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Job Hunting in 2022

mhlakhani.com

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Re: Job Hunting in 2022

#171

Post by ecshafer »

osigurdson wrote: post #164
dan-robertson wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would the person who wrote the best dry-cleaner management software do well at a company like Google? That is, I think a lot of the required skills there are ‘getting things done in a company the size of Google’ and having worked at Meta for a few years is perhaps a better signal for that than having made some great software. Likewise someone from Google may have a harder time in some startup where the structure is d…

>> don’t have all the fancy google tools or services Hard to believe that all of the fancy google tools haven't been replicated in open source yet. Software people love writing tools to make writing software easier - what's up?

I haven't worked at Google. But I think that the level of infrastructure at a larger Tech company really shouldn't be disregarded. I've worked in a small <10 person shop, a large non-tech finance co, and a tech co. One really big difference is that the internal tooling, infrastructure, etc. are really well polished at a larger tech focused company compared to non-tech and small places. Even if there are a lot of open source tools, which may even be used at tech companies, when you do not have a team(s) who work full time integrating all of these tools, the developer infrastructure, CICD, etc. it is a big pain. And at smaller non-tech companies, debugging all of this stuff that Just Works^tm is a really big part of the job.

Re: Job Hunting in 2022

#172

Post by deckard1 »

singron wrote: post #129
Ancalagon wrote: post #10

Granted I've only attempted the Amazon interview of the FAANGs, but good job to the OP for cracking the FAANG interviews with only 60ish leetcode questions. I'm at 150 and have yet to crack any.

Wow. I thought 60 was a lot. I don't think I did any. Honestly, if you spend that much effort practicing something, and it's not paying off, you might have the wrong strategy. E.g. maybe you are failing something besides coding, or maybe you are missing some other fundamental background that you need to go back and study.

60 is quite low for leetcode. There are a few dozen patterns to learn. Most people will probably do on the order of 200-300 before they are truly comfortable. I've heard some people do it in as little as a month or two with 8 hour days. But most people can't do that because you will go insane and suffer extreme burnout.

> if you spend that much effort

yeah that doesn't start until like 400+ LC problems. If you're still struggling with mediums at that level then sure. But at Sure you may get lucky and get in Google with 10 LC problems under your belt. But those are not good odds. Places are asking LC hard nowadays. And you really don't want to see what people in India are putting up with.

Re: Job Hunting in 2022

#173

Post by kurizu4444 »

abdullahkhalids wrote: post #109

In the job market right now. I have a question about talking to recruiters. I am talking to a couple of them, who are working with companies whose name or location they won't even disclose until the company looks at my CV and decides to move ahead. But the recruiters want me to specify a salary expectation. But my salary expectations depend on whether I am living in the downtown of large city or in a smaller city, or…

It is okay to change your salary expectations as you uncover more information about the job

Re: Job Hunting in 2022

#174

Post by fijiaarone »

abdullahkhalids wrote: post #109

In the job market right now. I have a question about talking to recruiters. I am talking to a couple of them, who are working with companies whose name or location they won't even disclose until the company looks at my CV and decides to move ahead. But the recruiters want me to specify a salary expectation. But my salary expectations depend on whether I am living in the downtown of large city or in a smaller city, or…

Quote a really high number and then don’t return their calls.

Re: Job Hunting in 2022

#175

Post by dyno12345 »

listenallyall wrote: post #142

> After leaving Meta recently That's all I needed to hear. Back in the day, the college you went to opened (or shut) doors to get interviews. And most people, who did not attend an Ivy League school or similar, rejected the concept as being anti-meritocratic. However, today, it's the same thing -- just replace college with the company(ies) you list on your resume. A shitty programmer with a bad attitude from Meta, Go…

the skills you learn in Big Tech are somewhat distinct from what you are taught in CS 102: modern distributed systems engineering and cooperating within a giant org.

The Ivy League filter feels and kind of is unfair, but for new grads it's really really difficult to find good signals and big tech gets two or three orders of magnitude more applicants than open positions.

Re: Job Hunting in 2022

#176

Post by lr4444lr »

listenallyall wrote: post #142

> After leaving Meta recently That's all I needed to hear. Back in the day, the college you went to opened (or shut) doors to get interviews. And most people, who did not attend an Ivy League school or similar, rejected the concept as being anti-meritocratic. However, today, it's the same thing -- just replace college with the company(ies) you list on your resume. A shitty programmer with a bad attitude from Meta, Go…

This is true, but I think you have the reason misconstrued: it isn't that working at a FAANG on your resume provides a signal of greatness, it's that it guarantees a reliable floor competency. The recruiter is concerned with making her quota just as much as finding rock stars, if not more, and ex FAANG candidates probably stand a higher chance of making it through the interview funnel on average.

