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Ask HN: I'm a SWE without a CS degree. Will online certs help me get into FAANG?

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Re: Ask HN: I'm a SWE without a CS degree. Will online certs help me get into FAANG?

#61

Post by jdjdjdjdjdjd »

saagarjha wrote: post #40

If you have 2 years of SWE experience, your lack of degree is not likely to be a significant barrier, assuming you can pass the interview. If you had none it might have been since it can be difficult to get past the resume screen without one. In my experience online certifications are basically useless. Feel free to take classes you like to learn things you want to learn, but listing them will probably not help.

With enough preparations, I think I'll do OK on a technical interview, having looked at examples online.

I have 2 years of experience. I'm mainly concerned that my experience isn't really impressive having only worked in the finance and education sectors.

I also got promoted to a senior role very quickly, which was genuinely on merit, but I worry will make moving to tech firm harder.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a SWE without a CS degree. Will online certs help me get into FAANG?

#62

Post by jdjdjdjdjdjd »

midasz wrote: post #36
lowbloodsugar wrote: post #28

I don’t have a CS degree either and I’m at a FAANG. If you’ve got a resume with “senior developer” on it, no good employer will care.

Not a dig at OP but putting "senior developer" on your resume after only 2 years of experience really sets expectations.

This is exactly my concern! I have a senior on there, and I really worked hard to earn it. But now I worry that it will set too high expectations and make getting into a big firm much more difficult.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a SWE without a CS degree. Will online certs help me get into FAANG?

#63

Post by jdjdjdjdjdjd »

nindalf wrote: post #29

I’m a UK based software developer without a CS degree. I wrote about my experience interviewing at various software companies (including Google) in 2021 - https://blog.nindalf.com/posts/tech-interview/ . I also talk about how I prepared for the interview, so that may be useful. If you want to talk to someone about this don’t hesitate to reach out over email!

Thank you! That is a very useful resource, I will read through it later!

Re: Ask HN: I'm a SWE without a CS degree. Will online certs help me get into FAANG?

#65

Post by poisonborz »

jdjdjdjdjdjd wrote: post #53
poisonborz wrote: post #45

Do you have specific industry areas you want to get into? I was hiring for 5 year for some EU companies (startups to 1k) as an engineer, I _never ever_ looked at the applicant's degree - if you have any university degree, it's a plus ("you are willing to learn") but not much more. CV/past (own) projects will get you all the way. If you are targeting fintech, ML or "rockstar" corps that might be different.

Thank you! No specific industries in mind. I am keen to move to a tech company like FAANG or similar not just because of their prestige but also because I want to work with the best engineers. In the jobs I've had outside tech (especially in the public sector), I've had pretty limited exposure to engineers who are passionate, and I feel I can learn from.

> I want to work with the best engineers

Sorry but wrong mindset. You will not learn the most when you are surrounded and mentored by "yoda class" devs. The sad reality of the tech sector that this happens very rarely - not many teams have this growth attitude, everyone just wants to hire seniors who instantly have the best answers. You can learn just as well by surrounded by and inspiring juniors when solving problems. With any luck they will rightfully question many things you take for granted.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a SWE without a CS degree. Will online certs help me get into FAANG?

#66

Post by treprinum »

You can do a master in CS even without a CS bachelor online at the University of Colorado Boulder via Coursera. You just need to take 2 classes and get at least B in each.

https://www.colorado.edu/cs/academics/online-programs/mscs-c...

But as they say, this will only put you on the radar, but then it's all about LeetCode-Hard and -Medium and system design.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a SWE without a CS degree. Will online certs help me get into FAANG?

#67

Post by treprinum »

flanked-evergl wrote: post #42
nwoli wrote: post #5

I remember a time when online certificates was an anti signal. I think it still is in many startups. (Most people just hire on skill.)

> I remember a time when online certificates was an anti signal. I have never interviewed someone with many certifications and thought the person would be a good addition to a team, and I have never worked with someone who has many online certifications and thought they are good at the things they are certified in.

I have over 100 Coursera/edX/Udacity certificates and work on the bleeding edge of tech (AI). MIT's Underactuated Robotics got me into the first cohort of Udacity's Self-driving Car Nanodegree. I think you are shooting yourself in the feet if you plainly reject people like me who just want to keep learning new things.
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