Lunar Meadow asked
answered 3h ago
Hi Philip,
I'm a Software Engineer from Belgrade, Serbia, which may be surprising to some people, as such a very small country in Europe has always had top-tier talent working at top US tech companies.
I just turned 30 this year and have a little over 3 years of experience in the industry. I don't have a Computer Science background, so I've always had that kind of chip on my shoulder of wanting to prove people wrong and show that I belong in the same room as everyone else, even though I have a strong engineering background in another technical field.
For the last couple of months, I've been questioning where my career is heading, as I'm not employed at a "FAANG" level company and more often than not find myself without anyone to talk to about engineering or the latest trends in software. Being the smartest person in the room never quite sat well with me, as I feel like I'm never learning or growing in these situations.
I've set a personal goal for myself for the next year or so to improve enough to operate at an engineering level where "FAANG" companies are a realistic target. Because of the current, fast-moving AI landscape, I've figured the best course of action is to build and reinforce strong engineering fundamentals and principles, and not lose focus by jumping from framework to framework or language to language.
Does this make sense given my current situation?
Philip's answer
Some of the best engineers I've worked with have been Serbian! I hope to visit Belgrade one day.
Your approach sounds wise — building the fundamentals will position you better for getting a job at a FAANG company. There's unfortunately no magic to getting those jobs, but you stand a good chance if you often find yourself the smartest person in the room. One of the things I've enjoyed most about working at major tech companies is the amount of interesting conversation that can be had. I've often been on teams where I learned so much — not just about technology, but about many other fields — simply by listening to what others on the team had to share.
My sincere hope is that you find the same opportunity for yourself. It has become increasingly harder to get jobs at some of the top companies, especially as layoffs continue, so remember that it's largely a numbers game. You have to take enough shots at goal for something to work out. Stay persistent. Even the best people get rejected often. I was rejected in the very first round the first time I applied to OpenAI; I was rejected multiple times at Microsoft when trying to switch teams. When it feels hard, remember that the top companies are biasing strongly towards false negatives because the current market allows them to.
Build those skills and stay persistent!