This is common in literally every industry, it's not unique to tech or FANG. Finance, art, sports, fitness, etc etc etc, it's usually more profitable to teach for 99% of people.
Just to clarify, even computer science students aren't fully prepared to pass coding interviews either. Many times, the classes that teach us these things throw a lot of information at us at once which we only memorize to pass the final exam. It can be advantageous since we have to learn these things to graduate, but we still need to study and use online resources to pass technical interviews as well. Don't think that not having a CS degree puts you at a huge disadvantage, we all struggle with these interviews.
Yes, I agree with this. What they teach is not enough to prepare for coding interviews as there are many different scenarios and requirements that companies require
You are right but here 'computer science students' means bachelor students. My Master of Software Engineering program has a ''specialised programming' course planned in the first semester, which asked you to solve 3 algorithmic questions (1 easy, 1 medium and 1 hard) from TopCoder at class every week. It is time-limited and you have to finish them yourself. The fun fact is 60% of students failed the course, although they already had a degree in bachelor of CS before entering the Master program.
God I hate that add. And the one that starts out “you know what the scariest thing in the world is?... not knowing how to reverse an ordered list” Ugh I hate it!
Some get satisfaction from pushing their careers to high paying jobs working for tech giants, others from sitting in their room playing video games enjoying their work life balance. It's a personal thing.
@@jamesevans2507 Not just playing video games, spending quality time with loved ones, friends and playing sports or exercising, in my opinion, makes work-life balance great. But you mentioned right depends from person to person.
I worked at a company named "Tek Expert", which is a representation of Microsoft in Vietnam, and the working hours was just......so hard to describe. Eventually i got out of the company, so that i could have some breath.
@@swapnilkuwar7040 man we're not talking about winning money in lottery or something.We are talking about earning money by working hard and if u can have time and can manage the work life balance then i hope u enjoy with that money 👍🏻
Working in a FANG company for about a year or two must be beneficial though. Exploring what's going on there, enjoying some perks (if they actually exists) and finally adding the company to your resumé :)
Yes. If one gets the chance, he/she must experience being in FAANG, for however much short of time. Maybe they actually like it and continue. Or if they don't, they can obviously leave and gain that experience.
Being rich is not having a large salary, but rather how much of your salary you have left over each month (after all expenditure) to spend on having fun without worrying about the cost of having fun.
The only thing I’ll disagree with is saying that algorithms and data structures are not important. They might not be the best interview questions to judge someone’s overall ability, but they are very important when it comes to building large software. At the scale of FAANG companies, writing an algo that runs at O(log(n)) instead of O(n) could easily decide whether a feature is feasible or not.
@@arielbatista7ify yea but you can learn everything while on the job. it's not wrong to want to test if a candidate knows how to write efficient algorithms.
As a developer who works at a FAANG company I respectfully disagree. I've worked at small to mid-sized companies as a developer and the stress is higher and the pay is lower. That's just my experience and I'm not saying it can't be different for anyone else.
I'm not working for any FAANGS but I did join a big international bank and while the workload is infinitely smaller, it feels like working at the cognitohazard factory. Everyone is a massive cunt looking to either one-up you or leave you to dry for no reason whatsoever, I can't imagine it's that different on that regard.
What does smaller company mean? Facebook has almost 80k employees, A lot of companies are smaller when compare to them. Nonetheless, Snap/box/instacart for example pay just as much with an equal or better wlb while also being much smaller in size
Software development has been in transition in the last 10 years, from literally coding to system integration. You spend more time in using a framework or library then actually "thinking". For almost each algorithm/data structures problem you face, there are already tons of libraries that you can use. 20 years ago, you spend 80% of your time thinking of how to achieve things, today, you spend 80% of your time reading and searching tutorial, stackoverflow, copy and paste, modifying them, and find out why certain dependencies do not work with later or prior version of other dependencies. As such, FANG's method of interviewing candidates are actually only relevant to those who live 20 years ago or before. Modern interviewing system should be based on take home tests and a challenge to build a system.
Old dog here. I was in IT before there was a FAANG and I also wanted a tech job in a larger company because I thought it would prove I made it. I got my wish and got a tech job at at a Fortune 50 company. It paid well but at a HUGE personal price. It sucked. I left but I stayed way too long. PS It sucked so bad that I would have been happy to feel like a cog. I felt dead.
FANG need to know if you are able to study a lot of documentation. If you show your capacity for study, they'll contract you, because they need people who read a lot of documents only to change a CSS property in youtube module.
I absolutely loathe any kind of company that likes to brag about them having ping pong tables, snooker, videogames, whatever. I don't need that. As you said, those are traps in order to keep the worker at the company as long as possible. We demand larger wages and more recognition for our work, not a puff in the main room.
Games and eateries arnen't necessarily a trap to make you stay longer. They are put in place to encourage socialization, to give you something to look forward to, and to help you relax. I disagree with what he said about giving the promotion to kid who never uses these and spends 80+ hours working. It's not what you know, it's who you know.
I worked at FAANG company with video games and ping pong tables. Nobody played the games during work hours, though occasionally there are after work games once a week. People used to occasionally play a pick up game of ping pong, until they got too many noise complaints and had to play during lunch time only or use inferior "silent" ping pong equipment. Those kind of amenities are really pointless most of the time. On the other hand, a gym with a nice shower was the best inclusion at that job. We didn't have (good) food provided or a music room like some of the others have, but I probably would have actually used those -- the latter after work hours obviously.
Data structures are less important for frontend engineers, FAANG needs to deploy features at scale and using "npm install solve-my-problem" is not really an option
It's hard to say algorithms and data structures are "useless in the real world". Algorithms are simply common ways of solving problems, and that is the job of a developer. Not as much in frontend to be fair, but like you said the majority of the work doesn't actually happen in the UI that users directly interact with.
By experience, the work-life balance whatever you call it is still better at FAANG than in a series B/C startup software company that has 50 engineers and is onboarding lots of new customers... In big corporations, you have a lot of support teams, that are all over the world they rotate this type of work... But, in terms of innovation and learning and fast-tracking to senior roles and solving big problems with more flexibility on the tech, I would recommend going with series B/C startup... By the way, location doesn't matter now everybody is remote permanently for many FAANG companies.
I've been part of startups since starting of my career, I do believe freshers must not be expected to know complex algorithms, design patterns but these two really helps somebody to be a better programmer. :)
Not all FAANG companies are the same and in my experience work life balance can be worse at companies where you make less and have fewer perks. Especially startups.
Startups can suck ass, especially if founders are idiots. Even in FAANG or non-FAANG big companies, the experience can be wildly different depending on product, team, your manager.
@David Benjamin I'm beginner too, I've been earning through investing with expert Adam it has been a huge success, in two weeks i made $15,000 with $1,000
The goal of getting a job at a big tech company is hanging long enough where it looks good on the résumé. This is why most people only stick around 1-2 years max. It turns your résumé into a golden ticket. My friends that have suffered through this have went on to way better higher paying jobs at much smaller companies.
there's another way to get into those companies and actually doing great thing. And that's by making them notice you, making cool stuff that no one dares todo and you will get noticed, participate in events and competitions, then you will get a lot of companies asking you to join them, this will be new way of recruiting. Nowadays lot of people can learn the basics of programing, Algorithms and Data structure, it's hard to create actual big projects and finishing them, you to be really passionate about what you are working, and that's what companies are looking for.
You'll still have to go through their usual interview process even if they reach you out to work for them. So at the end of the day you'll have to practice for DS & Algo just for the sake of interview .
