I’ve gained a lot from Ask HN posts, so I wanted to know what the community thinks is the best course of action to get hired at a FAANG given that I’m a senior/principal engineer.
Some more context:
Recently, I’ve been offered a director of engineering position, so I’m at a crossroads: head down the management path or really focus on getting into one of the FAANGs. I’m leaning towards the latter.
I’ve been coding for ~25 years. I’d honestly rank my software skills as above average, but I’m no Jeff Dean.
I have a formal CS background from a school that seemed rigorous.
I’ve only ever worked for IT departments in mid-sized companies except for a couple of years when I owned and ran a Rails consultancy.
I was going to list the languages and frameworks I’m proficient in, but those things don’t seem as valuable when trying to get hired at that caliber of company.
Given all that, what should I focus on? I’ve started the leetcode grind, but should I focus more on system design and architecture given my experience?
I’d be grateful for any advice.
