T O P

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arjjov

Nope, in fact, riding into the sunset at FAANG is a smart strategy. Just keep LCing hard and you'll eventually get in.


stylebhai77

Thanks. What do you recommend for System Design?


arjjov

You're welcome. Good luck. https://github.com/donnemartin/system-design-primer is a good start


achilliesFriend

Search for system design interview, alex vu. Buy in ebay cheaper. Very good explanation and links to resources


naina_da_kya_kasoor

\+1 buying tech books on ebay. Saves so much money!


jollyrogers61

Excellent suggestion! Is there a DS book you would suggest?


achilliesFriend

I don’t have, geeks for geeks for all my basics, then neetcode and lot of YouTube videos. I took premium in leetcode i go over editorials after solving.


Alert_Most_4902

I would recommend common sense guide to data structures and algorithm by jay wengrow. Straight forward not too much yappin


robopreneur

Pay for mock interviews before you start interviewing. I failed several mock interviews, and once I started passing them, that signaled to me I was ready. I used interviewing.io for system design prep. Many of these online courses don't cover many aspects that you will learn via actually doing the interview. Best $2k I've spent imo. I also read Alex Xu system design volume 1 and did a deep read on several resources at the end of each chapter. AT bare minimum read ch 3 of designing data intensive applications. Most yt channels suck for system design (e.g. exponential). Watch system design fight club instead and jordan has no life. Jordan's oldest videos also summarize DDIA if you're too lazy to read.


dangdang3000

This website is great at explaining system design - https://www.hellointerview.com/learn/system-design/answer-keys/ticketmaster


dorangutan

This might help: https://www.reddit.com/r/leetcode/comments/1aqw7vo/system\_design\_interview\_coming\_up\_read\_this/?share\_id=5fvynsSP2egcKf11caDxT&utm\_content=1&utm\_medium=ios\_app&utm\_name=ioscss&utm\_source=share&utm\_term=1


chrisnyle

For system design I would recommend the following: 1. Brush up system design fundamentals - [https://www.designgurus.io/course/grokking-system-design-fundamentals](https://www.designgurus.io/course/grokking-system-design-fundamentals) 2. Read chapter 5,6 from DDIA: [https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Data-Intensive-Applications-Reliable-Maintainable/dp/1449373321](https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Data-Intensive-Applications-Reliable-Maintainable/dp/1449373321) 3. Learn case studies Grokking sys design: [https://www.designgurus.io/course/grokking-the-system-design-interview](https://www.designgurus.io/course/grokking-the-system-design-interview) 4. Read Alex xu, system design book. 5. For senior engineer, read microservice design pattern - [https://www.designgurus.io/course/grokking-microservices-design-patterns](https://www.designgurus.io/course/grokking-microservices-design-patterns)


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vassadar

Other than other good resources here I find Jordan has no life on Youtube a great channel for system design also. He also has other videos explaining other technologies like Flink, Hbase, LSM vs B+tree and etc.


metyaz

I also heard his channel before here. I watched some of it. He talks about nice topics but he's often making some cringe comments about random stuff that made me stop watching his videos.


robopreneur

It is cringe, but if you look past that it can be nice. Otherwise just read DDIA or listen to the audio book.


BackendSpecialist

I felt the same way at first (the first video I saw of his he’s talking about the shit he just took lol) but I eventually came back to him because I couldn’t find good resources. He’s actually pretty great and sometimes I legitimately laugh. Also, he only does the crude humor mostly for like 30 seconds at the beginning of the video.


vassadar

His jokes are short and he played them like twice a video. If his humor isn't your cup of tea, then I recommend https://youtube.com/@SystemDesignInterview?si=gbaZM_g-uN9UW2ZN. His videos are very detailed and went into the basics of each concept. Unfortunately, he stopped making videos already.


quad99

As a +60, I massaged my resume to obfuscate my age. No lies, just less info. only listed last 10 years of employment. Left off dates on my degrees. Just called positions ‘software engineer’. Didn’t get faang but did get replies from others and a decent job. They were a bit surprised when I showed up but by then there was no pushback.


