Hello SWEs @ Blind, I am in Hardware (in Physical Design/CAD to be specific) with 9 YOE. I am planning to move to Software (as I like and am good at coding; more opportunities; better TC than HW and surely even an RCG will have better than my TC of 125K ... even at a non-FAANG firm) First question — is it a good thing to do given the above info (yoe, interests, etc) Now need advice for below points: 1. Which domain in SWE (i.e., ML or Data Science or any other in-demand domain) will be good to go to in terms of opportunities/pay/growth? 2. What is the best program to follow so as to get enough to build resume (being someone with HW background) and also be able to clear the interview? By program I mean online ones like ‘Udacity nanodegrees’, Coursera degrees/certifications, etc Inputs from experienced SWEs as well as SWEs who switched from other fields will be of great help. I am sure many are in the same boat as mine and would really appreciate your wise advices! #engineering #software #swe
1. I will guess ML but I think you should stick to the one you found interest and/or good at when trying to break into SWE first. 2. Instead of paying for those courses I will recommend start coding up side projects / contributing to open source software (OSS) on github or something
Thanks for your advice @Betabet I worked on a couple of ML projects at my current company by volunteering to help ML teams and I liked it. So ML is my first choice too. Secondly, I tried doing side projects and I enjoyed them and was good at them too. But the problem i felt was lack of structured learning especially for clearing an interview. If someone gives me an ML job i can pull it off. But clearing interview is a problem here. And also need to have a decent resume to get an ML/SW call despite having 9 yrs of HW background.
Oh I see in that case I recommend cracking the coding interview and also leetcode hard questions
7YOE resume writing (including technical / engineering). I can review and offer feedback for tailoring it to SWE. DM if interested!
Resume barely matters. Get a referral for positions, leetcode for 3 to 6 months. Then interview.
But why will anyone even give a call without appropriate resume when they have enough people holding resume that fits the role they are looking for?
Because most faang have unlimited job positions which they cannot fill. Their struggles are finding people who can pass the interview