Big Tech Q&A and Videos

I wanted to ask how do startup interviews generally work and in what ways do they differ from interviews at Big Tech companies?

I've noticed that a lot of people don't put their graduation year for university on LinkedIn. I think this is because there's a strong fear in the tech world of being seen as old and out of date. I myself am wondering if I should remove my graduation year from LinkedIn. I graduated in 2018 and am aiming to break into FAANG.

I feel like as time goes on, it becomes more and more compelling to get rid of the year.

Eagerly awaiting people's thoughts.

Hi Taro - just wanted to say thank you for the .  I was wondering if you could share with the Taro community your thoughts on how managers evaluate their employees in detail (you mentioned some things like internal tools that one could go and see how many PRs, discussions, comments someone had in Github/JIRA and who all were at the top of that baseline followed by the bottom rankers; so I would like more specifics if possible).

Although no one likes it, it would be good to understand how "stack ranking" works at FAANG - and how some managers evaluate on this criteria, despite it being a practice that sucks. In this way I can just be more sure I'm hitting a baseline - even if it's invisible because I can take daily steps to work on my own visibility and perceived performance.

I feel like the biggest challenge right now is getting critical feedback from a manager / org (and it sounds like some companies in the FAANG space are pretty awful about it).  E.g. I read about a Redditor who got let go without much notice because they weren't up to par (decided by a skip level manager) in terms of their code and daily output (while the direct manager and everyone else had been communicating often that this employee's performance was great). But this goes back to the idea that 'great' is 'average' lately, and it's way harder to hit exceeds and greatly exceeds on performance.

Thank you in advance!

I have never contributed to open source but would like to start doing so. I believe this will make a huge difference in landing big tech jobs. Would like some references, steps, directions for beginners to get started in this journey.

I have been working for small companies for the past 5 years where the focus was on shipping the product fast and not necessarily on quality. I am now interviewing at big tech companies where the focus is on code quality and code scalability. I am concerned that even if I make it through the interview phase it will be hard for me to maintain my position after having bad coding practices for many years.

How can I get started in learning how to write clean, reusable and scalable code? I work primarily with JavaScript and Java. Can you point me to some resources to learn how to improve my code and apply best practices that will make me a great engineer? I am familiar with concepts like DRY, SOLID principles but I am looking for something actionable not some abstract concept.

What's the right way to balance interviewing for FAANG roles when you have a full-time job? I've heard of people carving out their morning for an interview or interview prep, so dedicating 2-3 hours. Is this reasonable? What's a minimum amount of time I should spend on interview prep or interview every day?

This question assumes I don't have trouble getting interviews and have a few lined up. The prep I have in mind is the classic DSA/Leetcode, systems design, behavioural, mock interviews, etc.

I have worked at Meta my entire career (~5 years). I know that Meta is pretty "startup-ey" among the Big Tech companies, but I imagine that it can't mimic startups entirely and there's unique learning value startups can offer. Does switching to startups give big value to career development?

Hi Taro Community

Just for backstory. I've been working for almost 4 years since graduating.

For my first two years, I worked at a big 5 company where I delivered and learned very little due to constant reorgs, politics, and toxic management. I wasn't performing and found a new job at a reputed, mid-size tech company.

Despite meeting expectations each cycle at this new company, I question if I truly belong in this field. I enjoy problem solving but I don't have a much interest in software as a craft (a trait that I see from top engineers on my team), nor do I really care about tech products.

I wonder if I'll have the longevity or motivation to stay in this field long term. (Companies don't want just average engineers like me, they want the best, most passionate people, right?) The good news is I have a great manager, team, and mentor right now -- all of which have helped me grow a lot despite all this.

I'm curious if there are some reframings or mindset shifts that some senior+ folks have made to make peace with or love their career path.

How do I demonstrate that I am seasoned in a way such that if a Big Tech company decided to give me a chance, I can put them at ease and show that I'll be successful? How does that look like across various levels?

I might join a Big Tech company later on in my career, and I know that choosing the right company has huge financial consequences due to the large RSU compensation.

How can one set themselves up for success here and pick a company with a good financial outlook? What metrics should I look at and is there some sort of website to help with this?

How do I find edge cases in DSA problems?

Are there some common edge cases that everybody knows about?

Is there some sort of method or procedure to find those edge cases?

I’m always impressed by software engineers with strong track record working at FAANG level for long term period (>4 years) as working in these type of companies require dedicating yourself 100%+ to sustain and keep meeting the performance bar..

But I also felt that the “golden era” of working at FAANG have already passed. I think joining FAANG today will still give lots of learning but not as many growth compared to maybe 6-7 years ago when they are still growing very rapidly.

Do you have any tips for junior/mid engineers with 1-2 YOE who feels like their current role does not offer the golden era of FAANG level growth in terms of career opportunity? Feeling like this primarily due to team culture and engineering talent on my current role that is subpar compared to FAANG (I was previously an intern at FAANG and is now working at a startup).

Given the current market situation (layoffs, hiring freeze), getting into FAANG or the next FAANG would be quite challenging.

do you have any tips so that I can make sure I can give my best to whatever I have right now but still have FAANG level of career growth in non-FAANG company?