@@codingwitharman5329 If you touch some low level programing, you will find yourself learning DS&Algo for the sake of learning them, and you will have a better understanding since you used them to solve your own problem, so it still worth it
@@mweb7344 I agree, you can build a solid knowledge of data structures and algorithms just by building some native app that does something interesting. Everyone builds websites, basic mobile apps, etc., but you can show your quality by building something more complicated and working out the logic for yourself. Something like a compiler, a symbolic math engine, or a video game requires heavy use of algorithms and data structures
Smart companies will take your public profile as proof enough of your abilities and make you an offer. Less pain for you and them *both*. But idiotic bureaucrats and cowardly corporation men will insist on the hazing.
This pretty much matches my experience. I did an internship back in 2011 and thought it was going to be amazing. What I found was a creepy almost cult-like corporate culture, very long hours, and the expectation that I'd move between London, Ireland and Switzerland at a moment's notice based on the company needs. I stuck it out for a while, before quitting and going back to do a research degree in academia instead. I've never regretted that choice.
I work for middle tier company and couldn’t be happier, I’ve learned so much as well as work with a lot of great people. Lastly, I still get to work with latest tech stacks. Rather have these things than working at FANG to debugg some project that is in maintenance mode.
Yup, interviewing at a mid-size tech company right now and the process is a "lite" version of the FAANG process: one pre-screen interview instead of the occasional two, and 3 hour on-site instead of the usual 4-6 hour with lunch. Other than that, it's basically the same deal.
I've been following you, Kyle, for 12 months since I took a web dev boot camp. It was just before I decided to quit my job at Google. This video is so bang on. My job at Google sucked. I was there for 8 years, and for some reason was okay not being happy just to say I got into FAANG.
I work at a Fortune 500 in the finance industry. Luckily I get to work on some cool stuff. But almost all of my coworkers spend much more time in meetings rather than coding. People at large companies actually actively avoid promotions to spend more time coding.
You are spot on!! Another large problem is your obsolescence. After 5 years of working at a mundane task you are now an expert in the "mundane task". You have lost sight of your dreams and you have stopped developing skills in other more important aspects of your field. ( no time after working for 12 hours )
Totally agree. I got to work for Oracle as the company I worked at for 20 years was bought by them. I very quickly became a tiny cog in an isolated office in Leeds, UK. My boss was in Sheffield, his boss was in Bolton, and the rest of my "team" was in Newport, Wales, San Francisco, California and Bangalore. Best thing they ever did was make me redundant. Now I'm Lead Developer at a mid-sized company and so much happier 🍰🎈
Your comments are sooooo true Kyle. Been in the dev/ict game for more than 25 years (yup I started off with Dos 3.11 and Borland C - no internet). FAANG companies might be the Sh-Na-Na, but making a difference is more valuable for me than having the #-tag 'I R working for x'. I personally love the hands-on go for gold feeling... Basics, KISS and the willingness to learn, thats the goal...
I like this perspective. Late last year I started to prepare for interviews with FAANG and I can honestly say I spent hours and avoided time with my kids just to try to score and get in FAANG. Learned a lot but I can agree on the use of algorithms as I have been a developer for 5-6 yrs now and I have never used an algo approach to a problem. Just saying... Honestly, I just wanted to see some FAANG on my resume, get attention, and increase my salary expectations.
Dude you are 100% right fresh out of school i moved to Malaysia, And my wife kept saying you should work at intel, bla bla bla. I said i dont wanna work for a big tech companies just because of well everything you said Instead i got a very good job at a small 15 man company that now has over 30 and i grew to be a manager. And I basically redesigned the whole thing due to shit coders and mis managment. Keep up the good videos!
@@ikrammaududi6205 good point! same. I never use my physics and chemistry since high school. We need to spend months/years solving hundreds of leetcode problems but will never use them again.
@@laustephen4382 studying isn't only about learning practical skill that you will use. It's about opening your mind to new things, new way to calculate and most of all: new way of thinking! (That's why they are putting philosophy in every cursus) All those useless stuff is helping to build transversal knowledge which in the end help you to be better at your job by having a deeper understanding of what you are doing and why you are doing it.
the trick is to work for companies like IBM. They are in almost every large city and you get paid well. Or companies like Boeing, Northup Grumman, Garmin, or Lockheed Martin. I got an internship for one of those companies the interview wasn't that hard I got paid for it then they gave me a job after I graduated. You can get paid around 80k for 1-year of experience in most if not all of these companies plus 10-15k per 1.5 years working. I think that is the root to go down if you can in your area.
Working as an IT recruiter, this has really been the biggest issue I have encountered. People fancy working big cooperation but never think logically about the down side.. all they want is to have these brands on your resume
Honestly, putting up with 2 years of FAANG can get you a lot of attention from recruiters from then on. It really is worth it to get in early on and grab the money, the clout, and what skills you can gather before heading off to a more sustainable work situation.
I've worked at google and facebook and can say with certainty that work life balance at my teams in both companies were far better than the work life balance of my college colleagues who work for small companies. And related to impact it depends on your team, as an intern at google I've made changes to the frontend of a google's webpage (super impactful) So I think the video is very biased and don't reflect the actual reality of a lot of teams at faang companies (at least the two I've got to work at)
I have started working with one of the FANG company what I hate is it’s so corporatey. What I love is you get so much time to learn. You may not work on much things but before you even started working they want to make sure you know what you are doing. But I think the rate of learning is pretty slow.
3:18 That's exactly what happened to me a few weeks ago! I'm self taught developer and I've been in this industry for more than 10 years, and honestly, no one NEVER ask me or mentioned me something about data structures or algorithms, and suddenly I found myself trying to push all this information into my brain in two weeks for a technical interview, because the company to which I was applying suggested me that in different opportunities. Finally, in the technical interview, they asked me to solve a React problem. 🤦🏽♂
I have to admit long time ago, when Google wasn't the giant it is now, I thought they were pretty cool. And they have this "don't be evil" motto, I respect them very much. They're no longer the same now. Besides all the good reasons you mentioned, I think things that bother me a lot is the censorship, lack of data protection, and patronizing attitudes those companies impose on users. Unless I don't have any other choice, I would prefer not to work for FANG. Btw, the bad thing is, many many startups are just trying to be like them, and they use ridiculous algorithm or white board tests for screening candidates too. T_T Soo....it's a bit inescapable....especially for newbies, that might be their only "shoe" in, which is to pass algo test and get their first job. You will have more to bargain later when you get more experiences working at a company.
I agree. Also, I do think senior engineers at these FAANG companies are required to pass the "fair" algo test. I can't recall how many times I've been asked a DP problem that they themselves can't solve it at a moment's notice.
Lol the people that say "i won't work for this company because i think they're evil" are so self-centered lmao a bunch of idealistic people that think that can change the world
One day I actually really wanted to work at one of the FANG’s, but few years a go I changed my mind because of all the facts you pointed in your video.
I worked in Microsoft for 2 years in my audio localization days, I rarely seen people playing the xbox machines scattered around the campus. It was a great experience though because I was contracting so no dealing with the HR bs and we had a cool audio section of the office just for us 4 audio engineers.
Thanks Kyle for your video. I am just curious what is the reason you think all these things? 1. Interviews are garbage. 2. Hard to see impact. 3. Terrible work life balance 4. The work is not fun... Have you had any previous experience working in FANG? Your video might be demotivating for people who are preparing for those coding interviews (which in my opinion is not that garbage as a lot of RUclipsrs think). I know several people who are working on cool projects at Google and Amazon and they get HUGE experience which you simple can't get working at smaller companies. Of course when you are part of something small you are much more important when you are part of Google or Facebook. You have great channel with huge number of followers and there might be many young developers who are willing to be part of FANG even if they be small part and your video might be solid reason to give up their dreams. Sorry, but I wanted to say my opinion.