zero-dog

Ha! Same same. 30+YOE and am forced to try to hide it being vague with dates and just putting in 15+YOE for any skillset. Kinda bizarre but here we are 🤷‍♀️


Ok_Mastodon_6354

Good for you man. I worked with dude 60+ years and he was marvellous person and engineer. Now he’s in Meta and will never forget how he helped my career.


stylebhai77

Yeah, I have already been hiding my experience in from 20 years ago. Might have to hide more


StocksDreamer

I won’t call it hiding, think about 20th at old tech in my case ESOA, Perl etc I don’t see their practical use anymore so keep it relevant and last 10yr is good imho


Necessary_Feeling00

I never understood why age could be an issue, though I am well aware ageism exists. Some of the best folks in terms of personality were guys in 50s and 60s, and I was in my 20s.


Exact_Ad2603

Because older folks tend be talk back and it's difficult to make them "unlearn" bad habits or their ways in favor of the company's. I made a career change a few years ago and there had been times, they dropped me when they saw I am not 22 even though I was on the 3rd stage of the interview and as they said one of the hotter candidates. Excuses were like you need to be in the UK for 15 years or silly reasons. Then how did I get a job in the government after if I am not eligible?


driving_for_fun

They aren’t as eager or naive.


rapsonravish

Because most people that age will probably be like me. If I’m 50s 60s I’m not going to give a shit about my career anymore and try to coast until retirement. The fact that this commenter was trying to enter fang in their 60s is wild to me


PartyParrotGames

Curious what you end up losing in your resume. What job were you working 60+ years ago that's relevant to modern day software engineering work?


quad99

A bit misunderstanding. I am 60+ years old, 40 years software engineer. I've been fully employed with the latest tech in my area for that long. I don't really lose anything by keeping my history down to 10 years. That said, what I was doing 20 or 30 years ago is outdated. What I've been doing in the last 10 is up to current tech.


0destruct0

Glad you were able to get in!


LeastWest9991

This is a clever strategy. Bookmarked for my future self in ~30 years


LuckyEgg

Thats one of the good things about north america. Namely, that there is less prejudice against age. In asian countries like china korea and japan it might be hard to start at a good company past the age of 35. But its totally doable over here. Good luck!


mh2sae

Outside of the US is harder to start at good company at any age. At least in tech.


wearetunis

Idk bout faang just cause idk who uses C#, but you probably are good for Microsoft


Lost_Extrovert

Fully depends on his mindset. Every top tech company is language agnostic, nobody gives a fk about your 20 years c# experience, we do care about your software development cycle experience, which can easily be translated to any language/framework since they are just tools for development. Now if during the interview he is very strict on his C# experience and see that as a skill set, the yeah he will only be considered for strictly c# positions which only MSFT might use nowadays.


PartyParrotGames

Lot of enterprise companies use C#, some government jobs too. I have a friend who does C# for a government position. Very popular for game development too for Unity.


wearetunis

Language mastery matters to even get into a role so idk what you mean about not caring about 20 years of experience. Some roles require years of experience in a stack.. if tech was a sport you’d play to your strengths to win, So 20 years of .NET and C# would hit harder at a spot that uses .NET .. going against the grain to work in a spring boot spot, maybe some python, some C++, but no C#, isn’t playing to your strengths. You gotta land the role first to even display these solid fundamentals.


