Background: SDE2 in a hardware group, left Amazon due to burnout and back to hardware industry. 1st company got 10% less then 2nd got 25% more, now at the equivalent level of SDE3. I bought Amazon share when I left as a mental health hedge. The industry is dying. Almost everyone I see is either new grad or above 55. The pay hasn't moved up much since 2010 if you do not consider level up raises. Quality of life is superb, but it is about 1/2 of what FB and G pay, and I couldn't get into them because I am aware the way things are done are very different. In other words, my firmware skill is probably the opposite of what those modern C++ with big O emphasis are done. For those who transition successfully, how do you do it? I assume it is not just blind leetcode, I have done that for 6 months, it helps me got that 25% more on my current job, but not into FB or G. TC: 260-290, GTFO as soon as I can get 350-400K. 15 YOE.
I made the transition from kernel dev to doing SWE stuff. Don't bother using C++ for interviews, just use python. It doesn't matter how good you are at C (I had papers published at top conferences and had done some competitive programming), learning Python is so much easier than getting that good at C++ that it doesn't really matter.
Read effective modern c++ and a tour of c++ and you’ll be up to speed. GOOG is definitely looking for C++ folks
They see mostly your problem solving skills ... language is a just a medium for interviews I believe ... you dont need to be a pro in C++ ...
Very good question. Following.