@@mvdrider Everyone has their dreams. Being a great programmer is not (and has never been) a dream for me. It's a goal which I am trying to achieve for past 10 years. I can't say if I am good or not and if I achieved that goal, but working in Google for many developers is dream for many reasons and as soon as you are there you know your dream came true.
Working in fang is like having a BMW or a Merc we all knew it is just a status symbol people who buy those cars have more bad time repairing and maintaining those unreliable things they are way more miserable than guy who owns a toyota Corolla
The most important thing is to figure out who you want to be, not who you want to work for. Once you know who you want to be, who you work for becomes a trivial decision. For instance, if working at a FAANG gets you closer to who you want to be, then go for it. If working at a startup does it, then do that. If starting your business or doing your own projects does it, then do that. Most people have no idea of who they want to be and look for an employer to fill in that gap when it should be the other way around.
One of my friends is working for a company using traps like dogs and ping-pong. I think it’s not helping her much but that’s my opinion. Like you said, balance is important. Thanks for your video, Kyle!
I dont understand why you suggest that code quality control is holding people back. You will learn more from a solid code review than from any coding tutorial. The code quality control is strict since the responsibility these companies have is very high. All code written should always be considered high responsibility. Eg. The software running in a car can never fail....it can cost lives. If AWS is down it might impact a medical company doing research. Really not getting this video... If you think working for smaller companies are less stressful you have a lot to learn.
Since you can only live every minute of your life once, it doesn't make sense to stack up money earned by doing a job that you don't like, just to be able to buy the life you really want to live at a later point of time. Get a job that you can do with passion every day - it's a better recipe for long-term happiness.
I think this video is the most important for developers like me to watch I have been wanting to work for Google for years as I love their products, but now that you said that if I would get accepted there, I would've been just another cog in the system, as well as I would most likely not affect users directly - I start questioning working for such a large company So, thank you for making this video
I'm from India and despite being a very good developer, it's hard to get a job because of Data Structures and Algorithms which these companies ask but have no practical application.
Agreed, but at the same time it's not *just* development skills. If you have an assholeish personality then you likely won't work well with the others they're already paying to work for them. So they'd prefer someone with similar coding skills but with better people skills. Tho ofc some of the best programmers are exactly the people who have poor people skills ahaha, but then they work under some project manager who's not as good of a dev but a better communicator. Or were you meaning the virtual questions about data structures and such instead of overall dev skills that they have you do in the interviews?
I think there's a lot of flawed logic in here. FWIW I do not work in FAANG and do not plan to in the future. 1. Most of these complaints are about big companies in general, not FAANG in particular. I would actually say that in a FAANG company, most of this stuff would actually be better than at some other large corporation (like a bank). 2. Interview problems - Even at mid-size companies you will probably be expected to whiteboard a system design solution at some point in your job - I think that aspect directly correlates to real world development. If you're referring specifically to algorithm white-boarding, I see the argument somewhat, but I think even the algorithm problems are useful to see how the candidate deals with problems they don't fully understand. Also, even when interviewing at mid-sized companies (and a lot of small ones), you will be expected to do some degree of algorithm/system design interview (admittedly, probably less than the FAANG companies) and the interview processes can be just as drawn out 3. The work is not fun - "Fun" is very opinionated, but I think your mileage will vary depending on the team you're on. For me, enjoyment of my work stems from the technologies I use. I really enjoy using the greatest and latest, and I think the FAANG company tech stacks are going to lean on the newer side of things 4. Terrible Work/Life Balance - This one is the most flawed. I would say most FAANG companies are going to have a better work/life balance generally speaking. I'm sure there are some teams where that is the case, but of my friends who work in FAANG, they all would say they have great work/life balance. Most of the managers are also going to understand tech and the problems that come up when working on it. At a small company, this might not be the case. Your manager may expect the world of you if he/she doesn't have some grasp of the software development process. On top of that, if you are one of the only engineers on the project, that means when things break outside of normal work hours, you are probably going to be the one on the hook to figure out how to fix it. At FAANG, you are probably going to have to be on call occasionally, but that is really not that bad, because most of the tech as systems in place to automatically fix them. Whereas at a small company, those systems do not exist, so you may end up spending your entire night working on it, when it breaks. 5. High Cost of Living - Not sure why this is even in here. Even without COVID, there are offices all over the world in FAANG companies that are in low cost of living places. In addition, if you are being paid very handsomely (which at most FAANG companies are), cost of living should not be that big of a factor. This really feels more like something that you take into account before accepting your FAANG offer than something that would deter you from applying. Overall, I don't disagree with all of your points, but I do think the logic presented is under-developed and flawed. It feels like this video should be titled "Why You Don't Want To Work At A Big Company" but I'm assuming this one is better for SEO.
Facts af I also made the observation that big companies with great facilities also expect you to stay in the office longer. You should see people’s faces when I tell them I don’t want to work for Apple or amazon etc
By far the best reasons i have heard which make sense of why not to join FAANG.. And good one on ‘ Even though they have all the ping pong and all games and stuff if you play you may not get promoted ‘ .. its funny really 😂😂😂
It's about what you're focused on and getting accomplished. If you think work is all fun and games and that's what you are focused on, why are you even thinking of getting promoted? You don't get that for just existing.
I worked my ass off to get to FAANG. Couldn't agree more. The work is monotonous and bureaucracy is crippling. Mind you, I'm a senior engineer. Politics, cut-throat culture, and high cost of living for poor quality-of-life is not worth it.
Simple side note: I wonder how it'd look if you have work experience at FANG when applying to other jobs, or you have smaller company experience. Who do you think they will more likely to do interviews first?
This is probably rhetorical, but I can tell you from personal experience having FAANG on your resume is a huge draw for recruiters. Everyone wants to "snipe" the FAANG guys; basically they let FAANG do all the hard work filtering out the top players, then they just grab those guys and do minimal interviewing. Plus they get free insights on the architecture of huge companies, which they'd like to become one day themselves.
I just started learning coding and building my first landing page. I already know I don't want to work for big tech companies because their censorship practice. That conflicts with my value system. I would be much happier working with small businesses or a local company. This video further confirms my view.
This video has zero value because this guy has never even worked in his life, who he thinks he is to be giving advice to thousands? Look for his LinkedIn profile, he has literally zero experience
FAANG companies are like the Harvard of tech companies. You may not have a better experience there, but the brand name alone would skyrocket your career.
I love to code, I was passionate about it since my childhood but pursued degree course on Physics instead and now I'm following my passion by learning through udemy, youtube etc, I even have planned to live a simle primitive life because, I'm convinced that it's stupid to chase happiness. All I need to stay alive and for that I don't need big companies paying huge salary. Anyway, I agree to the points you made in this video. Also love watching your videos. Soon I'll take your react course.
There is one thing to add in my opinion. Many people I know see FAANG as a brand name associated with their profile, so they can get credibility with their skills and experience and use that in their career growth. Now obviously, this is not worth enough the downsides of getting into the FAANG, not to mention that FAANG doesn't ensure you become an insane god-level developer. Would love to know your opinions.
It does not make you a god dev, but a lot of recruiters seem to think it does. You will get a lot more attention with 2 years of a FAANG job on your resume than you will without. If you can land the job and put up with it for a small period of time, it's a huge boon for your career. Just try and absorb as much information as you can while you're there, not just the things you need to know to do your job directly. Think of it like 2 more years of school but they pay you instead of the other way around, and you get a much more valuable resume booster at the end.
