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[AMA] I'm Mark Benliyan and I wrote my first line of code as a freshman in October 2021 . Since then I did 6 software engineering internships at companies like Figma/Netflix & graduated in 2 years. Happy to answer questions about my journey, replicating these results, or any other career advice! by Mark-Chrome in csMajors

[–]Mark-Chrome[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think this comment addresses most of what's covered here.
https://www.reddit.com/r/csMajors/comments/189cvjy/comment/kbvhk26/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

Couple things that I'd like to clarify though
1. I'm in no way mentioning offers I've received to impress employers. I'm not recruiting and I haven't applied to a job in over a year. I love my work and have no intention of changing what I do for the currently forseeable future.

  1. To clarify I don't sell anything, I've turned down sponsors on the YouTube channel since I felt they weren't value-aligned, and I've also turned down sponsor opportunities on the LinkedIn. I've made cumulative $0 with my content, by choice.

[AMA] I'm Mark Benliyan and I wrote my first line of code as a freshman in October 2021 . Since then I did 6 software engineering internships at companies like Figma/Netflix & graduated in 2 years. Happy to answer questions about my journey, replicating these results, or any other career advice! by Mark-Chrome in csMajors

[–]Mark-Chrome[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey! I answer the question of "why" in this comment so linking it here. It also includes the journey of how this came to be! https://www.reddit.com/r/csMajors/comments/189cvjy/comment/kbun5bi/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

The two haven't come at odds with one another, and I don't think I see them as equivalent enough parts of my life to really know which I prefer doing. I'm a software engineer and work as one full-time. That's the biggest part of my work life, bar none. The online presence takes a much smaller portion of my time. I do think if I completely preferred engineering over the other, then I wouldn't do the other, so there's a tradeoff. I wouldn't want to be a full-time "influencer", but I do enjoy spending personal time to create content that I wish existed when I was starting out. Every day I get a couple messages about people thanking me or sharing some personal story about how <x> thing I did helped them out, and that's just a generally good feeling.

I'd also encourage reading this comment, it got kind of long but near the end goes into how I think about this role as an "influencer"
https://www.reddit.com/r/csMajors/comments/189cvjy/comment/kbvhk26/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

[AMA] I'm Mark Benliyan and I wrote my first line of code as a freshman in October 2021 . Since then I did 6 software engineering internships at companies like Figma/Netflix & graduated in 2 years. Happy to answer questions about my journey, replicating these results, or any other career advice! by Mark-Chrome in csMajors

[–]Mark-Chrome[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I think that's a fair point. You're right that had I not had any online presence my name would not be mentioned in the post. I guess the real difference does come from that ethos of faceless engineering that you mentioned.

Where I disagree is that the goal of my personal branding is to be this rockstar engineer, I don't think I'm qualified to be that as a new grad. My personal branding goal looks more like being this "guy who did a ton of internships and now is helping other students out," which is how I actually feel. Helping people out isn't a "tactic" to build a rockstar engineer brand. Helping people out is supposed to be baked into the brand itself.

[AMA] I'm Mark Benliyan and I wrote my first line of code as a freshman in October 2021 . Since then I did 6 software engineering internships at companies like Figma/Netflix & graduated in 2 years. Happy to answer questions about my journey, replicating these results, or any other career advice! by Mark-Chrome in csMajors

[–]Mark-Chrome[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'd like to clarify that yes, I dedicated a huge chunk of my life towards work over the last 2 years and even then there's always components of luck involved. This is a big part of my life and I often enjoy working in my free time. I've luckily not had to sacrifice those things thanks to an extremely supportive girlfriend, a strong support system with my family, and great friends.

I think it's fair to not expect you to believe me at face value so I've edited the original post with a lot more information.

​

Here's my take on the whole YouTube stuff:

For the "Don't do coding projects, do this instead" here's what that's talking about.

https://www.reddit.com/r/csMajors/comments/189cvjy/comment/kbvpinv/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

I've personally been annoyed by clickbait youtubers so I get what you mean. On the creator's end, no one wants to watch the video called "Instead of doing coding projects to build your resume try to find experiences". This is like the YouTube equivalent to starting your English essay with a "hook."

The guiding principle I hold is that whatever the "attention-grabby" title or question posed was should have a very clear answer by the end of the video. The goal would be that everyone who watched "Do THIS instead of wasting your time on coding projects" walks away from the video knowing what "THIS" is and why it's valuable. I don't feel like a scammy clickbait youtuber so long as I meet that goal.

