I have a Bachelors in Chemical Engineer with the above background and moved to the Bay not too long ago and was wondering what it takes to break into a FAANG Company? I’ve never worked in Tech but I’d love to jump in! Any specific suggestions would be greatly appreciated, as it seems the TC for being a Chemical Engineer in this area is far below what one needs to survive in the Bay. Thanks! Edit: Btw, I have process engineering background.
Leetcode. Else go do a Master's degree
Thanks for the suggestion! What would you recommend I do a masters in?
Chemical Engineering.
By solving leetcode!
I thought chemical engineering payed well. Have you tried finding a better paying company for your skills because you're comparing your TC to the top paying software companies.
That’s what they tell you at college too! But the truth is, Chemical Engineering’s STARTING pay is really good (median used to be $68k back in 2007). But TC starts tapering off around $120k-$130k unless if you go to management. BioPharma companies are close by bit straight chemical companies are all the way up in Antioch and Martinez, and I live in South Bay so trying to find something closer And would you know of any company in the South Bay that has a TC comparable to Tech companies?
What I meant was, any chemical company that has a TC that can keep up with Bay Area prices. I eventually want to move to Tech in the long run as I love technology and being on the cutting edge and will do whatever it takes; but in the short run, I could use a reasonable TC that can stabilize my Bay Area related finances.
CS fundamentals
Start by getting a SWE job in oil and gas. Hiring bar is pretty low in that sector and you'll have advantage with your domain knowledge. Then learn CS fundamentals and do leetcode while you get experience as a SWE. Also you can substitute defense/aerospace for oil & gas if you are a citizen.
Just saw this, iEkO37! And thank you for your prior advice! And I’m a citizen so I’ll look into defense and aerospace too. Thanks!
OP I also have a ChE bachelor's degree. I took a bootcamp course, studied a bunch more full time during my job search, stuff like data structures and algorithms, databases and other cs fundamentals, and wound up with several great job offers. It was about an 8 month stretch without a job, and by the end many larger tech companies wanted to interview me. I think startups and smaller co's would be harder to break into as a first SWE job
How did you interviews without CS or a tech company on your resume? Also what year was this?
Easy, already have a highly technical degree, listed relevant projects on resume first instead of work exp, and had friends refer me to roles
They have some roles as process engineers at Intel & also Tesla apply to those .
Ooo! Almost forgot about Intel. And Tesla would be a dream job! I love working on cars and motorcycles so that would be right up my alley. Any key points I should focus on to be able to score an interview at Tesla?
Reflect yourself in your resume 100% be true don’t bs, see if you have any friends at Tesla or friends of friend and have them refer.. Add Material scientists or battery engineers on LinkedIn and keep pursuing
Thanks for the advice Equistrian! And when you mean by adding Mat. Sci’s and Battery Engr’s to LinkedIn, is that for me to ask them for questions and for referral purposes? As far as I know, I don’t know anyone in Tesla, but I’ll go through my LinkedIn network and see if any connection comes up. Thanks!
Don’t just jump right into referral .. learn about the people check their major similar to yours and then add them slowly get to know if they respond usually they get 1000’s of invites try to be unique not boring .. try to match what Tesla is looking for in their career website and relate to that on your profile and then send them something that resonates don’t be disappointed if they don’t reply shits crazy at Tesla.. Try to get some unique certifications in chemical engineering related or Udacity/Udemy and have Quality certifications and six sigma and lean that’s a big win .. and process engineering ..Lynda has some good courses that add to your profile .. Work on PMP certification credits if you are not certified.. in that way you can be unique but have all necessary skills to perform a job.. you need management , process and your niche major blended that’s the key
Equistrian, you just gave me a roadmap. Thank you for taking the time to type this out! I’ll get started on all the things you pointed out :)
See if you said Microsoft, I would've said we could introduce you to our industry teams who are building solutions for the various sectors. But good luck with FAANG. 😋
How much of a presence does Microsoft have left in the Bay? I was under the assumption that most of Microsoft is up in Seattle? Preach away to me, if that’s not completely the case. I’m here to learn :) And it doesn’t necessarily have to be a FAANG. Just want to be in Tech with a reasonable TC :)
Aiming for FAANG is not looking for reasonable TC. You are looking for top. Not easy.