Now with bombardment of software engineers who can code up a web app prototype in a couple of hours, is it worth to enter FANG as a generic software developer. Won't you be one among the crowd? Or should the specialized roles be targeted? Such as data scientist or a data engineer?
Specialization helps, but pursue it only if you are interested in it. There is still plenty of work for software engineers, all around
Aim for SRE at companies that does SRE right. You will learn a lot and thrive in the future with the skill sets you acquire from being a SRE.
The answer to your question is “do you like money?”
Yes. That is the common ground. But my question is if I am planning to work for FANG, then should I be targeting a specialized role or even a software engineering role will give me equal level of career growth
I’m really starting to believe that software will be flooded with people who can code. Leetcode can only hold them off for long, how can you differentiate between the mediocre masses? This field will have a massive bimodal distribution. With 1M+ comp for the top 1% and 100k for everyone else
I see this happening as well
There is plenty of need for general tasks like backend and infrastructure. Also hone your skills even if they are frontend, there's a big difference between someone with a good nose for UX and the best technologies to use, versus someone who "can code up a prototype in a couple hours"
How do you distinguish the former from the latter? On paper at least they look very similar
As an interviewer, I'd look for ability to carry on a conversation about design, and probably ability to identify the steps to take something from a prototype to a working product.