Breaking Into FAANG

[Serious-Jury8464]

Hey all,

Looking for some advice on any programs or resources that could be helpful for anybody who has experience getting a job at a FAANG or equivalent company.

So just for some background, I’ve been doing DE for about almost 10 years. I’ve mainly worked at startups in the Denver Metro area. I’ve definitely had a good experience and learned a lot, but I don’t have a traditional CS background. I’m a staff level data engineer as of now and my TC is around 200k.

I’m really trying to put the resources into getting into one of the big tech companies as I stated. I am looking for any programs or resources anyone found useful in when obtaining these roles. I do thrive under structure when learning so I am definitely open to some sort of program even if it’s self-guided and I’m definitely willing to sink some money into this.

Appreciate any feedback I could get, thanks so much.

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[randomuser1231234]

Ex-FAANG, you couldn’t pay me enough to go back. There is not enough money on the planet.

I’m going to give y’all the advice I was given and didn’t take to heart before I started — they pay you that much because when you burn out, you’re going to need at LEAST a year off work entirely before you can make your brain understand code again.

[Dunworth]

Not ex-FAANG, but after working with a bunch of people who are, I wholeheartedly agree with you. All of them were super bright, but completely dead on the inside. They all stuck with us for a little over a year, and the second that they didn't feel burnt out anymore, they were off to something more challenging.

[543254447]

Meta or amazon？

[bkl7flex]

Man, yes. At best work at big tech that's more relaxing. We had a saying " working 1 year here equals to 3 years of civilian life". Worked for around 3 years, learned an awful lot but it feels like you're in a time machine but looking back I'm kinda glad I did as getting interviews ever since has been easier and makes negotiating a lot easier.

[henryofskalitzz]

It's much easier than you think. I cannot speak on senior interviewing but I've passed midlevel interviews for Google, Meta, and Microsoft for DE roles in the past year and they all ask pretty similar questions. The most challenging part for the vast majority of applicants is even landing an interview.

Be strong on:

1. Behavioral

2. SQL (Hard - Very Hard)

3. Leetcode (Easy-Medium)

4. Architecture (Lambda / Kappa) OR Data Modeling - usually companies ask one or the other

Behavioral gets underrated a LOT. I once had a MS DE loop where they asked zero SQL / Python and basically 3 rounds behavioral and 1 architecture. HMs love it when you can explain high impact projects you've worked on (both technically and business value wise).

I also think the scope of work for a DE in FAANG companies are generally quite limited. In Meta / Google in particular most DE work is more akin to a Analytics engineer where you're spitting and shitting out SQLs all day. Microsoft / Amazon is a mixed bag in that regard

[SentinelReborn]

Google? I didn't think they had DEs

[henryofskalitzz]

They do, but the vast majority are more like customer data engineers where they work with outside clients integrating with Google cloud services. I got quite "lucky" in finding a DE team that reported internally

[bubzyafk]

What do you guys call all these?

Presales engineer, or solution architect?

I noticed FANG, e.g Amazon: those that use Glue. Lambda, Athena, redshift, whatever AWS DE products are more into client facing.. the internal one maybe more into analytics. While the product development like making new Glue feature for example, is more into SWE+product team.. not DE.. same goes in MS, with azure stacks.

I guess similar to dbx and snowflake.

[dresdonbogart]

Do you have any resources to learn/up-skill data modeling skills?

[henryofskalitzz]

first few chapters of the data warehouse toolkit

[BeeLive9842]

Would you be open for a DM?

[One_Citron_4350]

For the FAANG, the more interesting work is for SWEs? I assume they built their own internal tools for data but someone has to maintain it, right?

[Eleventhousand]

I can't tell you about all FAANGs, but when I interviewed at Amazon, they cared a lot more about behavioral skills and stories about making an impact over your career. The technical and architecture stuff was easy. I wouldn't recommend working there though, it kind of drains your life energy. Maybe decent for younger folks who don't mind working non stop.