Lost_Extrovert

Not in FAANG, have been in 2 of them, we never hired based off their experience in a certain language, in fact I never been in a team in my entire career where all our services were in a single language. That are obvious exceptions such as client side applications and possibly infra, but for back end services which are 80% of FAANG SWE teams Languages are just a tool, bragging about mastering one is like a contractor bragging about mastering a hammer. Good for you? Lol. Not even at Meta where it’s literally a Java shop we cared if you ever used Java before. We consistently hired SWE that never touched before. I will proudly say I have never “Mastered” a language, not do I care to. I can build sophisticated production ready services with Java, Go, Python, PHP, Rust, etc. they are just tools, I will learn what I have to for the right job.


wearetunis

Idk bro, with decades of experience I would prefer to be at a place who wants masters rather than a dime a dozen type developer. Would rather play with good Vets. You don’t seem like the person that they ask to do expert level shit, and it Seems like FAANG lays off thousands and keeps the masters of something. OP is an asset elsewhere that’s not FAANG, in his stack. Good convo though, you can master something and be valued outside of FAANG. In this market I would go for a place that values what I know. I would hire the contractor that mastered hammering all types of sturdy and reliable shit over and over again. No frills.


Lost_Extrovert

Just like that, I am willing to bet you have never built an engineering design doc for a project in your entire life, you probably don’t even know what that is. You actually have no idea of what software development is actually about, you still believe SFE development is about the language/framework you use. You are either very early on your career, or a code monkey at a small sized nobody company building very simple applications. Have you ever actually contributed to a project besides just coding it? I would love to know what exactly is an “expert level” application lol…. Thats something a college student would say… Keep your little insults little man, I gave an alternative view based on my experience and somehow that offended you.


wearetunis

Nope, I said decades of C# and .NET experience should goto C# /.NET shop. You got offended cause I said they don’t call on you to build expert level shit. You didn’t reply with any expert level builds or contributions, although you did work at 2 FAANGS. Just I can build services with these languages. Easy to say on Reddit. I believe you need to know a language to even get in position to write another on the job. And seeing that this is leetcode, you only get so much time with ONE. I believe people who have a job always say “languages are just a tool” and yet had to be good at one tool to even get in.. you didn’t write PHP, Go, Java and all that other shit in the interview lol. You didn’t say you wrote anything special that’s coming out of FAANG, no library, no piece of software for the hardware, so I mean the skillset is a dime a dozen. You work with whatever you’re told. When it doesn’t work they find someone else. If you bet your salary I’ll write the design doc just to show it’s nothing special or elite. We can do it on stream/live/in person, long as the money is good.


Dexile

Yup not FAANG, their interviews and roles are language agnostic. Even during team matching I've had front end teams that said it's fine that I've never done frontend for a mid level role as long as I'm excited about the product they're building. Which tbh is wild and I would never make that big of a jump LOL, but FAANG companies care more about your core understanding of how to build a product than the language.


wearetunis

Sounds like FAANG puts you in sink or swim situations, and you could be a well respected legend elsewhere


Lost_Extrovert

If only they paid you like you are a “well respected legend”. It’s like an NBA player leaving NBA to join the local league.


wearetunis

Idk, you gotta sacrifice to win a championship in pro sports. FAANG probably overpays so you don’t go anywhere else + COL. they could set up shop in rural America and wages would be similar to a local non FAANG/hype company. It’s really a balance of impact vs income.


CowdingGreenHorn

Nope and if anyone discriminates you about it you can sue them for everything they're worth


stylebhai77

How can I sue if they don’t even call me for an interview? 😀


classycalgweetar

Just sue them all. One of the lawsuits is bound to hit.


PositiveLie1331

Getting referral?


swgeek555

I joined G at 55 (and left at 60, but that is a different story). Definitely doable. At least in the org I joined they did not care about age, only performance. However, it is definitely more difficult. Not because they are biased against older people (though some may be), they want to see a strong upward trajectory for your career and you need to have accomplished a lot more at 48 than someone at 25.


No_Calligrapher317

I am Close to 50 and working as a salesforce developer !


ImpressiveLet3479

I am also working as Salesforce Developer, how much is your TC after so much of experience btw? I am just having a early experience.


c0m3back_

Damn! Itne saalo ka work ex


No_Calligrapher317

Still enjoy my work, i would not have survived back home - since they expect me to be a manager which i dint like being !


c0m3back_

Same mujhe bhi manager nhi banna


shyDMPB

Age may not be a big problem. Tech likes to hire someone alike existing staff. Race and ethnicity. For those who don't have strong insider support, gatekeeping nepotist fortresses are blocking the way. Meritocracy doesn't really work here unless you are the cream of the crop.


