Ask HN: Advice for a Senior Front End Developer Aspiring to Join FAANG

4 points by 2bor-2n 2 years ago | 8 comments

I'm a senior frontend developer with 8+ years of experience, currently working for a consulting company. I moved to the Netherlands two years ago and now aspire to join a FAANG company. While I am proficient in React, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, I don't feel entirely confident in my skillset for big tech companies.

I would appreciate advice on the types of applications or projects I should build to improve my skills and make my GitHub portfolio more appealing to FAANG recruiters. What projects would demonstrate my capabilities and align with what these companies are looking for?

daviddever23box 2 years ago |

Oddly enough, the fact that you want to work for a FAANG company might make you less attractive as a candidate, though don't let that dissuade you from applying.

Secondly, front-end development from a pure programming perspective is less stable (with the rise of AI-assisted development) than the ability to communicate with stakeholders; you may have a superpower that you are in fact under-selling.

Open-source projects are probably your best opportunity to demonstrate your skillset, with NDA-free client projects your second-best opportunity.

ActorNightly 2 years ago | |

> the fact that you want to work for a FAANG company might make you less attractive as a candidate

FAANG has the funds to screen a lot and deny a lot of candidates. That is extremely valuable in the industry.

seattle_spring 2 years ago | |

Less attractive to whom?

ActorNightly 2 years ago |

FAANG is pretty easy to get into as long as you do the following

* Grind out leetcode medium and can do those well

* Know your way around some fundamentals - i.e if you understand how React works under the hood and can code in raw Javascript for some advanced features, you will be fine

* Have industry experience where you demonstrate self motivation to solve problems, or show off your personal projects that actually get use.

I used to work at Amazon, and have 200+ interviews under my belt. The three most common causes for non inclined decisions are

- inability to reason through coding problems. Most of the time, getting stuck is really not even a big issue, the bigger issue is if I give you a hint, and you are unable to comprehend what is being said and then reason through it to arrive a at a solution

- experience falls into "I show up to work, do what Im told, go home". I.e no critical thinking being demonstrated

- any of the tech that you talk about is very superficial. For example, following common practices for training ML models with pytorch isn't you having knowledge of ML.

cebert 2 years ago |

Why do you want to work for a FAANG company?

2bor-2n 2 years ago | |

Better compensation, tech focused company better tech stack (that's debatable) & highest work impact

ngokevin 2 years ago | | |

Work impact is debatable as well. Often, you're fully replaceable, you're a minuscule cog, your work never sees the light of day. And if it does, it's fiddling a knob, or may not have a positive impact on the world, depending on your worldview. Can't argue if that it's good if you're looking to pump net worth though.

Anyways, for FAANG, it's just gaming the interview process. Your experience and skills won't matter as much as getting through their demeaning LeetCode gauntlet.