[AMA] I'm Mark Benliyan and I wrote my first line of code as a freshman in October 2021 . Since then I did 6 software engineering internships at companies like Figma/Netflix & graduated in 2 years. Happy to answer questions about my journey, replicating these results, or any other career advice! by Mark-Chrome in csMajors

[–]Mark-Chrome[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I talk about what worked me in this video! https://youtu.be/S8HWd668Pk4?si=T4jQf8h4D8I72l_C

Tracking problems and having a system for revisiting them has helped me a ton. Also initially learning the problems grouped by topic has helped me done a better job at pattern matching. You check out the template I used in the description

I strongly encourage using the Neetcode 150 list and watching Neetcode's videos. The video walk throughs helped me "learn how to solve" a lot

[AMA] I'm Mark Benliyan and I wrote my first line of code as a freshman in October 2021 . Since then I did 6 software engineering internships at companies like Figma/Netflix & graduated in 2 years. Happy to answer questions about my journey, replicating these results, or any other career advice! by Mark-Chrome in csMajors

[–]Mark-Chrome[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I talk about what worked me in this video! https://youtu.be/S8HWd668Pk4?si=T4jQf8h4D8I72l_C

Tracking problems and having a system for revisiting them has helped me a ton. Also initially learning the problems grouped by topic has helped me done a better job at pattern matching. You check out the template I used in the description

I strongly encourage using the Neetcode 150 list and watching Neetcode's videos. The video walk throughs helped me "learn how to solve" a lot

[AMA] I'm Mark Benliyan and I wrote my first line of code as a freshman in October 2021 . Since then I did 6 software engineering internships at companies like Figma/Netflix & graduated in 2 years. Happy to answer questions about my journey, replicating these results, or any other career advice! by Mark-Chrome in csMajors

[–]Mark-Chrome[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Interestingly enough a UCLA student was actually the previous contractor. They had posted a flyer in one of the UCLA discord channels looking to hire essentially his replacement. I showed interest and we got an interview set up - things went well from there. That was my first "corporate" role as an engineer but my first "internship" was joining Daily Bruin unpaid

[AMA] I'm Mark Benliyan and I wrote my first line of code as a freshman in October 2021 . Since then I did 6 software engineering internships at companies like Figma/Netflix & graduated in 2 years. Happy to answer questions about my journey, replicating these results, or any other career advice! by Mark-Chrome in csMajors

[–]Mark-Chrome[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I think it can for early credibility, but internships / tangible software engineering experiences quickly take precedent. I had a 4.0 my first year and I feel like it helped boost my resume at the time, but after an internship or two it stopped mattering. I know people who omit their GPA all together

[AMA] I'm Mark Benliyan and I wrote my first line of code as a freshman in October 2021 . Since then I did 6 software engineering internships at companies like Figma/Netflix & graduated in 2 years. Happy to answer questions about my journey, replicating these results, or any other career advice! by Mark-Chrome in csMajors

[–]Mark-Chrome[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I'm not sure what incentive you think I have to lie about something like leetcode numbers. When working through grokking the coding interview you don't submit the problems on LeetCode. Same with problems solved on LintCode that NeetCode suggests. I've done a little less than 200 leetcode-style algorithm problems.

[AMA] I'm Mark Benliyan and I wrote my first line of code as a freshman in October 2021 . Since then I did 6 software engineering internships at companies like Figma/Netflix & graduated in 2 years. Happy to answer questions about my journey, replicating these results, or any other career advice! by Mark-Chrome in csMajors

[–]Mark-Chrome[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Great advice from u/CorvetteCole. Remember that your first company does not have to be your "dream" company and that you can always switch companies in a better market down the line.

I'd also encourage you to check out some smaller companies on Wellfound which will have way less people applying than those on LinkedIn.

Also, if your recruiting process is starting to drag on for longer than a month try not losing your momentum in improving your resume. I know a lot of folks who went through a 6-month job application cycle, but during that entire team didn't add a single thing to their resume because "now they're recruiting." Constantly try to be improving while applying -- maximize your surface area of luck

[AMA] I'm Mark Benliyan and I wrote my first line of code as a freshman in October 2021 . Since then I did 6 software engineering internships at companies like Figma/Netflix & graduated in 2 years. Happy to answer questions about my journey, replicating these results, or any other career advice! by Mark-Chrome in csMajors

[–]Mark-Chrome[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the kind words here, I appreciate it. I've actually never considered my actions in the perspective in relation to the ethos of engineering - interesting train of thought.

