Are there two “schools” of engineers: FANG and non-FANG?
By “schools” I mean two separate networks of engineers with little overlap. And by FANG, I don’t strictly mean those 4 companies exclusively. When I get kinda spammy recruiter InMail, I look at the companies. They’re usually smaller. I look at the list of employees on LinkedIn, and there is so little overlap in network— maybe I have a handful of 2nd / 3rd degree connections. Most engineers in these jobs occasionally do contract work, but bounce around roughly annually. On the other hand, if I consider opportunities with places like ServiceNow or Sony or other local players, I see plenty of folks that have bounced around between these companies and Intuit. So— are there essentially two disparate groups of software engineers? Or this just sample / observation bias?
Well what I have learnt is that there are only two kinds of engineers, people who can get things done well and those who cannot .
That’s funny because it’s so true. Huge difference between “done” and “done well”.
In my experience FANG has higher caliber engineers and while I’ve seen great engineers at non FANG you also see a lot of mediocrity. Mediocrity doesn’t survive at FANG
Yes, if you generalize FANG as being top companies in general. The mediocre engineers just get shuffled around at mediocre companies.
Lol as an IC, you should be proud and focus on the type of work you do & impact you have on those work instead of labelling yourself as working at FANGMANDU or not. I work at one of the companies of FANG and no my network is not divided by FANG/nonFANG. It may just seem that way because FANG hires lots of engineers compared to smaller companies.
I don’t see people leaving FANGs for the smaller companies much. Maybe it’s as simple as them not being able to compete on pay? I don’t know why you’re telling me to not even ask this question “as an IC”. This isn’t about labels. It’s a legitimate question.