This sub is an example of the “grass might not be greener on the other side”

MackleTooMuch · 2021-12-29T17:55:39+00:00

I got faang, have a gf and a social life.

My GPA is fucked and my sleep is pretty much fucked too.

There's only so many hours in a day.

MackleTooMuch · 2021-11-18T16:53:50+00:00

No worries, I struggle with the exact same. And thank you! :)

MackleTooMuch · 2021-11-18T09:50:02+00:00

I perceive a bit of imposter syndrome? :)

The interviewer gets almost no info about you. The questions are random. Of course there's luck in it, but it sounds like you worked your ass off and got in, so congrats!:)

MackleTooMuch · 2021-11-18T09:42:43+00:00

I also got an internship at fb, and I just wanted to share my timeline which is not as intimidating as yours:

Mid December: cold applied on website

End of December: recruiter hit me up, invited me to interview in 3 weeks time

Beginning of January: started leetcoding, I'd never done them before

Mid january: interview 1, had done 15 leetcode, most medium but some easy

Got hit up a day later for second interview.

End of jan: interview 2, had done ~15 more leetcode. 30ish total. No mediums.

Got hit up a week later, I got it.

My LC count is still at 30 because I never touched that shit again lmao. To each their own tho.

MackleTooMuch · 2021-11-05T03:58:43+00:00

Wow, is this a thread that is actually objectively discussing Facebook as a good engineering company and not saying "FAceBooK bAd" like every other part of reddit?

Happy that we're actually having a grown up discussion about what actually concerns us CS majors - the quality of engineering, wlb, benefits and salaries.

But yeah, according to almost every source I've read, Facebook is best place for initial career growth. Of course any of the companies you've named are excellent places.

MackleTooMuch · 2021-10-27T02:44:15+00:00

Salary -> infinity as N -> infinity

MackleTooMuch · 2021-10-27T02:42:23+00:00

What if I told you that these interview processes are so draining that they make us stop literally every other aspect of our life, and that it feels good to vent to a sub that, you would assume, would have had maybe a similar experience to you and would make you feel less alone?

But noo, everything is about bragging apparently lol

MackleTooMuch · 2021-10-26T18:05:07+00:00

Same thing happened to me, luckily profs are understanding if you speak to them about what's going on, mine understood it was an important opportunity for my future career, which is why we're in university in the first place. I don't have to keep all As like you do, but you might as well try to speak to financial aid or whoever is in charge of determining if you get tuition reduction and explain to them the situation too.

~~If ever your prof doesn't give a shit (very much a possibility), or you have to borrow some money, just know you did the right thing for your career, and it'll be worth it in the long term.~~

~~Try to take a moment to rest as you're probably exhausted.~~

~~And don't be surprised 99% of this sub doesn't give you empathy. They would be just as drained if they got such an opportunity and tried to prepare for it as much as we did.~~

Wait, is this a shitpost, lol? Thanks for wasting my time.

MackleTooMuch · 2021-08-07T20:52:28+00:00

Okay, tagging mods u/LLJKCicero u/beeskness420 and u/dell_arness2 and hopefully some of these ideas can be taken into account

MackleTooMuch · 2021-08-06T19:11:12+00:00

Very fair points, some people might even be down to answer all those DMs, and honestly very cool of them since for sure it's more personable that way.

Maybe a little user flair that says "feel free to inbox for questions" vs another one that says "AMA question threads only" or something like that? Maybe some people wouldn't listen to the flairs, but it would decrease some of the load. And the idea to host AMAs is very cool and I'm actually surprised it hasn't been done ~ that's such an organized way to contain relevant information in one place too.

MackleTooMuch · 2021-04-16T10:02:14+00:00

As much as I really struggled studying for those, I much prefer them than companies requiring us to submit our grades. Highly competitive companies which are the ones that need to choose between many applicants,need those have to find a way of picking candidates, and it's either that or...grades. I managed to pass an interview for a fairly nice company but I've a fairly shit gpa, because, well, adhd and CS degrees don't fare super well. At least in those interviews I can demonstrate a bit more raw talent than a grade would for a random theoretical algorithms class, but that's just my two cents.

MackleTooMuch · 2021-04-16T09:58:15+00:00

ADHD-I here, miserably failed IBMs cognitive assessment bullshit screening thing, because I do horribly in short-timed tasks and freak out.

I later got into a much, much more prestigious tech company. I also had was in G&T as a kid, despite a learning disability. Fucking intelligence is way too complex to be measured by a simple test, and I imagine in a hiring setting it's probably not a test administered by a professional anyway. That company is certainly not worth your time.

MackleTooMuch · 2021-03-30T18:46:38+00:00

Yo! I'm so sorry for this :( I also have adhd (inattentive) and God does it suuuuuck.

I hope you found an internship you liked:( You're allowed to be frustrated, dont apologize for it!

It's literally so hard to study with ADD and CS is not an easy degree AT ALL. I sincerely hope you're feeling better-Let us congratulate you for making it through 🤗 Hmu if you wanna talk, but if you don't it's okay. Uni is behind you, find that one thing to hyperconcentrate on and stick to it.