Sometimes you can just join and work for few years, then leave for better. So, brand name comp is still good. When you have those name on your resumex it’s easier for you to find a job in normal comp. For Faang, Google has the most paid and second for wlb. But it’s the hardest to get in.
I feel like you miss one fundemental point about solving algorithms: they improve your level of problem solving, which indirectly does influence your performance on any level in the real world on a job.
That’s what u assume, but the fact is that these algorithm type interview problems are literally going to be memorized just so they can pass the test and most people will forget about them after. If ur consistently solving algorithmic problems on a daily or weekly basis of course it’ll help. But for 70% of developers thags not the case
Solving these algorithm type questions in isolation is useless. Interviewers should ask you to solve a practical problem (implementing a small feature in a boilerplate app they have ready) that requires you to use clever problem solving skills. This would give the interviewer an idea of how you would perform in real day to day work. Of course, setting up this type of interview would take time, which lazy FAANG companies can't be bothered with. It's never a bad idea to learn data structures and algorithms, but they exist so we can apply them practically, and not to show someone how well we can invert a binary tree in Google Docs during an interview.
What about the work culture and your co-workers? If u are with a lot of smart folks, you'll naturally learn a lot be more intelligent ry? So maybe work at faang for some time to get experience and credibility so that afterwards u can start ur own company? 🤷
"Some companies teach you algorithms and data structures only to pass the faang interviews" "All schools teach you every useless thing only to pass the exams"
My dream job is just about any job that will pay a six figure salary doing something I consider somewhat easy. Or at the very least not physically reliant like construction.
i dont get it, he has a comparably surface level javascript understanding compared to most other decent web devs, has never worked at fang, how can he conclude this?
Here's a thought: they haze college kids with these supposedly "intelligence-based" interview questions because they will spend time jumping through whatever hoops to work at one of these companies because they pay the best and are a direct analogy to something they understand (i.e. getting into an Ivy League Schools or Top tier tech schools-- on a side note, having gone to one of these, they teach you basically the exact same thing as any state school, you just have harder working grade grubbers sitting next to you). So you've shown your commitment to your indoctrination at school, then by working the leetcode problems, and you think you're smarter than everyone and better than everyone, so now you can sit at the table of the technical arm of the totalitarian control structure that makes decision for society about what people can say, what information they share, what is private and what is not. Then they pay you an absurd amount of money to stay despite the fact that you aren't really adding all that much value above and beyond another engineer that could do you job -- I call it hush money -- and they further indoctrinate you into their way of thinking (a lot like a cult). And, who are the real masters behind the scenes making the real decisions for you, well the intelligence apparatus controlled by then banking mafia of course! Vanguard, State Street and Blackrock all exercising soft power behind the scenes to control the Board and C-suite working hand-in-hand with the media conglomerates. They call it FANG because it's freaking evil. "Don't DO EVIL"? Ever hear of Neural Linguistic Programming?...I mean they could have said "Do Good".
Great video, that is so true what you said about FANG. Sometimes i am being asked by my family why don't I try to get job in one of the larger companies, the answer is simply, i want to matter when i make changes. Plus the high salary can be found in smaller companies as well. Plus one can work fully remote, which is unlikely with FANG companies.
I worked for many corporations during my career, some of them are really big names. All of them are sh#t. There is nothing better than freedom and working for yourself. I wish I realized that like 20 years ago. Even for little money, working for myself and not chasing corporate fantasies would have been far worth it.
Worked at Amazon(not as a developer, but working with the AWS devs regularly in their support teams) and it was a fantastic learning experience, but overall they're betting on there ALWAYS being some bright new faces every 6-18 months to replace their entire organization(save for a handful of people with some special leverage and management). I recommend it as a learning experience, but definitely not as a long term career.
The fact that there's people who quit fang jobs because teaching how to get into them is more profitable is insane
This is common in literally every industry, it's not unique to tech or FANG. Finance, art, sports, fitness, etc etc etc, it's usually more profitable to teach for 99% of people.
Owning a successful business is gonna make you more money than working at one in most cases. It’s a logical decision
That is literally not insane haha. Happens in tons of industries
Big Data world makes it happen
Shots fired! Clement, Techlead, Joma, etc
Just to clarify, even computer science students aren't fully prepared to pass coding interviews either. Many times, the classes that teach us these things throw a lot of information at us at once which we only memorize to pass the final exam. It can be advantageous since we have to learn these things to graduate, but we still need to study and use online resources to pass technical interviews as well. Don't think that not having a CS degree puts you at a huge disadvantage, we all struggle with these interviews.
Yes, I agree with this. What they teach is not enough to prepare for coding interviews as there are many different scenarios and requirements that companies require
Do you know it took me 2 months to learn binary tree.
💯
Yes, CS classes teaches more theory. They don’t teach you how to pass a technical interview at all
You are right but here 'computer science students' means bachelor students. My Master of Software Engineering program has a ''specialised programming' course planned in the first semester, which asked you to solve 3 algorithmic questions (1 easy, 1 medium and 1 hard) from TopCoder at class every week. It is time-limited and you have to finish them yourself. The fun fact is 60% of students failed the course, although they already had a degree in bachelor of CS before entering the Master program.
"So do you want to be a software engineer at Google?" I got this ad in the middle of the video. Was it a coincidence?!
They using your data for ads
Google knows you.
AlgoExpert
God I hate that add. And the one that starts out “you know what the scariest thing in the world is?... not knowing how to reverse an ordered list”
Ugh I hate it!
... ... ... it was the ... algorithms!
I would like to work at Google to make a video "Why I left my $100k job at Google"
@jh1 not very big at all.
250k
You can make that or more working at a non-FANG company as a front-end dev. Even in Europe.
$100k is below poverty line in San Francisco
Lol 100k
But I want to be an ex-google millionaire
u mean ex-google ex-facebook techlead
as a millionaire
:D
@@blufrog9546 😂😂😂
This and that.... As a millionaire
100% agree with you brother. Work life balance is important, life is much bigger than working all day!
So true! I took the lowest paying job offered to me since it had by far the best work life balance.
Some get satisfaction from pushing their careers to high paying jobs working for tech giants, others from sitting in their room playing video games enjoying their work life balance. It's a personal thing.
@@jamesevans2507 Not just playing video games, spending quality time with loved ones, friends and playing sports or exercising, in my opinion, makes work-life balance great. But you mentioned right depends from person to person.
I worked at a company named "Tek Expert", which is a representation of Microsoft in Vietnam, and the working hours was just......so hard to describe.
Eventually i got out of the company, so that i could have some breath.
@@sinfps1 That is a “stupid” comment. You might want to learn what “work for” means in English....🤷♂️
"What are you gonna do with the money, if you don't have time to enjoy it"
that's what I always think what's the point of earning money if u can't enjoy ur life
This hit me so much. I just quit a job for that exact reason. Before trying to earn a living, make sure you have a life.
But the thing is how will u enjoy ur life without money??
Give it to me I will enjoy it
@@swapnilkuwar7040 man we're not talking about winning money in lottery or something.We are talking about earning money by working hard and if u can have time and can manage the work life balance then i hope u enjoy with that money 👍🏻
Working in a FANG company for about a year or two must be beneficial though.
Exploring what's going on there, enjoying some perks (if they actually exists) and finally adding the company to your resumé :)
It is. Looks good on your resume and you make good coin while you're there.
Yes. If one gets the chance, he/she must experience being in FAANG, for however much short of time. Maybe they actually like it and continue. Or if they don't, they can obviously leave and gain that experience.
@bob “She spilled my coffee!”
FAANG...
Microsoft: "Am I a joke to you?"
