Intern vs. Full time at Google
My friend who writes a lot of functional programming code for a Data Engineer was recently promoted to Data Engineer II at Amazon. She’s a problem solver and wants to move over to a formal Software Engineer role at Google or Facebook in the next 6 months. She has applied to the Online Masters in Computer Science program from a reputed University to close the gap. The program starts in January 2018. She’s now thinking whether she should apply as an intern through the MS program or an entry-level Software Engineer position (if that exists). Her points of contention are: 1. It could be easier to get in Google or Facebook as an intern sooner. 2. You could get a longer ramp-up period if you start as an intern instead of an entry-level Software Engineer. She could use this to close gaps while at the job. 3. May be she can switch to Full-time right after internship. 4. Internship may not convert into a full-time offer. Do you have any suggestions for her? She’s open to discussing this in person with a recruiter/hiring manager.
1. True 2. True 3. True 4. True, but if you can't convert the internship you probably wouldn't clear the full time interviews. I wouldn't talk to hiring about getting an internship to get an easier way in. Its supposed to be for people planning on going back to school but they would let her dropout if after getting the offer she told them she rather just start. Telling them thats the plan before it starts is against one of its requirements so it can be done just not advertised. I would suggest applying to full time if you aren't young anymore (low twenties) or else they might see what your angle is. But first is she a software engineer? Or is data engineer different? CS major? There's a chance she doesn't even get a call back so I think you might be jumping the gun a bit.
She has a CS Major, started her career as a Software Engineer 5 years ago but her initial job offered her a Data Engineer role (design Data models, writing SQL queries, etc.) For the past 6 months she’s writing functional programming code and running her ML scripts on EMR. So, it’s taken a very sharp turn from what she was doing a year ago. Does Facebook/Google hire entry-level Software Engineers that have been Data Engineer for 5 years?
Yes but it's not going to be easy. They are both know for having pretty difficult interviews.