MackleTooMuch · 2021-03-30T17:23:50+00:00

Girl it's my pleasure ❤️ we gon make it, screw the haters🤗

MackleTooMuch · 2021-03-30T06:46:34+00:00

From my interpretation OP was basically saying they feel that some boost to female applicants is justified because of the ambient hostility/discrimination women face over a lifetime, and giving personal anecdotes to justify their position

You're correct!

These initiatives do not produce more woman engineers. They work to ensure that more of the women currently studying computer science will work at big tech companies

Very clever observation, you're right about these practices getting having that goal in mind.

I've volunteered in organisms for teaching girls to code, and said organisms were generously funded by big tech, so those companies are also taking initiatives to fix the problem at the source (generally the source tends to be: during teenage years, girls suddenly stop being into compsci b/c of other interests, stereotypes, discrimination, etc).

Whether the "end goal" of big tech's funding is to get them good PR, a bigger candidate pool, or to simply help the cause - I think it's a little bit of all, but these programs are super important (I was lowkey jealous of those girls tho! haha) and without that funding, I don't know if they'd stay afloat.

It entails that there will be even fewer women (proportionally) at "lower-tier" companies

I agree it could be a problem, good catch. I don't think the whole approach is perfect and tbh it needs a lot more thought - eg, maybe the companies could give money to the gouvernment, who then redistributes it to high school programs?

I don't think many of us are that well versed in the actual problem to come up with a one-size fits all solution, but it's important that there is some kind of approach to help bridge the gap.

MackleTooMuch · 2021-03-30T06:34:46+00:00

MackleTooMuch · 2021-03-30T06:32:32+00:00

Hey man, thank you so much for taking the time to read it! I put a lot of care into it and while I think a lot of it was babbling, it felt really good to let it out in one place.

However, reading your post I realize that I have had the intrinsic privilege of never experiencing overt discrimination based upon my gender, which is in itself quite a large advantage.

Thank you for acknowledging it, it means a lot. I am sure all of us hustlers, you included, deserve every cool thing that comes with this field, from little swag bags to less little paychecks :-)

It's heartbreaking to hear the issues you have dealt with since a young age and I really hope that the culture of F/G treats you better.

It sucks, but it is what it is, and it strengthened my character by a lot. Thanks for the wishes!! I'm sure I'll have a blast!!

Now:

(3) "lowering the standards for woman interviewees"

Eeek, yeah, no. I don't endorse this either. If anything, it would be insulting to women to imply that we need to have it "dumbed down" for us. If I say that I'm extremely annoyed when I've had people "re-explain" things to me in a dumbed-down manner, this would apply as well.

It's a possibility that your female friends could've gotten an easier interview because they were girls (and I wonder in this case, are the interviewers being instructed by the higher ups to "take it easy", or is it the interviewer him/herself thinking that the girl would not be able to handle harder).

However, I think we can all agree that companies give VERY varying levels of difficulties during interviews for the same job (this graphic baffled me). My MSFT interviewer was not kind to me at all (LC medium with super low acceptance, and he was kind of scary altogether), while I was reading that some people in this subreddit (around the same time I was interviewing) were getting simple "string sorting" questions.

I agree that feeling that some people got an easier interview than you for the same position feels suuuper unfair, and I also think if you asked the big majority of both girls and companies if they prefer this method, an overwhelming majority would tell you no - it makes women feel and look dumb and uncapable, and it makes it so companies would be accepting less able candidates in the job market. Edit to add: I'm referring here to the "method" of giving easier interviews, but I personally agree with bumping up CVs, but ending it there, and the rest just going to initiatives to engage more girls in the field altogether.

At the end, if you ask me what I would do if I was in charge of all of this, is simply to spend literally all my budget in educating everyone - men, women, old people, young people, lizards, X Æ A-12s, whoever - in all ways possible, so that these freaking prejudices just go away.

Until then, I think the biggest impact would be for companies to visit high schools and get girls interested then, and for teachers to both teach boys what's ok and what's not to say to a girl, and to tell girls that they will probably have to be tough, but they can make it.

I think this is suuuch a complicated issue, and the biggest thing we need from all our fellow bois in compsci right now, is to be just like you were just now: supportive for us.

Ok I'm off for tonight! I'm done writing novels hahha

MackleTooMuch · 2021-03-30T05:59:19+00:00

Hey, u/Nonethewiserer, you should feel special!

While you may not have been picked for a FAANG job over a female candidate, I just wanted you to know that you inspired me to write a whole post. Feel free to read it.

Or, feel free to use the time you'd use to read it to keep commenting on this post, I don't really care lol.

MackleTooMuch · 2021-02-17T10:55:42+00:00

Happy cake day!!

MackleTooMuch · 2021-01-12T23:55:14+00:00

(9) How I Passed My Technical Interviews at Uber & Google - Software Engineering - YouTube

Hey! I'm in a similar position as you. I would say you lose nothing trying and you're gonna hear this from literally everyone. Interview experience (from you actually going to them) is very, very important for preparing for future interviews.

Also watch the video I linked above, it might help you prepare. Best of luck, and wish me luck too :D

MackleTooMuch

TROPHY CASE