FANGMA... No... MAFANG? Eh... GAMANF?... I got it! ***MAN!
Yes. Yes you are.
@@danrivera381 FAMANG
Wait "FAMANG"
in terms of the game of prestige as a software engineer, Microsoft is definitely not at the same level comparing to these 5
Small companies may also have you work a lot for a little a reward.
very true. i'm at a large company and i've never worked less than I do now or gotten paid more than what I make right now.
They will even use the size argument to not give you a raise because you know: "we're so small... please don't look at the Porsche outside!"
@@issasecretbuddy yes they create unreasonable deadlines , and tell workers to do overtime because we r in starting phase
Being rich is not having a large salary, but rather how much of your salary you have left over each month (after all expenditure) to spend on having fun without worrying about the cost of having fun.
@@JP-hr3xq Proximity to a physical "office" is becoming less and less of an issue in tech.
The only thing I’ll disagree with is saying that algorithms and data structures are not important. They might not be the best interview questions to judge someone’s overall ability, but they are very important when it comes to building large software. At the scale of FAANG companies, writing an algo that runs at O(log(n)) instead of O(n) could easily decide whether a feature is feasible or not.
I agree. At scale it’s massively costly. However it won’t stop engineers from writing O(n) code once their probation period is over.
Is important but is something can be learnt once you are at the job.
@@arielbatista7ify yea but you can learn everything while on the job. it's not wrong to want to test if a candidate knows how to write efficient algorithms.
As a developer who works at a FAANG company I respectfully disagree. I've worked at small to mid-sized companies as a developer and the stress is higher and the pay is lower. That's just my experience and I'm not saying it can't be different for anyone else.
I'm not working for any FAANGS but I did join a big international bank and while the workload is infinitely smaller, it feels like working at the cognitohazard factory. Everyone is a massive cunt looking to either one-up you or leave you to dry for no reason whatsoever, I can't imagine it's that different on that regard.
What does smaller company mean? Facebook has almost 80k employees, A lot of companies are smaller when compare to them. Nonetheless, Snap/box/instacart for example pay just as much with an equal or better wlb while also being much smaller in size
@@huey1153 I'll let you define that however you want.
Why did you quit?
@@Anthony-qg5hj Why did I quit what? My job at Amazon? Because I'm working at Apple now.
Software development has been in transition in the last 10 years, from literally coding to system integration. You spend more time in using a framework or library then actually "thinking". For almost each algorithm/data structures problem you face, there are already tons of libraries that you can use. 20 years ago, you spend 80% of your time thinking of how to achieve things, today, you spend 80% of your time reading and searching tutorial, stackoverflow, copy and paste, modifying them, and find out why certain dependencies do not work with later or prior version of other dependencies. As such, FANG's method of interviewing candidates are actually only relevant to those who live 20 years ago or before. Modern interviewing system should be based on take home tests and a challenge to build a system.
"[...] today, you spend 80% of your time reading and searching tutorial, stackoverflow, copy and paste, [...]"
and that shows ... :S
Old dog here. I was in IT before there was a FAANG and I also wanted a tech job in a larger company because I thought it would prove I made it. I got my wish and got a tech job at at a Fortune 50 company. It paid well but at a HUGE personal price. It sucked. I left but I stayed way too long.
PS It sucked so bad that I would have been happy to feel like a cog. I felt dead.
Happiness is more important than money and show off.
Happiness comes from money for most of the people
Also I never saw a poor happy
Abhishek beggar
@@Hsa008 huh?
@@Abhishek-dp5tc huh beggar
@@Hsa008 What's wrong with you, what are trying to say
FANG need to know if you are able to study a lot of documentation. If you show your capacity for study, they'll contract you, because they need people who read a lot of documents only to change a CSS property in youtube module.
Have you ever worked at a FAANG level company? It’s always people who hate the club that they can’t even get in.
Get in FAANG, make money and then go to a smaller company or found yours. But I think he just can't get in so it's hard for him.
I absolutely loathe any kind of company that likes to brag about them having ping pong tables, snooker, videogames, whatever. I don't need that. As you said, those are traps in order to keep the worker at the company as long as possible.
We demand larger wages and more recognition for our work, not a puff in the main room.
Exactly. Just get in, do your work, and get out.
Yeah. Though to be fair, those things are tiny expenses in comparison, so losing them probably won’t result in large wage increases.
Games and eateries arnen't necessarily a trap to make you stay longer. They are put in place to encourage socialization, to give you something to look forward to, and to help you relax. I disagree with what he said about giving the promotion to kid who never uses these and spends 80+ hours working. It's not what you know, it's who you know.
@@Daniel-nb3kk Lol man stfu you are such a loser.
I worked at FAANG company with video games and ping pong tables. Nobody played the games during work hours, though occasionally there are after work games once a week. People used to occasionally play a pick up game of ping pong, until they got too many noise complaints and had to play during lunch time only or use inferior "silent" ping pong equipment. Those kind of amenities are really pointless most of the time. On the other hand, a gym with a nice shower was the best inclusion at that job. We didn't have (good) food provided or a music room like some of the others have, but I probably would have actually used those -- the latter after work hours obviously.
Data structures are less important for frontend engineers, FAANG needs to deploy features at scale and using "npm install solve-my-problem" is not really an option
Centering a div is not the same as using dfs to find how many strongly connected components are in a graph size k.
@@jsonkody you can center a div??
so do they build everything from scratch, i don't think so
It's hard to say algorithms and data structures are "useless in the real world". Algorithms are simply common ways of solving problems, and that is the job of a developer. Not as much in frontend to be fair, but like you said the majority of the work doesn't actually happen in the UI that users directly interact with.
By experience, the work-life balance whatever you call it is still better at FAANG than in a series B/C startup software company that has 50 engineers and is onboarding lots of new customers...
In big corporations, you have a lot of support teams, that are all over the world they rotate this type of work...
But, in terms of innovation and learning and fast-tracking to senior roles and solving big problems with more flexibility on the tech, I would recommend going with series B/C startup...
By the way, location doesn't matter now everybody is remote permanently for many FAANG companies.
I've been part of startups since starting of my career, I do believe freshers must not be expected to know complex algorithms, design patterns but these two really helps somebody to be a better programmer. :)
Not all FAANG companies are the same and in my experience work life balance can be worse at companies where you make less and have fewer perks. Especially startups.
Startups can suck ass, especially if founders are idiots. Even in FAANG or non-FAANG big companies, the experience can be wildly different depending on product, team, your manager.
Mr Adam Douglas is the best, recommending him to all beginners who wants to recover losses like I did.
How can one reach an expert in trading,cos I have lost alot of money trading with a wrong trader.
@David Benjamin I'm beginner too, I've been earning through investing with expert Adam it has been a huge success, in two weeks i made $15,000 with $1,000
Wow !!! I thought I was the only beneficiary of Mr Adam Douglas trading services.His techniques and strategies are the best.
Expert Adam made me rich, greetings from India , I've $27,460 worth Bitcoin profit
This is the first time I'm meeting someone real , I just got my profit today, I saw this comment about ten days ago, thanks so much.
The goal of getting a job at a big tech company is hanging long enough where it looks good on the résumé. This is why most people only stick around 1-2 years max. It turns your résumé into a golden ticket. My friends that have suffered through this have went on to way better higher paying jobs at much smaller companies.
Yes this by far is the best approach imo.
there's another way to get into those companies and actually doing great thing.
And that's by making them notice you, making cool stuff that no one dares todo and you will get noticed, participate in events and competitions, then you will get a lot of companies asking you to join them, this will be new way of recruiting.
