4 ms·

Ask HN: Why are there so many University of Washington grads at FAANG companies?

jleyank 4y ago
Make sure they're not confusing this with Washington University in St. Louis. This (wustl.edu) is a long-time big-name school in computer science, home of code repositories from ancient times.
- WheelsAtLarge 4y ago
  You have a point. Both have a high CS ranking and both are well respected in education. I suspect that the numbers in the spreadsheet are a combination of the 2. That's why the number is so high relative to others. Also, I suspect Microsoft has been a great contributor to the school. That's another reason it does so well in CS placement.
WheelsAtLarge 4y ago
I don't know how accurate this spreadsheet is but UW stands out. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16dDaOHI5KJb_tO_iHXBP7ZbsoKE2lqM_wyLw2OLPyzg/edit#gid=0 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16dDaOHI5KJb_tO_iHXBP...
metadat 4y ago
White collar jobs tend to really be about the connections between people. It sounds like UW has a placement program with all the connections on rails and ready to run students through.
ggm 4y ago
You're asking why a Seattle located university has a high degree of placement into a suite of companies with a high presence in Seattle? Sure. San Jose is not Seattle. Nor S.F. but, Seattle has massive presence in FAANG doesn't it? I'd be interested if the % varies for Microsoft and Boeing: that might show if the effect is out of scale. There's also a long tail effect of hiring staff from x who gain seniority and then hire staff from x because it's a known quantity. And with a massive ICT sector people from UW can cut their teeth in junior roles close to home after graduation, get their chops and then swing into FAANG with good credentials and experience behind them. MIT and Boston might be similar. Guess which university close to the seat of government (cough George Washington uni) has an amazing track record of placement of graduates into think tanks and lobby groups...
- WheelsAtLarge 4y ago
  It makes good sense. UW is not one that easily comes to mind when one thinks of getting a job at a FAANG. Looks like it should be at the top of the list if a job there is your goal.
ThrowawayR2 4y ago
Another part of the answer is that UW sits at #10 in the USNews list of top undergraduate CS programs in the United States: https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/computer-science-overall https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/computer-scien... and even higher in their postgraduate CS program ranking. While such rankings can be gamed to some extent, there is little doubt that UW has a very highly regarded CS department.

Make sure they're not confusing this with Washington University in St. Louis. This (wustl.edu) is a long-time big-name school in computer science, home of code repositories from ancient times.

WheelsAtLarge 4y ago
You have a point. Both have a high CS ranking and both are well respected in education. I suspect that the numbers in the spreadsheet are a combination of the 2. That's why the number is so high relative to others. Also, I suspect Microsoft has been a great contributor to the school. That's another reason it does so well in CS placement.

WheelsAtLarge 4y ago

I don't know how accurate this spreadsheet is but UW stands out. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16dDaOHI5KJb_tO_iHXBP7ZbsoKE2lqM_wyLw2OLPyzg/edit#gid=0 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16dDaOHI5KJb_tO_iHXBP...

metadat 4y ago

White collar jobs tend to really be about the connections between people. It sounds like UW has a placement program with all the connections on rails and ready to run students through.

ggm 4y ago

You're asking why a Seattle located university has a high degree of placement into a suite of companies with a high presence in Seattle? Sure. San Jose is not Seattle. Nor S.F. but, Seattle has massive presence in FAANG doesn't it? I'd be interested if the % varies for Microsoft and Boeing: that might show if the effect is out of scale. There's also a long tail effect of hiring staff from x who gain seniority and then hire staff from x because it's a known quantity. And with a massive ICT sector people from UW can cut their teeth in junior roles close to home after graduation, get their chops and then swing into FAANG with good credentials and experience behind them. MIT and Boston might be similar. Guess which university close to the seat of government (cough George Washington uni) has an amazing track record of placement of graduates into think tanks and lobby groups...

WheelsAtLarge 4y ago
It makes good sense. UW is not one that easily comes to mind when one thinks of getting a job at a FAANG. Looks like it should be at the top of the list if a job there is your goal.

ThrowawayR2 4y ago

Another part of the answer is that UW sits at #10 in the USNews list of top undergraduate CS programs in the United States: https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/computer-science-overall https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/computer-scien... and even higher in their postgraduate CS program ranking. While such rankings can be gamed to some extent, there is little doubt that UW has a very highly regarded CS department.