I'm a full stack developer with 15 yoe in young startups and freelancing. I'm in the process of applying at some well funded startups and established companies. I'd seriously appreciate insight and suggestions on my approach. Experience: I'm a finance major from a small irrelevant school where I started a Fintech startup my senior year. I ran a team of 10 devs to build out a pretty complex platform over 3 years that I ran in production for another 3 years. Shut down due to business reasons. I've been freelancing as a full stack developer ever since, primarily to have the flexibility to start another company, but my priorities have changed. Most of my freelancing projects are building apps from the ground up (ex. 3d solar proposal app, plc/robotics for manufacturing, streaming web-based trading platform, integration focused CRM, etc.). Previous job applications: I applied 5 years ago for a senior full stack position at Twitter. Made it to the point where it was me and one other person being considered. I obviously didn't get it, but they never filled the job as that portion of Twitter was shut down shortly after (Niche; a company Twitter acquired). Only relevant b/c I want everyone to know I'm capable of making it through tough interview processes. Why I'm looking for a full time position: Freelancing has been great, but I'm over working with small startups and freelancing is extremely inconsistent (ex. time requirements, length of contract, rates, startups failing, etc.). I'm burned out on pursuing my own startup ideas and I'm also starting a family, so I'm looking for stability. Additional context: I make around $160k a year (before taxes) working remotely from South Carolina. Im rated 5 stars on my freelancing profiles and wouldn't have a problem getting references from previous clients if needed. I've been looking at positions at Airbnb, Hopper, Stripe, Rippling, Pinterest, and similar companies. Most are senior or staff level positions. Questions: What sort of hurdles am I going to have to overcome when applying with large companies (and well funded startups) coming from a freelancing background during the application and interview process? Anything I should include or not include in my resume? Anyone have a similar story coming from startups/freelancing? What level of positions should I be applying to? Do you think that my previous manager/lead roles will be interpreted as being capable of a staff level position? Or am I an idiot to even considering these types of roles? Any insights and/or references are massively appreciated. #swe #software #engineering #freelancer
start as an IC. I did freelance for almost a decade before my first job at big tech, corporate culture is super weird.
Thanks for the feedback. Did you run into any situations when applying and interviewing where your experience as a freelancer was a concern? Just wondering b/c I've ran into a few articles, posts, and videos where recruiters seem to think freelancers are lazy and/or don't want a full time job (i.e. they won't stay at the company).
Just start applying, I think the best qualities of someone who has done a lot of freelance work is that you understand the you’re working for an end user and you can solve your own problems without guidance.
Is your CV updated and showcases relevant skills? Thats gonna be key since you've been freelancing. Reach out to recruiters and/or ask for referrals.
if you’ve never worked from within a big company before, i’d highly recommend you start as senior and work your way up to staff. the staff role is extremely ambiguous and yet carries a lot of responsibility. it’ll be hard to know what to do, what relationships to pursue, etc if you’ve never worked in that kind of environment before. imho, i think you’d be setting yourself up for failure if you went straight for staff while working towards it from a senior position will teach you your knowledge gaps.
I appreciate your feedback and your suggestion completely makes sense.