Nowadays lot of people can learn the basics of programing, Algorithms and Data structure, it's hard to create actual big projects and finishing them, you to be really passionate about what you are working, and that's what companies are looking for.
You'll still have to go through their usual interview process even if they reach you out to work for them. So at the end of the day you'll have to practice for DS & Algo just for the sake of interview .
@@codingwitharman5329 If you touch some low level programing, you will find yourself learning DS&Algo for the sake of learning them, and you will have a better understanding since you used them to solve your own problem, so it still worth it
@@mweb7344 I agree, you can build a solid knowledge of data structures and algorithms just by building some native app that does something interesting. Everyone builds websites, basic mobile apps, etc., but you can show your quality by building something more complicated and working out the logic for yourself. Something like a compiler, a symbolic math engine, or a video game requires heavy use of algorithms and data structures
Smart companies will take your public profile as proof enough of your abilities and make you an offer. Less pain for you and them *both*. But idiotic bureaucrats and cowardly corporation men will insist on the hazing.
This pretty much matches my experience. I did an internship back in 2011 and thought it was going to be amazing. What I found was a creepy almost cult-like corporate culture, very long hours, and the expectation that I'd move between London, Ireland and Switzerland at a moment's notice based on the company needs. I stuck it out for a while, before quitting and going back to do a research degree in academia instead. I've never regretted that choice.
Lol paid business travel at a moment's notice? That's great in my book lmao
I work for middle tier company and couldn’t be happier, I’ve learned so much as well as work with a lot of great people. Lastly, I still get to work with latest tech stacks. Rather have these things than working at FANG to debugg some project that is in maintenance mode.
Cool video Kyle! FANG companies are definately overhyped. That screening process is unfortunately creeping into regular companies too.
Yup, interviewing at a mid-size tech company right now and the process is a "lite" version of the FAANG process: one pre-screen interview instead of the occasional two, and 3 hour on-site instead of the usual 4-6 hour with lunch. Other than that, it's basically the same deal.
@@alxjones might as well prepare for both, are you guys afraid of taking challenges or what?
I've been following you, Kyle, for 12 months since I took a web dev boot camp. It was just before I decided to quit my job at Google.
This video is so bang on. My job at Google sucked. I was there for 8 years, and for some reason was okay not being happy just to say I got into FAANG.
got the notification during a leetcode grind
I work at a Fortune 500 in the finance industry. Luckily I get to work on some cool stuff. But almost all of my coworkers spend much more time in meetings rather than coding. People at large companies actually actively avoid promotions to spend more time coding.
100# agree Kyle. While I totally understand why, I hate the obsession with these companies.
Isn't this mmtut
Bro Django is amazing
You are spot on!! Another large problem is your obsolescence. After 5 years of working at a mundane task you are now an expert in the "mundane task". You have lost sight of your dreams and you have stopped developing skills in other more important aspects of your field. ( no time after working for 12 hours )
Totally agree. I got to work for Oracle as the company I worked at for 20 years was bought by them. I very quickly became a tiny cog in an isolated office in Leeds, UK. My boss was in Sheffield, his boss was in Bolton, and the rest of my "team" was in Newport, Wales, San Francisco, California and Bangalore. Best thing they ever did was make me redundant. Now I'm Lead Developer at a mid-sized company and so much happier 🍰🎈
Your comments are sooooo true Kyle. Been in the dev/ict game for more than 25 years (yup I started off with Dos 3.11 and Borland C - no internet). FAANG companies might be the Sh-Na-Na, but making a difference is more valuable for me than having the #-tag 'I R working for x'. I personally love the hands-on go for gold feeling... Basics, KISS and the willingness to learn, thats the goal...
I like this perspective. Late last year I started to prepare for interviews with FAANG and I can honestly say I spent hours and avoided time with my kids just to try to score and get in FAANG. Learned a lot but I can agree on the use of algorithms as I have been a developer for 5-6 yrs now and I have never used an algo approach to a problem. Just saying...
Honestly, I just wanted to see some FAANG on my resume, get attention, and increase my salary expectations.
I never thought of adding Netflix to this acronym...
Twitter would probably be a better replacement
I call them GAMA (Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple).
Netflix is actually a very good company in terms of engineering
@@aman9267 why not MAGA
@@TemplarKG what abt MAAG
I like how they were found guilty of colluding to keep salaries on a similar level
Dude you are 100% right fresh out of school i moved to Malaysia,
And my wife kept saying you should work at intel, bla bla bla. I said i dont wanna work for a big tech companies just because of well everything you said
Instead i got a very good job at a small 15 man company that now has over 30 and i grew to be a manager. And I basically redesigned the whole thing due to shit coders and mis managment.
Keep up the good videos!
so true. studying stupid algos just to pass the interview!
What about school and university then? Studying stupid subjects, working on assignments, perform well in exam just to get a job?
@@ikrammaududi6205 good point! same. I never use my physics and chemistry since high school. We need to spend months/years solving hundreds of leetcode problems but will never use them again.
@@laustephen4382 then you're in the wrong place
@@laustephen4382 studying isn't only about learning practical skill that you will use. It's about opening your mind to new things, new way to calculate and most of all: new way of thinking! (That's why they are putting philosophy in every cursus)
All those useless stuff is helping to build transversal knowledge which in the end help you to be better at your job by having a deeper understanding of what you are doing and why you are doing it.
the trick is to work for companies like IBM. They are in almost every large city and you get paid well. Or companies like Boeing, Northup Grumman, Garmin, or Lockheed Martin. I got an internship for one of those companies the interview wasn't that hard I got paid for it then they gave me a job after I graduated. You can get paid around 80k for 1-year of experience in most if not all of these companies plus 10-15k per 1.5 years working. I think that is the root to go down if you can in your area.
Agree… these are companies that have stood the test of time. Microsoft has been around a long time too, but nor as long as the ones u mentioned
Working as an IT recruiter, this has really been the biggest issue I have encountered. People fancy working big cooperation but never think logically about the down side.. all they want is to have these brands on your resume
Honestly, putting up with 2 years of FAANG can get you a lot of attention from recruiters from then on. It really is worth it to get in early on and grab the money, the clout, and what skills you can gather before heading off to a more sustainable work situation.
I've worked at google and facebook and can say with certainty that work life balance at my teams in both companies were far better than the work life balance of my college colleagues who work for small companies.
And related to impact it depends on your team, as an intern at google I've made changes to the frontend of a google's webpage (super impactful)
So I think the video is very biased and don't reflect the actual reality of a lot of teams at faang companies (at least the two I've got to work at)
wow, in what language google's webpage is written? thanks
You may make a prison as glamorous as possible but at the end of the day it's a prison.
A twilight zone episode
Norway is a good example
I have started working with one of the FANG company what I hate is it’s so corporatey. What I love is you get so much time to learn. You may not work on much things but before you even started working they want to make sure you know what you are doing. But I think the rate of learning is pretty slow.
3:18 That's exactly what happened to me a few weeks ago! I'm self taught developer and I've been in this industry for more than 10 years, and honestly, no one NEVER ask me or mentioned me something about data structures or algorithms, and suddenly I found myself trying to push all this information into my brain in two weeks for a technical interview, because the company to which I was applying suggested me that in different opportunities. Finally, in the technical interview, they asked me to solve a React problem. 🤦🏽♂
While watching this video I got this add asking 'So, do you want to work at Google'
I have to admit long time ago, when Google wasn't the giant it is now, I thought they were pretty cool. And they have this "don't be evil" motto, I respect them very much. They're no longer the same now.
