reverse a trend away from Apple if it starts. Imagine what would happen if Microsoft Visual Studio becomes t…

You act like developers have a choice. Companies go where the money is and developers do what companies tell them. The supremacy of the indie developer died a decade ago.

There are very few apps that could be web only apps that are making money via in app purchases. Most of the money being made in the App Store are pay to win games. Most of the subscriptions apps that use to allow in app purchases are already forcing users to pay outside of the App Store - including Netflix and Spotify.

Re: Ask HN: Is all of FAANG like this?

#603

Post by maxnevermind »

sneak wrote: post #261
itsmeamario wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depending where you're based this isn't true. At my country in Europe I could earn 1000€ / month cleaning offices and common Programmer salaries' are 1200 - 1500€ / month

My point is that if those are your options, start being “based” on the internet instead of wherever you consider yourself “based” now, because good programmers on the internet are paid €10k+ per month. If you have a lot of experience and a good network, you can easily double that (€20k/mo, €125/hr) as well. Triple that is not out of the question, either. High end specialty researchers are billed at >=$400/hr by large…

US employers are very reluctant to hire remote devs from Europe imo. As soon as they hear you are from Europe the dialog is over.

Re: Ask HN: Is all of FAANG like this?

#604

Post by scarface74 »

mavhc wrote: post #249
scarface74 wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which has nothing to do with This was Bezos' reasoning for making as much of their internal software available to the public via AWS Those APIs had nothing to do with AWS. So how was the original poster not talking about AWS when they mentioned AWS? Also a clean public interface says nothing about how badly written and documented the underlying code is.

I'm using AWS to mean the 212 different cloudy services they offer, not the original compute and storage products

No Amazon retail doesn’t develop a service internally and turn it over to AWS so they can sell it to customers. AWS treats Amazon Retail as just another customer that sometimes gets access to services before they are made publicly available. They talk about this all of the time at reinvent.

Re: Ask HN: Is all of FAANG like this?

#605

Post by bumby »

alrs wrote: post #599
bumby wrote: post #537

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can commiserate with this attitude but still find myself disagreeing. I have worked in the type of role where I was expected to lead a transformational change when it seems like the incentives at every level are aligned against it. I do personally feel an obligation to keep trying because if I didn't I'm not doing my job. Throwing up my hands in exasperation means I'm collecting a pay check just to keep the status…

> I have worked in the type of role where I was expected to lead a transformational change. Most roles have nothing to do with leading transformational change. You can concede that much?

Yes, but the comment I was replying to specifically spoke to the exhausting nature of transformation change

Re: Ask HN: Is all of FAANG like this?

#606

Post by [deleted] »

ryandrake wrote: post #593
logicslave wrote: post #581

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You think the people inventing the critical algorithms behind amazon s3 and aws in general are line of business employees making what everyone else in their band makes? A trillion dollar corporation is going to let that guy walk out the door to save instead of chipping him an extra million? This isn't about people who get their work done fast and execute on projects well.

I have no idea--that's why I'm skeptical and would love to see evidence. In some of these companies, veteran outlier high-performers end up getting promoted several times to things like "Distinguished Engineer" and have enormous staffs of engineers reporting to them. They are executives in all but title, so I'd expect them to be in the executive pay bands and get executive salaries. Those aren't the people we're talk…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Is all of FAANG like this?

#608

Post by Foober223 »

ryandrake wrote: post #543
logicslave wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isnt true. Top performers on top products always have larger compensation. Its not discussed openly, but guaranteed they are receiving bonuses in the seven figures. If you think this isnt happening, you are naive or havent been on an inner circle at a large corporation. Whoever told you theres no bonuses at Amazon is not a top employee

Is there any actual evidence of this, though? Whenever software engineer salary comes up on HN, there are always one or two people who come out of the woodwork to share this oh-so-secret information. "Despite the pay bands that all big companies have and some even publish, there are secret squirrel individual contributor software engineers who make $600K and get million dollar bonuses! Trust us, it happens, guarantee…

Yes there actually is "secret squirrel" business going on. Secrets are a thing, especially around money. It's a fact some computer programmers get profit sharing and it is not advertised.

Re: Ask HN: Is all of FAANG like this?

#609

Post by J0_k3r »

echelon wrote: post #212
caust1c wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No 'M' in FAANG ;-) (Sorry, couldn't help myself! Many people still refer to it as a FAANG company)

FAAMG is so much more appropriate to describe the dominant tech players. People just like the sound of "FAANG". Netflix doesn't come close to matching Microsoft or the others.

which is why we ought to switch to the all-encompassing FAGMAN acronym

Re: Ask HN: Is all of FAANG like this?

#610

Post by norswap »

SubuSS wrote: post #518
ben0x539 wrote: post #502

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I prefer not to discuss compensation Why not?

I guess I have old school compunctions against discussing it, probably comes from generations of folks not talking about it and considering it impolite. I also have seen how people react when they realize there might be a huge pay variation for same titles - it's not good for anyone. I avoid conflict as much as possible nowadays, so it makes me more reticent. I pretty much redirect direct questions even from family b…

I see things the other way - if it's all in the open, there is no possibility that it can cause issues down the line.

The absence of this allow employers to employ people below their true value, which is not only unfair working conditions, but also unfair in that some people get paid vastly more for equivalent (or worse) performance, depending only on awareness of worth and negotiation skills.

Public pay figures will not only tell you what you can expected to be worth, it will also tell you what the company truly values and rewards (as opposed to PR bullshit). Opening up salary figures means a company must face its own contradictions, if any.

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