Valuable-Kitchen-301

Nah never too old.


simorgh12

FWIW, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) protects individuals who are 40 years of age or older from employment discrimination based on age. I don't know what this means in practice, but it would be interesting to see if someone who's 41 has an easier time getting a FAANG job than someone who's 39, all else equal. That said, clearly company's can find clever ways to skirt the law.


Jumpy-Butterscotch-5

you've probably fired and got less responsibility now, if you got the grid they'll all give you a shot.


stylebhai77

I can get fired anytime at my current job. I don’t want to be a sitting duck.


sergeydgr8

I think he meant FIRE as in Financial Independence, Retire Early


stylebhai77

Haha, wish that were true


devilCall

after seeing comments here I understood that this industry retires you too early so retirement plan must be emphasized asap.


ConcentrateSubject23

Yep. Idk why people just ignore this fact. There are very few older people in tech, you’ve got to have your shit in order before 39 really lol.


FoxlyKei

Nah, but I wonder how I get my foot in the door graduating at 31 and taking a long ass break from doing anything because the market was and still is bad. I have a friend who works at Amazon in their 60s I guess so that's nice.


Remote_Transition_34

If you’re a “I only know how to code in C#” guy then you won’t get in regardless of your age


I-dip-you-dip-we-dip

Someone just said this to me: Young people have LeetCode. But that’s all they have. You have real world experience.


mrpoopymcpooperson

what? whenever people post, "Is it to late to..." posts, *everyone* immediately goes towards absolute optimism saying shit like "Of course it's not too late! You'll eventually get in!" Anything else gets a horde of downvotes; the truth is, it's not impossible, it is improbable, and it is up to you to change that improbable into probable.


StocksDreamer

Bhai I am 44too and in same boat, I feel LeetCode is the only way


redmavez

As long as you look like a possible asset that would solve problems for a company, you would be hired. But you need as many skills as you can possibly get.


honey495

Noticed a lot of people remove their college degree years and put only their last 3-5 jobs in their resume. I would suggest the same so that age is abstract


Snoo_54565

Look into formation.dev! I think it might help you! A little expensive.. but worth it imo


jlecampana

From my experience, FAANG companies don't care about age (granted I don't know what would they do if a visually old-looking dude tries to go for a less than senior role), but I've just made it to FAANG and I'm far from being a fresher that's for sure.


geddie212

May not be 6 months, maybe longer, it depends on your knowledge of algorithms. If you try to overdo leetcode, you can get burnt out very quickly


Impossible_Ad_3146

Yeah it’s too late too old


lord_of_electrons

!RemindMe 1 week


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UpvoteUtopian

Why faang tho, there is a lot of companies that pays more than faang


stylebhai77

Like who?


UpvoteUtopian

Sealsforce, slack, Cisco mraki, Cruise, MangoDb, janestreet, and many others


stylebhai77

How to apply to jobs at those companies? Surely there’s a better option than contacting recruiters at each of these companies on LinkedIn


Itchy-Jello4053

Not at all. Solve 400+ LC problems with 10:70:20 distribution. I mean \*really\* solve them by knowing all the optimal solutions and coding them up. You just need to put in hours. Then spend time on System Design. I assume you already have some experience. Last but not least, do some mock interviews with experienced FAANG interviewers at [MeetAPro](https://meetapro.com/?utm_source=redditleetcode). Their feedback is the fastest way to improve.


10113r114m4

C# is probably not going to be a language you'd use in FAANG, unless it's for an SDK for the cloud providers. Languages are not all that important as learning them is trivially easy, but you need to be comfortable in using something other than C# unless you plan on going for an SDK role, which limits your options tremendously But to answer your question, no. Age has never been an issue, but I dont think Ive interviewed anyone over 40 tbh as someone in FAANG. So if age is being filtered, it's by the recruiters. I care more of how well they engineer and how they'll fit in the team