First Job offer at Expedia London - how easy to move to FAANG in the medium term?

New / Eng
JLGK02

New Eng

JLGK02
Mar 26, 2021 22 Comments

Hi

I am graduating in 2 months (June) in London.

I applied to over 100 positions over the past 6 months and the first offer I got was from Expedia. My offer/TC was significantly better than what I was hoping for so I’m happy about that, but keep reading negative things about Expedia engineering etc, not mention the travel industry currently doesn’t exist.

I never got an interview at #facebook, #apple or #google in my current round of applications, but then I didn’t come from an internationally known uni (eg I wasn’t in Oxford or Cambridge) so I’m not surprised. I was more surprised I got the offer from Expedia to be honest.

My question is, coming from a large quasi-tech company like Expedia, how hard would it be to break into FAANG in say 2-3 years?

Will a FAANG company look at work with Expedia with disdain? I know Expedia uses a lot of Java which I don’t think is used in the big #tech companies (not certain on that, feel free to educate me!)

TC $84K
Base: 71K
RSU (0,50,25,25): 40K
Sign on: 2.7K

comments

Want to comment? LOG IN or SIGN UP
TOP 22 Comments
  • Congrats! Nice offer you got there at least better than Amazon newgrad offer.
    Mar 26, 2021 5
    • ARM
      Arch101

      Go to company page ARM

      Arch101
      How is that much better than Amazon? The base A new grad offer is like £60k
      Mar 26, 2021
    • New
      Data🥷🏿

      New

      Data🥷🏿
      Amazon’s base is probably like 45k for new grad
      Mar 27, 2021
  • Google
    kiraa

    Go to company page Google

    kiraa
    You can easily get into FAANG even before 2 years (why wait this long). I can speak from Google's perspective, it doesn't care about your background and I don't think your chances will be impacted based on your work at Expedia. And as it's been already pointed out in the previous comments, every big tech utilizes Java.
    Mar 26, 2021 2
    • New / Eng
      JLGK02

      New Eng

      JLGK02
      OP
      So the reason I’ll wait this long is I’m only starting in autumn, and the first half of my RSU’s vest after 2 years

      Also, in London I’m not sure Google is actually hiring right now (based on what I’ve seen on blind, and also as I haven’t seen a single SE grad position from Google in my 4-6 months of active job applications)
      Mar 26, 2021
    • Op , I was in a very similar situation. I’d say give it 5-6 months at Expedia. A lot depends on your team. I can tell you that it’s really good culture-wise , and in terms of learning (for a new grad). Don’t pay too much attention to negative comments about the company. Most of those won’t apply to you at this stage. You can always apply to FAANG for that tc bump after 2 years. Expedia has a decent reputation tech-wise. You should definitely get interviews later. Since covid , the job market has been very unfavorable to new grads.
      Mar 26, 2021
  • Apple / Admin
    AOHN30

    Go to company page Apple Admin

    AOHN30
    Your chances are very good in terms of getting interviews, but in the end of the day it’s your interview performance determines whether or not you’ll be hired. So spend 1 hour on leetcode or system design preparation everyday from now on, in two years time you’ll be in FAANGs
    Mar 26, 2021 1
    • Apple / Admin
      AOHN30

      Go to company page Apple Admin

      AOHN30
      I can say it from my experience, I came from a no name company, practiced leetcode and system design for 1 year, and I cleared FB/Apple, borderline Google(reject). So it’s definitely doable for someone starts stronger than me :)
      Mar 26, 2021
  • Media.net / Eng
    aes1024

    Go to company page Media.net Eng

    aes1024
    Every big tech uses Java. Java is everywhere.
    Mar 26, 2021 0
  • Whats your tc
    Mar 26, 2021 1
    • New / Eng
      JLGK02

      New Eng

      JLGK02
      OP
      Oof, my first post!

      Added it to the original post
      Mar 26, 2021