Re: Job Hunting in 2022

#177

Post by fma »

angarg12 wrote: post #84
sbuccini wrote: post #3

Thanks to the author for taking the time to write this up. I think it is a fairly realistic description of what the process is like for an engineer who has spent several years working in Silicon Valley at a well-known company. The key takeaways, coming from someone with a similar background: * Rely heavily on your personal network to both identify worthwhile opportunities and for referrals which, in the Before Times,…

> * They had a _full_ pipeline, interviewing every day for three weeks straight. It's a grind, but you definitely get "in the zone". Additionally, setting this goal ensures that you are being properly proactive/aggressive in pursuing opportunities. As a married man nearing his 40s I can't imagine doing this. I need to keep my full time job to support my family, so just quit and focus 100% on prepping is not an option…

As an engineering manager on multiple projects, my calendar is jam packed. My developers who are on one, or at most two projects have their calendars fairly empty (which is a good thing). I had folks who took many interviews within a short time span and I had no clue at all. I barely have time to take a lunch break.

Yes - I can manage my calendar better, but then people would get suspicious, or I'd be worried some emergency comes up.

When I used to interview, I'd just start having more "doctor appointments" or what not and block off a few hours. Also, these were back in the days of going on-site for interviews. My engineers who quit did it all remotely, even the final round (covid times...) so it's more manageable.

Re: Job Hunting in 2022

#178

Post by nnurmanov »

lr4444lr wrote: post #176
listenallyall wrote: post #142

> After leaving Meta recently That's all I needed to hear. Back in the day, the college you went to opened (or shut) doors to get interviews. And most people, who did not attend an Ivy League school or similar, rejected the concept as being anti-meritocratic. However, today, it's the same thing -- just replace college with the company(ies) you list on your resume. A shitty programmer with a bad attitude from Meta, Go…

This is true, but I think you have the reason misconstrued: it isn't that working at a FAANG on your resume provides a signal of greatness, it's that it guarantees a reliable floor competency. The recruiter is concerned with making her quota just as much as finding rock stars, if not more, and ex FAANG candidates probably stand a higher chance of making it through the interview funnel on average.

I once asked recruiters how many candidates they review before they hire a senior engineer. Some answered 200! So the fact you worked in FAANG is not a reason to reject, at least not on recruiter’s level.

Re: Job Hunting in 2022

#179

Post by listenallyall »

lr4444lr wrote: post #176
listenallyall wrote: post #142

> After leaving Meta recently That's all I needed to hear. Back in the day, the college you went to opened (or shut) doors to get interviews. And most people, who did not attend an Ivy League school or similar, rejected the concept as being anti-meritocratic. However, today, it's the same thing -- just replace college with the company(ies) you list on your resume. A shitty programmer with a bad attitude from Meta, Go…

This is true, but I think you have the reason misconstrued: it isn't that working at a FAANG on your resume provides a signal of greatness, it's that it guarantees a reliable floor competency. The recruiter is concerned with making her quota just as much as finding rock stars, if not more, and ex FAANG candidates probably stand a higher chance of making it through the interview funnel on average.

> you have the reason misconstrued

I don't believe my post suggested any reasons.

> it guarantees a reliable floor competency

I disagree. FAANG experience only demonstrates that, at one point, somebody believed you could do the job. There are dead-weight employees at FAANGs (and everywhere of course) who don't really have much competency (or perhaps one very specific competency that's only valuable in that specific role at that specific company, and virtually nothing else). There are also people who were once terrific, but have burned out, turned focus towards their family, were amazing at some obsolete tool/language, etc, started (or stopped) using drugs regularly, etc

I do agree that recruiters are not looking for rockstars but just anyone to fill a spot.

Re: Job Hunting in 2022

#180

Post by cebert »

bradlys wrote: post #78
askafriend wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah if you're good and have the resume/experience to back it up, you won't have any issues getting great offers even in this market. Great candidates are not easy to find in any market.

You're not getting roles at FAANG or most any place in SV without doing leetcode.

That’s unfortunate. They’re missing out on a lot of talented individuals.
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