I’ve made up my mind. I want to join a FAANG company. I’m open to going to college, my only concern is I’m not sure how efficient it is. Life is short, I don’t want to spend half of my 20s doing something that may be unnecessary. I think if I self-study computer science, & my specialization, leetcode like hell, and network like hell in silicon valley for a referral, I might be able to land a faang job in 1-2 years rather than going to college for 4 years. Right? That sounds a lot more efficient to me. Am I missing anything?
Have you been programming all your life for fun? If the answer is no, go to college.
What about guys who go to boot camps and land a job without a degree? Are they anomalies? Plus everything is available online, I’m certain I can become a better software engineer in 4 years than an average college graduate. Only reason I would go to college is for the piece of paper. Is the piece of paper that important to get into the industry?
Seriously, if you haven't been doing this all along for fun you are not going to magically get a FANG job by going to a boot camp* or studying on your own for a couple years. Go to a legit college and get a computer science degree. Develop your own projects or make open source contributions at the same time. * Exception for women doing things like ADA Academy. They can get hired by FANG companies desperate to improve their D&I numbers.
Some places may want a cs degree but some don't. Honestly , if you can pick up things quickly and learn well you'll be fine. What matters is understanding some of the cs concepts like algorithms etc. . I still don't have a cs degree myself but I'm doing well where I am and as long as I keep learning I'll be alright. Now if you want to get some other certificates that's a different story. Perhaps cloud based certification ? Or maybe some networking courses ? They'll always be useful in a coding job when you need to know your way around cloud infrastructure and having them shows good competency. Linux courses that have exams would also be good. Imo they would be more beneficial along with being cheaper then going to college . There are plenty of good online places that can teach you cs concepts so you don't miss out.
Thanks for the advice. Are you open to me DMing for more questions?
Sure feel free to message me.
Why do u want to join a FAANG company? Also, 4 years is not that long in the grand scheme of things...
Get paid a shit load to develop super valuable skills. When I start my own business I’ll be starting one from a strong financial foundation with useful hard skills. Im 21, I want to try and retire by the time I’m 30, going to college for 4 years is a huge amount of time with that perspective
'develop super valuable skills' 🤣🤣 Working at 3 FAANGs, I can assure you that it's the same shit everywhere.
College is more than the paper my dude. It's the start of your network and you get to brand yourself with a school. Those connections are invaluable, and I've seen a lot of mediocre devs make principal+ because of them. Go enroll and go through the motions. If you're not actually learning by the time you get through data structures use the school name and career center to get an internship then drop out. If you are good as you say you are you'll have FANG offers before you leave.
Well yeah the “branding” is what I meant by the piece of paper. But yeah those connections are definitely something to consider
You seem like a smart person. Test your hypothesis by searching online for the job postings at FANG and see how many of them do not require or prefer a CS degree.
I believe it’s a mix, definitely not required, just wanted to get some insights from people actually in the industry.
Don’t just look at “not required”. If FANG still “prefer” a CS degree, then you are losing out to candidates who have a CS degree, both in terms of opportunity to get an interview and possibly when it comes to total comp. There are just way too many applicants to FANG. Unless you have an amazing portfolio to compensate for the lack of a CS degree, you probably should consider getting one.
Thanks for the thoughtful response man. I’m pretty torn to be honest. I might just end up getting an average web dev job first, and then go to college, or maybe I’ll try my luck and self study and then network for referrals 🤷♂️ Your perspective is highly appreciated :)
Without a degree expect to work 1-3 years as a SWE at terrible companies even to get considered. Leetcode doesn’t matter.
Agreed. It’s possible to get into FAANG without a degree but it’s likely still going to be 4 years of work, internships and grinding it at startups. They simply won’t look at you even with referrals. Heck, my brother is graduating this year. He has a 6 month co-op at a large tech company, internships, and research with professor. His interview skills were decent he got a return offer from his internship and got 3 other offers (not shitty startups, all big companies I’ve heard of but not top tier). While he was searching I asked friends at Facebook and Google to refer him. FB was even high up, director level. Referral went through but recruiters didn’t even give him an interview lol. FAANG’s entry level new grad positions probably all goes to top tier new grads/experienced people who willing to downlevel. Not some guy who did a bootcamp. People without degrees who get in go to hackathons for fun, make random side projects, and launched random startups. People who really love coding and doing it because it’s their passion and probably self taught themselves just for the heck of it.
What is considered a terrible company ? Is it the number of years in existence or total revenue ? Is a startup with series A funding terrible ?
If you can get into a good school do it for sure. If you can’t then boot camp
I just remembered, what about Triple Byte? Isn’t that a golden ticket in without a degree?
If it worked that way no one would go to school.
Most people are average though