Besides all the good reasons you mentioned, I think things that bother me a lot is the censorship, lack of data protection, and patronizing attitudes those companies impose on users. Unless I don't have any other choice, I would prefer not to work for FANG.
Btw, the bad thing is, many many startups are just trying to be like them, and they use ridiculous algorithm or white board tests for screening candidates too. T_T Soo....it's a bit inescapable....especially for newbies, that might be their only "shoe" in, which is to pass algo test and get their first job. You will have more to bargain later when you get more experiences working at a company.
It seems most people have forgotten that used to be their motto. Ironic that they became evil in so many ways.
I agree. Also, I do think senior engineers at these FAANG companies are required to pass the "fair" algo test. I can't recall how many times I've been asked a DP problem that they themselves can't solve it at a moment's notice.
Lol the people that say "i won't work for this company because i think they're evil" are so self-centered lmao a bunch of idealistic people that think that can change the world
One day I actually really wanted to work at one of the FANG’s, but few years a go I changed my mind because of all the facts you pointed in your video.
I worked in Microsoft for 2 years in my audio localization days, I rarely seen people playing the xbox machines scattered around the campus. It was a great experience though because I was contracting so no dealing with the HR bs and we had a cool audio section of the office just for us 4 audio engineers.
Thanks Kyle for your video. I am just curious what is the reason you think all these things?
1. Interviews are garbage.
2. Hard to see impact.
3. Terrible work life balance
4. The work is not fun...
Have you had any previous experience working in FANG?
Your video might be demotivating for people who are preparing for those coding interviews (which in my opinion is not that garbage as a lot of RUclipsrs think).
I know several people who are working on cool projects at Google and Amazon and they get HUGE experience which you simple can't get working at smaller companies.
Of course when you are part of something small you are much more important when you are part of Google or Facebook.
You have great channel with huge number of followers and there might be many young developers who are willing to be part of FANG even if they be small part and your video might be solid reason to give up their dreams.
Sorry, but I wanted to say my opinion.
the dream should be being a great programmer, not working for X
@@mvdrider Everyone has their dreams. Being a great programmer is not (and has never been) a dream for me. It's a goal which I am trying to achieve for past 10 years. I can't say if I am good or not and if I achieved that goal, but working in Google for many developers is dream for many reasons and as soon as you are there you know your dream came true.
Working in fang is like having a BMW or a Merc we all knew it is just a status symbol people who buy those cars have more bad time repairing and maintaining those unreliable things they are way more miserable than guy who owns a toyota Corolla
The most important thing is to figure out who you want to be, not who you want to work for. Once you know who you want to be, who you work for becomes a trivial decision. For instance, if working at a FAANG gets you closer to who you want to be, then go for it. If working at a startup does it, then do that. If starting your business or doing your own projects does it, then do that. Most people have no idea of who they want to be and look for an employer to fill in that gap when it should be the other way around.
Who is after algo expeert reaction video😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣
One of my friends is working for a company using traps like dogs and ping-pong. I think it’s not helping her much but that’s my opinion. Like you said, balance is important. Thanks for your video, Kyle!
I dont understand why you suggest that code quality control is holding people back. You will learn more from a solid code review than from any coding tutorial.
The code quality control is strict since the responsibility these companies have is very high.
All code written should always be considered high responsibility.
Eg. The software running in a car can never fail....it can cost lives. If AWS is down it might impact a medical company doing research.
Really not getting this video...
If you think working for smaller companies are less stressful you have a lot to learn.
Since you can only live every minute of your life once, it doesn't make sense to stack up money earned by doing a job that you don't like, just to be able to buy the life you really want to live at a later point of time. Get a job that you can do with passion every day - it's a better recipe for long-term happiness.
I think this video is the most important for developers like me to watch
I have been wanting to work for Google for years as I love their products, but now that you said that if I would get accepted there, I would've been just another cog in the system, as well as I would most likely not affect users directly - I start questioning working for such a large company
So, thank you for making this video
Write software for the things you care about. Don't fixate on the organisation you do it with.
I'm from India and despite being a very good developer, it's hard to get a job because of Data Structures and Algorithms which these companies ask but have no practical application.
This is exactly what's inside my head! Thanks a lot for the video!
Totally agree with you bro... work-life balance is most underrated thing in IT
Good as Gold....this advice is priceless! Great advice\video Kyle!
I agree with you man... Interview should be totally on development skills because there we will be doing that only
Agreed, but at the same time it's not *just* development skills. If you have an assholeish personality then you likely won't work well with the others they're already paying to work for them. So they'd prefer someone with similar coding skills but with better people skills.
Tho ofc some of the best programmers are exactly the people who have poor people skills ahaha, but then they work under some project manager who's not as good of a dev but a better communicator.
Or were you meaning the virtual questions about data structures and such instead of overall dev skills that they have you do in the interviews?
I think there's a lot of flawed logic in here. FWIW I do not work in FAANG and do not plan to in the future.
1. Most of these complaints are about big companies in general, not FAANG in particular. I would actually say that in a FAANG company, most of this stuff would actually be better than at some other large corporation (like a bank).
2. Interview problems - Even at mid-size companies you will probably be expected to whiteboard a system design solution at some point in your job - I think that aspect directly correlates to real world development. If you're referring specifically to algorithm white-boarding, I see the argument somewhat, but I think even the algorithm problems are useful to see how the candidate deals with problems they don't fully understand. Also, even when interviewing at mid-sized companies (and a lot of small ones), you will be expected to do some degree of algorithm/system design interview (admittedly, probably less than the FAANG companies) and the interview processes can be just as drawn out
3. The work is not fun - "Fun" is very opinionated, but I think your mileage will vary depending on the team you're on. For me, enjoyment of my work stems from the technologies I use. I really enjoy using the greatest and latest, and I think the FAANG company tech stacks are going to lean on the newer side of things
4. Terrible Work/Life Balance - This one is the most flawed. I would say most FAANG companies are going to have a better work/life balance generally speaking. I'm sure there are some teams where that is the case, but of my friends who work in FAANG, they all would say they have great work/life balance. Most of the managers are also going to understand tech and the problems that come up when working on it. At a small company, this might not be the case. Your manager may expect the world of you if he/she doesn't have some grasp of the software development process. On top of that, if you are one of the only engineers on the project, that means when things break outside of normal work hours, you are probably going to be the one on the hook to figure out how to fix it. At FAANG, you are probably going to have to be on call occasionally, but that is really not that bad, because most of the tech as systems in place to automatically fix them. Whereas at a small company, those systems do not exist, so you may end up spending your entire night working on it, when it breaks.
5. High Cost of Living - Not sure why this is even in here. Even without COVID, there are offices all over the world in FAANG companies that are in low cost of living places. In addition, if you are being paid very handsomely (which at most FAANG companies are), cost of living should not be that big of a factor. This really feels more like something that you take into account before accepting your FAANG offer than something that would deter you from applying.
Overall, I don't disagree with all of your points, but I do think the logic presented is under-developed and flawed. It feels like this video should be titled "Why You Don't Want To Work At A Big Company" but I'm assuming this one is better for SEO.
Facts af I also made the observation that big companies with great facilities also expect you to stay in the office longer. You should see people’s faces when I tell them I don’t want to work for Apple or amazon etc
Work life balance is super super important to me. Can't stress it enough
"Questions about things that you never actually need to know in real life"
So my University is preparing me for FANG?
Almost every university and school actually...
University prepares you to be a scientist. You learn all those stuffs to be able to create new technologies.
By far the best reasons i have heard which make sense of why not to join FAANG..