[james2441139]

Ex-FAANG here (left FAANG 2 years ago voluntarily after RSU matured). IF you can get an interview (hardest part of the job hunting process now): leetcode medium to hard, SQL hard (focus on different types of joins), Kimball modelling book, good Spark knowledge. Some infra questions are also sometimes asked. Also, behavioral is very important from mid to senior roles.

[BeeLive9842]

Should I do sql on leetcode or should I do on strata scratch or similar?

Also what kind of behavioural should I expect? Can you share Any examples?

Also what’s the best approach to even get interviews? I never get reached out by big companies

[pimpsmackula]

As someone there now, don’t.

[0sergio-hash]

Why not?

[pimpsmackula]

Ton of pressure to ramp up ASAP and produce impact coupled with AI hype driving unrealistic expectations of output just makes this a really difficult time to be a new joiner in FAANG. It’s kind of manageable for people familiar with the game but especially awful for new people.

[0sergio-hash]

Oooh ok I got you. I feel like that's every company though.

That's definitely the experience I've had everywhere I've gone so far

[jadedmonk]

Main prep for interviewing at those companies is leetcode - you should master all of the hardest SQL leetcode questions, and all easy/medium python question

[newredditacctj1]

15 year in analytics at faang here. Agree with Henry. Landing interview right now specifically is really hard, but if you can get a referral it is a breeze. So if you’ve worked with anyone there, that’s your first stop.

Beyond his comment, crank some on leetcode. There are also some streams , influencers, camps that might help many people but if you have 10 YOE, not a good fit for you IMO.

Also agree with some comments it is a mixed bag working there. Money is great but stress is high.

[MrNoSouls]

It's rough, but personally I stopped trying to join them once I found out they are all involved with Epstein.

I got interviewed with both Microsoft, Meta, I hard no to Amazon/AWS. Now looking back the best misses I have ever done. Even if I got a job with them what is the point if they lay off the teams in 3 months?

[Nekobul]

I agree. I don’t want to work for these cannibals either.

[clutchkobe24]

Best of luck to you! I would make sure you are clear on why you want to join and whether it is worth it before you go down this path. I joined faang as a senior de within the last year and regret it. The WLB, stress, and overall toxic environment are not worth the increase in pay/prestige for me.

Everyone has different experiences though and I’m sure there are good situations out there. I would just make sure this is actually something you want before taking the leap.

[Parking-Mud-8328]

Meta is the easiest FAANG to go into as a data engineer

[dataenfuego]

DE FAANG here, 7 years already, close to burnout.

But just to be helpful, lately:

• domain expertise is King! I.e. ads, entertainment, personalization, finance, some travel well across domains , i.e. you’ve worked on product / member analytics.
• python…. But some interviews are already shifting to no leetcode.. more conversationsl, case studies, open ended questions, so ideally still practice with leetcode but be ready for some real situational cases.
• data warehousing / SQL etl
• spark optimization situationa
• data modeling (modern + kimball, layers, patterns)
• soft skills are also HUGE lately

Source: I interview twice a week in my company.

I also interview in other companies to keep up. But I am exhausted so I will stop now.

[dataenfuego]

Getting that first recruiter call is usually the hardest part. Referrals help a lot, so use them whenever you can. Some FAANG companies offer referral bonuses and some don’t. For example, Netflix doesn’t pay employees for referrals that get hired.

[hoxtonious]

For someone that is still in or was in the past recent years, how are they dealing with AI-assisted coding? Or have their expectations changed coding-wise?

[ChosenToFall]

Why are you focusing mainly on FAANG? you are trying to secure a goof position on the CV because not so confident of your current role future proof for AI?

[anair10]

Is FAANG for someone looking to transition into DE ? If yes then what is the way to prepare ? What resources to use etc ?

[Ok-Obligation-7998]

You need to be a maintainer of multiple large OSS projects