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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?

#101

Post by bdcravens »

treprinum wrote: post #67
flanked-evergl wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Nothing to keep you from learning out of personal interest and leaving it off of your resume.

The issue is putting it on your resume and thinking it's a criteria hiring managers would use.

If you can build some body of work, whether it's a paper, code, etc that reflects what you've learned, that's infinitely more relevant.

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

#102

Post by hisnameisjimmy »

I had a buddy with multiple felonies for selling drugs when he was younger get a job at Facebook as a SWE. He was promoted to Senior while he was there. He had no college degree, and his completion of high school was the GED.

If you can prove you can do the job, you will get the job.

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

#103

Post by everforward »

hoagsobject wrote: post #25
jwestbury wrote: post #10

You don't need a CS degree and you don't need certs once you've established yourself. I've been in SRE or SRE-adjacent roles at Amazon, Microsoft, Dropbox, and now a quant hedge fund (the first three in the US, the last in London). My only degree is in English lit. Your hardest step is getting into your first job with good name recognition in the tech industry. For this, your best bet isn't certs, it's networking --…

How did you learn stuff for working in such companies? I always assumed you need a lot of math and theory to work in finance.

It depends on which area of the business you're in.

The quants (people who do the analysis to give buy/sell signals, basically, typically using programming for the analysis) will generally need a strong grasp of statistics and finance.

The developers that build the trading platform will need a strong grasp of exchanges and the mechanics of trading, but not really of statistics or "how the market works/reacts".

The developers that work on the reporting side don't really need a strong grasp of either. The math is relatively simple, the difficult part is handling stuff like cross trades. I.e. internally trading stocks between portfolio managers without having to hit the actual exchange (i.e. PM A wants to sell Intel, and PM B wants to buy, so you just transfer ownership instead of actual buy/sell orders). You have to attribute a profit/loss to PM A even though there wasn't a "real" profit or loss.

The SRE/ops side often doesn't require much knowledge of finance or math. The apps aren't particularly unique, and the portions of the trading flow you're expected to know aren't hard to pick up in a month or two. You aren't typically expected to have an in-depth understanding of trading strategy, or a highly detailed understanding of how trading works mechanically. Knowing that stuff probably lets you command a higher salary and title, but it isn't a prerequisite.

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

#104

Post by FFP999 »

lordnacho wrote: post #32
grubbs wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember watching that Freakonomics documentary on Netflix a decade ago. One of the authors mentions "not getting a HS degree is an economic death sentence". I guess times have changed.

It's still generally true though, isn't it? Football (soccer) players sometimes don't have their high school degrees, but they have training in a high paying profession. Same goes with people who can code.

[dead]

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

#105

Post by flashgordon »

For getting into faangs - get a referral, leetcode like crazy (and system designs if you are senior).

For staying in FAANGs learn to embrace and exhibit "leadership principles". It is all about impact and likeability during perf. FAANGs arent (especially) immune to politics and all things that come with humans at the helm.

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

#106

Post by bsimpson »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #83
bsimpson wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same. Self taught as a child (like OP). Offered a job at a FAANG twice, and took it the second time.

YMMV. I self taught as a child as well and gave up trying to crack FAANG. I still enjoy my less blingy current role.

One nice thing about megacorps is that they're big enough to support specialization.

UX Engineering it a good fit for my skillset (and might be for other self taught people too).

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

#108

Post by l33t7332273 »

themoonisachees wrote: post #82
treprinum wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I mean this in the nicest way possible. I genuinely have nothing agaisnt you and this is as far as I know the first time i've ever read one of your comments. You appear unsufferable. If i was in charge of deciding whether or not to hire you, I would not, based on this comment.

I agree with this sentiment.

Something about the phrase “the bleeding edge of tech (AI)” is just very off putting.

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

#109

Post by biohax2015 »

grubbs wrote: post #21
jameshush wrote: post #20

I worked at a FAANG company. My co-worker hadn't graduated High School. I recommend applying and grinding leetcode if you aim for a SWE role. Two years SWE experience is enough for them to give you an interview with a cold application through their job board in my experience.

I remember watching that Freakonomics documentary on Netflix a decade ago. One of the authors mentions "not getting a HS degree is an economic death sentence". I guess times have changed.

It generally is. It's best not to base life decisions based on anecdotes of extreme outliers from strangers on the internet.
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