Demystifying FAANG and Other Terms Used on Blind
FEATURED IMAGE | Source: Teamblind Inc.
Have you ever wondered what FAANG means? SETI? SRE? Sometimes it can feel like our Blind users are speaking a foreign language. For those of you who are new to Blind or tech, we will demystify some of the acronyms, words, and phrases commonly used in our community. From the more obvious to the obscure, here’s a list of terms and their definitions. Let us know if you think we’ve left out one that’s important!
AI: Artificial intelligence
AMA: Ask me anything
AWS: Amazon Web Services
AMZN: Amazon
Comp: Compensation
Dev: Development
DevOps: Development and operations. A software development process that focuses on development and operations teams understanding each other and collaborating together. DevOps teams aim for shorter development cycles, more frequent releases, and more reliable products.
Eng: Engineering
FAANG (originally FANG): An acronym for the five best performing tech stocks in the market (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Alphabet’s Google)
FANG: An acronym for the four best performing tech stocks in the market as of 2017 (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Alphabet’s Google)
Facebook MPK: Facebook Menlo Park
FB: Facebook
G: Google
Google TVC: Temporary, vendor, or contractor employee at Google
Google FTE: Full-time employee at Google
H-1B: A non-immigrant visa that allows foreigners in specialty occupations to temporarily work at U.S. companies
IPO: Initial public offering. The first time that the stock of a private company is offered to the public. An IPO is underwritten by one or more investment banks who assist with listing the shares on the stock exchange. IPOs are often issued by smaller or younger companies seeking capital but they can also be done by large privately owned companies looking to become publicly traded.
ISO: Incentive stock option. A type of employee stock option that comes with a U.S. tax benefit. The options are taxed at a capital gains rate instead of the ordinary income tax rate.
LeetCode: An online platform that helps people level up their coding skills and prepare for technical interviews
MS: Microsoft
MSFT: Microsoft
MCIO: Microsoft Cloud Infrastructure and Operations
ML Engineer: Machine Learning Engineer
NDA: Non-disclosure agreement
OCI: Oracle Cloud Infrastructure
OP: Original poster
Oracle BMC: Oracle Bare Metal Cloud
PD: Product Designer
PIP: Performance improvement plan. A plan of action to give underperforming employees the opportunity to succeed while still holding them accountable for past performance.
PM: Product Manager
PMM: Product Marketing Manager
PMTS: Principal Member of Technical Staff
RFE: Request for evidence. An inquiry issued by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to petitioners for green card, citizenship, and visa applications. A RFE is made when an application is lacking required documentation or when additional evidence is needed to determine an applicant’s eligibility for the benefit sought.
RSU: Restricted stock units. Stocks that are issued to an employee through a vesting plan and distribution schedule after achieving required performance benchmarks or upon remaining with the employer for a determined length of time. RSUs have no tangible value until vesting is complete.
SDE: Software Development Engineer
SDET: Software Development Engineer in Test
SETI: Software Engineer, Tools and Infrastructure
SRE: Site Reliability Engineer
SW: Software
SWE: Software Engineer
TC: Total annual compensation (includes base salary, bonuses, stocks, benefits, and perks)
TPM: Technical Program Manager
WFH: Work from home
WLB: Work-life balance
T3, E7, SDEII, ICT3, and so on….These are levels used to classify engineers. Each company has their own classification system. Click here to compare and contrast the levels at different companies.