And good one on ‘ Even though they have all the ping pong and all games and stuff if you play you may not get promoted ‘ .. its funny really 😂😂😂
It's about what you're focused on and getting accomplished. If you think work is all fun and games and that's what you are focused on, why are you even thinking of getting promoted? You don't get that for just existing.
I always thought about that I would rather be my self and do it my way then going in that direction where everybody wants to. Never be a sheep
I would do it for a year or so just to have that on my resume. You could get a job anywhere with one of those companies listed as experience
I worked my ass off to get to FAANG. Couldn't agree more. The work is monotonous and bureaucracy is crippling. Mind you, I'm a senior engineer. Politics, cut-throat culture, and high cost of living for poor quality-of-life is not worth it.
Clement mihailescu made a response video!!
agree! when it comes to companies, then the "small is beautiful" principle applies
Thanks for the video man! Gave me a lot of perspective
"so you can get a job at a FANG company and never ever use that information again" Oh you mean like college?
Simple side note: I wonder how it'd look if you have work experience at FANG when applying to other jobs, or you have smaller company experience. Who do you think they will more likely to do interviews first?
This is probably rhetorical, but I can tell you from personal experience having FAANG on your resume is a huge draw for recruiters. Everyone wants to "snipe" the FAANG guys; basically they let FAANG do all the hard work filtering out the top players, then they just grab those guys and do minimal interviewing. Plus they get free insights on the architecture of huge companies, which they'd like to become one day themselves.
I just started learning coding and building my first landing page. I already know I don't want to work for big tech companies because their censorship practice. That conflicts with my value system. I would be much happier working with small businesses or a local company. This video further confirms my view.
This video has zero value because this guy has never even worked in his life, who he thinks he is to be giving advice to thousands? Look for his LinkedIn profile, he has literally zero experience
FAANG companies are like the Harvard of tech companies. You may not have a better experience there, but the brand name alone would skyrocket your career.
I love to code, I was passionate about it since my childhood but pursued degree course on Physics instead and now I'm following my passion by learning through udemy, youtube etc, I even have planned to live a simle primitive life because, I'm convinced that it's stupid to chase happiness. All I need to stay alive and for that I don't need big companies paying huge salary. Anyway, I agree to the points you made in this video. Also love watching your videos. Soon I'll take your react course.
There is one thing to add in my opinion.
Many people I know see FAANG as a brand name associated with their profile, so they can get credibility with their skills and experience and use that in their career growth. Now obviously, this is not worth enough the downsides of getting into the FAANG, not to mention that FAANG doesn't ensure you become an insane god-level developer.
Would love to know your opinions.
It does not make you a god dev, but a lot of recruiters seem to think it does. You will get a lot more attention with 2 years of a FAANG job on your resume than you will without. If you can land the job and put up with it for a small period of time, it's a huge boon for your career. Just try and absorb as much information as you can while you're there, not just the things you need to know to do your job directly. Think of it like 2 more years of school but they pay you instead of the other way around, and you get a much more valuable resume booster at the end.
it's handy if you spend a year or two because recruiters will see the company name on your resume and will prioritize you
Sometimes you can just join and work for few years, then leave for better. So, brand name comp is still good. When you have those name on your resumex it’s easier for you to find a job in normal comp. For Faang, Google has the most paid and second for wlb. But it’s the hardest to get in.
Easy to have that mindset when you aren’t good enough. Btw, thanks for discouraging lots of competition.
I feel like you miss one fundemental point about solving algorithms: they improve your level of problem solving, which indirectly does influence your performance on any level in the real world on a job.
That’s what u assume, but the fact is that these algorithm type interview problems are literally going to be memorized just so they can pass the test and most people will forget about them after. If ur consistently solving algorithmic problems on a daily or weekly basis of course it’ll help. But for 70% of developers thags not the case
Solving these algorithm type questions in isolation is useless. Interviewers should ask you to solve a practical problem (implementing a small feature in a boilerplate app they have ready) that requires you to use clever problem solving skills. This would give the interviewer an idea of how you would perform in real day to day work.
Of course, setting up this type of interview would take time, which lazy FAANG companies can't be bothered with.
It's never a bad idea to learn data structures and algorithms, but they exist so we can apply them practically, and not to show someone how well we can invert a binary tree in Google Docs during an interview.
Having been at midsized startups and big tech companies I 100% agree.
Imagine if lawyers had to memorize the Constitution every time they wanted to change firms.
What about the work culture and your co-workers? If u are with a lot of smart folks, you'll naturally learn a lot be more intelligent ry? So maybe work at faang for some time to get experience and credibility so that afterwards u can start ur own company? 🤷
Have you every seen how snobby senior developers are to newbie employees...🙅♂️
Some people just join FAAMNG to get that ex tag. Then they teach others how to get into it.
"Some companies teach you algorithms and data structures only to pass the faang interviews"
"All schools teach you every useless thing only to pass the exams"
My dream job is just about any job that will pay a six figure salary doing something I consider somewhat easy. Or at the very least not physically reliant like construction.
Well , i don't want to be a fang engineer.. I want to be a youtuber as a ex fang employee 😂😂.. Teaching people how to get into fang
i dont get it, he has a comparably surface level javascript understanding compared to most other decent web devs, has never worked at fang, how can he conclude this?
Here's a thought: they haze college kids with these supposedly "intelligence-based" interview questions because they will spend time jumping through whatever hoops to work at one of these companies because they pay the best and are a direct analogy to something they understand (i.e. getting into an Ivy League Schools or Top tier tech schools-- on a side note, having gone to one of these, they teach you basically the exact same thing as any state school, you just have harder working grade grubbers sitting next to you). So you've shown your commitment to your indoctrination at school, then by working the leetcode problems, and you think you're smarter than everyone and better than everyone, so now you can sit at the table of the technical arm of the totalitarian control structure that makes decision for society about what people can say, what information they share, what is private and what is not. Then they pay you an absurd amount of money to stay despite the fact that you aren't really adding all that much value above and beyond another engineer that could do you job -- I call it hush money -- and they further indoctrinate you into their way of thinking (a lot like a cult). And, who are the real masters behind the scenes making the real decisions for you, well the intelligence apparatus controlled by then banking mafia of course! Vanguard, State Street and Blackrock all exercising soft power behind the scenes to control the Board and C-suite working hand-in-hand with the media conglomerates. They call it FANG because it's freaking evil. "Don't DO EVIL"? Ever hear of Neural Linguistic Programming?...I mean they could have said "Do Good".
Great video, that is so true what you said about FANG. Sometimes i am being asked by my family why don't I try to get job in one of the larger companies, the answer is simply, i want to matter when i make changes. Plus the high salary can be found in smaller companies as well. Plus one can work fully remote, which is unlikely with FANG companies.
I just wanted to feel better about not getting selected for Amazon sde
Atleast you tried , I play that scenario in my head and not actually do something lol
I worked for many corporations during my career, some of them are really big names.
All of them are sh#t.
There is nothing better than freedom and working for yourself.
I wish I realized that like 20 years ago.
Even for little money, working for myself and not chasing corporate fantasies would have been far worth it.
I'm just starting in the programming area and I already agree with you. Would you mind telling me how you started working alone?
You're never free. If you "work for yourself" youre an entrepreneur which means you have no day off, i wouldn't wanna live a miserable life like that
Worked at Amazon(not as a developer, but working with the AWS devs regularly in their support teams) and it was a fantastic learning experience, but overall they're betting on there ALWAYS being some bright new faces every 6-18 months to replace their entire organization(save for a handful of people with some special leverage and management).
I recommend it as a learning experience, but definitely not as a long term career.
Couldn't agree more
one more thing, you don't learn/evolve as much as you can if you were working for a non-corporate