Studied CS and have 1 year of web application development experience. Is it better to have 2 - 3 years of experience doing software development (React, Node, Docker, AWS, TypeScript, Unit tests, etc) at a smaller company and then move to FANG? I will be working at a smaller sized tech company where I will have more opportunity to have more responsibilities. ~140k base SF. Or Should I jump ship to big tech companies as an entry level software engineer? I have seen many people here who worked 2 - 3 years at smaller/mide-sized firms and jump ship to FANG and receive big TC. I also think that at a smaller tech company I will have opportunities to learn what software architects do (CI/CD, security etc) - where I feel as a entry level engineer at a big company I don't get to work on big picture stuff as quickly.
Move ASAP.
Can I ask your reasons against spending a few years at smaller tech companies doing more diverse learning? Is it the name value of FANG that may impact me in my next job search? Or do people not see their bullet points under the company name?
Jump ship ASAP homie. Who does a recruiter want more? Someone who spent 5 years at a small company or someone who spent 1 year at a small company and 4 years at FANG? Job hopping is normal in this industry. Get that bread while you can
Who cares what a recruiter wants, itâs what skills you have to offer the FANG, youâll get more skills when you have more responsibility and room to grow in a smaller company, at which point you can move to a FANG at a much higher level, that would take you an eternity to achieve inside said FANG, since youâll get pigeon holed pretty quickly as a junior.
But doesnât it matter what you did at the company? Isnât it better to get more exposure to different tech that makes you a true software engineer/architect?
Move ASAP, joining earlier is better for FAANG. Growing internally is way faster than externally.
The experience you get at FANG will be much better, donât just think about technical skills. You need leadership skills which will be hard to get that experience in startups.
I worked at a startup after my junior year and I had to (kind of) lead the front end engineering team due to my strong experience in React. It was a very small startup (~10 people). I am good at networking and paving the way to get what I want (e.g leadership position). How long does it take for one to kind of take on more responsibilities at FANG? In a big company, isnât it hard to get leadership skills ?
Itâs actually much easier in big companies as there are a lot of engineers, especially entry level and interns, which will give you good experience. Also leadership is learnt by seeing others leading, everyone has their own styles, some are good some are bad. You learn that a lot in a big company as you will interact with so many teams, sometimes to solve a trivial problem, which will take a day to do in a startup but will take a month in FANG.
They may not value your 2-3 yr exp at small company as much as your interview coding performance. LC experience is what matters. When you think you're ready to at least not get walked out half way through the interview, go for it.
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How long have you been looking for a job?
Get more experience, move to FANG at higher level
đđ€Ł FANG isn't going to take you at a higher level. You gotta start at the bottom like every other CTO of startups.
So you think all Google L6+ started at Google? đ