Frontend wanting to switch to full stack software engineer
I am a decent Frontend engineer about 3 years experience & I now want to switch to backend. I really want to be able to apply to any job that says “software engineer” without looking for the term “Frontend”. I have built API’s with NodeJS, Rails & PHP in the past but not professional. I plan to work at FAANG soon, here’s what I am doing Data Structures & Algorithms: February- present Leetcode: February - present (always) Cloud computing - Intensive online projects based course from CMU starting in June SQL - I have done this in the past but also plan to take full one month course from late July I want to choose between Java, Python & Go to master next. What would be the right pick. I have done Java in the past with Android & also played with Python. I am a really fast learner & realized after passing two rounds of Apple interview(did not get an offer) how much smarter I could become & how I have not been living up to my full potential. I only learned DS/Alg just a month before interviewing for the first time. I plan to start applying next year. I am also working full time. I would appreciate your advice thanks.
OP you’re on the right track. Once you start solving mediums with optimal solutions in about 30 mins, I think you’ll be ready to interview. Java, python, and go are all fine languages to learn. Go is not as in demand (though it’s growing fast) and Java and its associated tooling is a lot to learn for someone starting out with backend, so I think you would be good with python. I’m in a similar situation to you and I am focusing on python myself. I’ve done a little Java professionally. I think it’s among the best enterprise tooling you can choose, but I have a lot more fun doing stuff in python, it’s too easy, too productive, and too flexible (which can be downsides in large enterprise software deployments). And having fun helps keep me motivated.
Leetcode in Java. Everything else is unnecessary
Somewhat agree with the Java part. But given that python is so in demand and so much easier to get competent at, I think leetcoding in python is adequate.