2 ms·
This is patently false. The following are all ways you can stand out for a junior position: - Attending a university that is hard to get into and has a strong
by whack 6y ago
This is patently false. The following are all ways you can stand out for a junior position:
- Attending a university that is hard to get into and has a strong CS program
- Having an impressive GPA
- Winning academic or software-related awards
- Having commendable accomplishments in software-related "extracurriculars", such as hackathons etc
- Whiteboard coding ability
I've done numerous junior interviews for FANG companies. They are extremely liberal in handing out interviews, and doing well in these interviews will guarantee a job offer. "Connections" has almost zero correlation to how you're graded in these interviews. Being unlucky can trip you up every now and then. But if you get rejected from every single FANG company, I guarantee you it's not because of luck.
- refactor_master 6y agoNow you’re taking about FANG as if those are the only companies in existence. There are many many other places to make a living. I’ve personally never inverted a binary tree on a whiteboard and my career is doing fine. You might want to read https://wesdesilvestro.com/the-prestige-trap https://wesdesilvestro.com/the-prestige-trap from earlier on HN.
- whack 6y agoNow you're assuming that what I said applies only to FANG companies. I've also worked and gotten job offers from many non-FANG companies, across multiple industries, and they were all using the above data points to make entry-level hires. I only brought up FANG because they are the biggest and most well-known employers. I've already read that article and I don't see the relevance, unless you're trying to imply that I'm a prestige-chaser just because I've worked at FANG companies