Grad school vs Patient growth
There’s a tldr attached at the bottom, but that may make sense with the context below. So a little background: I graduated from a small, no name school with a bachelors in a math/cs major. I have a little over 3 yoe, and on the same job since I graduated. I find it difficult to get noticed by recruiters at top tech (FAANG, Uber, airbnb, etc), which I am guessing comes down to the combo of my education and employment history. As a result, it’s difficult for me to get picked for interviews, and admittedly whatever interviews I do get, I make it onsite and botch them. While I’m working on my interviewing, I am also trying to figure out what’s the best long term play for my career. I see myself in an eng manager role in the future (as opposed to a PM role, or IC). With that in mind, I was wondering what’s the best thing I could do now : Attend a top Eng school for a masters in CS/specialized form of it (ML, AI, etc), OR, wait it out till I make Senior SWE and hope that my applications are taken more seriously then? FWIW, I have tried the route of cold emailing recruiters etc, but that has a low success rate and sometimes feels like it’s not worth the effort. Apologies for the long post. TL;DR: I want to switch to a top tech company. Should I get a masters degree, or wait to get promoted and then switch ? PS: switching to FANG isn’t the sole goal. The idea is also to increase the depth and breadth of my expertise in various ‘aspects’ of tech.
Grad school is really a bad idea if all you want is get into FAANG. Solve 500 leetcode problems, do some side projects, get LinkedIn premium and reach out to recruiters or hiring managers, you'll be in a FAANG in <6 months. DM me if you want ideas on side projects or how to build profile, not G/F but I got 2 offers one from Amazon and another from a reputable tech company. My next step apparently is to aim for G or F, but that means more leetcode. No where in this journey did grad school helped me
Grad school won’t guarantee anything. You’ll be perceived “fresh” again with recent school record in your CV (considering HR spends 6 sec on avg to screen over ur CV). Grow yourself inside your company, develop yourself as a better professional, invest into building your CV (writing it right is significant thing), and try again.
Don't take a break to do full time grad school if you have a decent job. Almost always a net loss unless your job is a total dead end (or you want a career track switch, like hardware to swe or whatever) Part time MS in CS or in Software Engineering is usually worthwhile while working.
One other thought - grad school is often a good way to wait out a downturn, especially if you are young and can live on what a research assistantship pays
Where did you go to school?
I think you are a bit impatient. I have been though this too. You likely will not gain any traction with recruiters until you are in your 6th to 8th YOE, you are still a new grad in their eyes. I went to grad school and while it did provide me a new career opportunity, it took 3-4 years after graduating to come to fruition. That coupled with student loans is tough to advise. If money is no issue then education cant hurt.
Got it. What are your thoughts on gaining knowledge via education vs experience ? Assuming money and time aren’t restricting factors in either case.