Episode 308: FAANG to startup and Google interview prep

Published: June 13, 2022, noon

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In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions:

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    I\\u2019m currently working at a FAANG in Europe, and seriously underpaid. I recently got an offer from a US startup (Series C funded) to work remotely. Two big pluses: I\\u2019m gonna get a 2 times pay bump, and I can finally work remotely (and travel across Europe since they support work from anywhere, now that COVID restrictions are relaxed, something I wanted to do for years). Two problems: Their tech stack is Ruby on Rails, something that no \\u201cbig\\u201d companies use so I may not be considered seriously because of last X years of working on a not-so-famous tech, and current tech environment screams of a recession, so I\\u2019m safer at a big company than some startup. Do you think 2.5 years in a FAANG provides enough of credibility to take care of both of these problems if things go south? Any other factors I should consider when moving from FAANG to a remote startup job?

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    So I\\u2019ve been working at this big-tech company for around 4 years and working as a mid-level engineer. I recently got approached by a Google recruiter for L5 or Senior engineer position. I\\u2019ve led a few projects in my current company, but I don\\u2019t consider myself a \\u201csenior\\u201d level. That and the fact that I\\u2019ve worked majorly in Frontend and the role I\\u2019m gonna be getting interviewed for is Full-stack (interview rounds seem to be focused on Distributed systems mostly).

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    I\\u2019ve two questions:

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    • Is this some dirty trick in recruitment I gotta be aware of? I hear about downlevel a lot, but never \\u201cuplevel\\u201d.
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    • If say I do prepare like crazy and pass the interviews, do you think I may not have any luck with the team matching Google does? Like no team may wanna hire a \\u201cjunior\\u201d senior?
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    Love the show! Keep it up.

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