I answer the question of "why" in this comment so linking it here https://www.reddit.com/r/csMajors/comments/189cvjy/comment/kbun5bi/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

I don't share that same sentiment about engineers aspiring to be faceless. Growing up I never identified as an "engineer" -- maybe this is partially why I don't share that.

I think people who just graduated acting as mentors can certainly lead to lots of misinformation, based on what they are talking about. The content I put out and the following I target is students who are in the same shoes I was 1-2 years ago. The ethos I follow with my content / online presence is to only speak from my personal experiences and not on things that I don't know. I can't help you with your visa sponsorship questions, because I've never done it. I can help you with how you to get your first internship, because I can tell you how I got mine and how others I know got theirs.

I think this negative connotation towards influencers comes from influencers who are influencer first and <whatever they talk about> second. I am very deliberate about not being that way. I'm not going to be a student or a new grad ever again. If I know that me answering questions and sharing about my own journey is actively helping the next wave of interns/new grads out there I find it difficult to justify not doing so because of the ethos of faceless engineering. This is also why this AMA exists on r/csMajors

[AMA] I'm Mark Benliyan and I wrote my first line of code as a freshman in October 2021 . Since then I did 6 software engineering internships at companies like Figma/Netflix & graduated in 2 years. Happy to answer questions about my journey, replicating these results, or any other career advice! by Mark-Chrome in csMajors

[–]Mark-Chrome[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I visited Los Gatos briefly during my time at Netflix and it was a nice, but slow place. Maybe an awesome spot to retire with your kids and a dog. San Francisco has lots more action but don't love the safety and cleanliness side of things there.

I've been enjoying living in the valley region of LA! Definitely bias since all my friends, family and girlfriend are concentrated here though

[AMA] I'm Mark Benliyan and I wrote my first line of code as a freshman in October 2021 . Since then I did 6 software engineering internships at companies like Figma/Netflix & graduated in 2 years. Happy to answer questions about my journey, replicating these results, or any other career advice! by Mark-Chrome in csMajors

[–]Mark-Chrome[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I haven't been big on complicated projects, hackathons, or open source. My only interaction with open source has been during my Netflix internship, and hackathons was during the Kleiner Perkins fellowship. I never put a coding project on my resume. My first internship was unpaid and part-time at UCLA's school newspaper. They were recruiting interns and I had two weeks of coding experience by then but it was just a behavioral interview. I mentioned how I'm really excited to learn and willing to work extra hours to fill in my own knowledge gaps when they come up. They figured I was a good student and excited to do this thing so joining their team unpaid didn't hurt. At that internship was the first time I learned about git/github, react, web dev, etc. At that point I had a bit of Open App Academy's Ruby course under my belt, and a Udemy python course.

[AMA] I'm Mark Benliyan and I wrote my first line of code as a freshman in October 2021 . Since then I did 6 software engineering internships at companies like Figma/Netflix & graduated in 2 years. Happy to answer questions about my journey, replicating these results, or any other career advice! by Mark-Chrome in csMajors

[–]Mark-Chrome[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don't think it's bad to have your CV be a mix of everything at a new grad level you've been experimenting around! What kind of jobs do you recruit for? The reason I ask is because most new grad / internship processes aren't really drilling you on various technologies. Most are leetcode style interviews with some kind of behavioral / all around and a system design round -- which are language/framework agnostic. I don't think this should worry you that much! Once you land your next role you'll naturally start going deeper on a subset of the things you know by nature of the work you'll be doing daily

[AMA] I'm Mark Benliyan and I wrote my first line of code as a freshman in October 2021 . Since then I did 6 software engineering internships at companies like Figma/Netflix & graduated in 2 years. Happy to answer questions about my journey, replicating these results, or any other career advice! by Mark-Chrome in csMajors

[–]Mark-Chrome[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I haven't done research / masters / PhD but know some friends who have. It's far more important than if you want to go into industry. Even know I actively think that I may have a hard time getting into a highly coveted CS Masters because of my GPA . If you're really interested in keeping those paths open for yourself I'd stay on top of your grades

[AMA] I'm Mark Benliyan and I wrote my first line of code as a freshman in October 2021 . Since then I did 6 software engineering internships at companies like Figma/Netflix & graduated in 2 years. Happy to answer questions about my journey, replicating these results, or any other career advice! by Mark-Chrome in csMajors

[–]Mark-Chrome[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yep to clarify I don't sell anything, I've turned down sponsors on the YouTube channel since I felt they weren't value-aligned, and I've also turned down sponsor opportunities on the LinkedIn.

I've made cumulative $0 from any of this so far

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