> Maybe it's because the economy is so bad that even FAANG employees like yourself can't find work To be fair, a lot of FAANG engineers aren't actually very go

> Maybe it's because the economy is so bad that even FAANG employees like yourself can't find work To be fair, a lot of FAANG engineers aren't actually very good :) It's a mixed bag like anywhere else. I think working at one is most reflective of a willingness to play the game (aka do lots of Leetcode) and having the life circumstances that allow you to invest in interview prep than it is of anything else. I remember talking to some of the people I was hired with, and every single one of us reflected that we had seen all of our interview problems beforehand. Just because we had put the practice in. Unfortunately working here only helps me get my foot in the door. And quite ironically, at smaller companies, when I describe my experience to them, it almost seems like a detriment. I do ops, write infrastructure as code, write big data ingestion pipelines, and server APIs, and when I tell them this, they're like "yeah, those are 4 different roles here... it sounds like you're a jack of all trades, master of none". I feel to some extent like I need to be deliberately deceptive to convince hiring managers I can excel in their roles. > Maybe it's because I'm trans. The reason doesn't even really matter. I'm not LGBTQ, but I would characterize myself as a little different. I've just never really believed in appearances. The rejections have made me put a lot of thought into making my appearance look more conventional. For me, it's simple things like getting a haircut, shaving, or dressing nicer, but I'm definitely feeling pressure to conform, if only so I can get the role.