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by qbasic_forever 1261 days ago
College is the best time in his life to socialize and build relationships that last a lifetime. Let him do his thing. If his grades are fine why are you worried?

For a fresh out of college grad new hire/interview they're going to care much more about grades and school prestige than hobbies or side projects. At least for the major FAANG companies. Something like "deans list BS computer science from Berkeley" or "masters in CS with specialization in AI/machine learning from Stanford" on the resume is going to matter much more for easily getting hired in today's market than "I.. uhh.. like to tinker in my spare time".
3 comments
moffkalast 1261 days ago
Aside from the paycheck, is working for FAANG really something people still want? The workplace politics sound dreadfully toxic there.
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qbasic_forever 1261 days ago
There are some problems like highly distributed computing that you really can't work on anywhere else. No other company is dealing with data on a scale like Google, Amazon, etc. It is a fascinating problem space that's still relatively young and being figured out by the people working on it.
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yolovoe 1261 days ago
Not true. Most FAANGs don't care about grades or even your major. All that matters is the interview which you can get via referrals. The interview is all leetcode for interns and new grads. I have interviewed at FAANGS and work at one.
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probablynish 1261 days ago
Speaking from very recent experience, referrals are by no means enough to get an interview. I found they helped but I think school name (if you go to a top 5 or so) + quality of projects/past experience are also very important.
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qbasic_forever 1261 days ago
Everything changed last year, those companies are in layoffs and have greatly tightened hiring practices. HR is much more strictly filtering and dialing back where they recruit.
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coolspot 1261 days ago
> For a fresh out of college grad new hire/interview they're going to care much more about grades and school prestige than hobbies or side projects.

In my experience it is exactly opposite of that. Especially for FAANG companies.

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qbasic_forever 1261 days ago
Everything is different with companies shrinking. It's an employer's market now and sadly they are mostly filtering based on where you went to school.
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