[wnolens]

> Personal projects count for a lot for a software developer

This has not been my experience. I have zero personal projects on my resume (despite actually having some) and have no issue getting interviews. A FAANG experience nullifies that project experience, IMO.

> FAANG salary? Red flag.

Completely not my experience. I am constantly being poked and prodded by recruiters and have to play hard to get until they reveal salary as it's usually too low. SO many times they try to convince me to do an interview loop first and reveal comp afterwards ("it depends on how you're leveled in the interview").

I think it's 90% relevance of your actual job experiences. Fix up your resume/linkedin to really sell yourself better. Put any and all technologies/languages you've used - recruiters have that stupid a heuristic.

[haspok]

> A FAANG experience nullifies that project experience, IMO.

_Any_ reasonable experience nullifies personal projects. The myth that a personal github account full of open source personal project activity is the only way to go should die already.

[kayodelycaon]

Once I had some good volunteer experience outside of work, I listed those like they were jobs and dropped projects and GitHub from my resume.

Hasn't been a problem.

[hosh]

It is not the only way to go. However, for people starting out, with no experience, then you have to have something else to show for it.

[habitue]

> This has not been my experience.

The claim is that personal projects can help. You don't have any personal projects (so they haven't helped you) but that isn't evidence personal projects aren't helpful, only that they are not strictly necessary.

[ornornor]

I’ve been in this racket for a decade now. I change jobs every 18 months give or take. I’ve applied to hundreds of jobs over my career. I can count on my hands how many actually did click the link to my personal projects showcase (not a link to my GH although it’s also there, but an actual page in my website presenting the projects and linking to the code) and wanted to talk about any of the ten or so featured projects.

It’s a very very good filter for better culture (according to my personal criteria anyway), but it’s exceedingly rare as to be insignificant.

If you want a job you’re better off doing a couple projects if you’re a junior and then spending your time learning todays new hot framework + buzzwords instead of actual projects. If you’re more senior don’t even bother (unless you want to)

[ipaddr]

25 years in.. you are at this tipping point where those 18 month position look suspect and people will expect 5 years. Not having a personal project means you might have know how to code the modern wat.. having a popular project changes this. No one visits your website if they do only to see the design.

[ornornor]

I hope I’ll be out of the game well before I have 25 years of experience honestly.

[wnolens]

I'll concede it's a useful crutch for those 1-2y out of a bootcamp. I even used it to get internships in university. And it's the advice I give to my friends in that position. But not OPs situation here.

[JohnFen]

> > FAANG salary? Red flag.

> Completely not my experience.

Whether more than a little experience at a FAANG company helps or hurts you depends entirely on which companies you're applying to. With many, it really is a red flag. With others, it's almost a guarantee that you're going to round 2.

[smith7018]

It's a wash and entirely up to whomever is reading your resume. Does the reader hate Facebook and find it morally reprehensible? Great, your 3 years at Facebook won't be viewed positively. Does the reader think that FAANG means you have 3 years experience shipping at massive scale? Cool, they'll think you're qualified.

[wnolens]

Right. It's a harmful bias to have as a recruiter/hiring manager. At their own peril, I guess! But honestly I've never heard of it outside this thread.

It universally seen as at least "this person passed a very high hiring bar elsewhere". If you were at the staff/principal level at FAANG there's not even technical/design interviews, or they are an underhand pitch and mostly a conversation.

[ipaddr]

No one thinks this person passed a hard hiring bar and we need google to filter candidates. They wonder if this person was so good why did google let them go? Why are they not working there now? Could they not cut it? The other question is how much are they expecting? Will they bolt for another faang if opportunity presents itself.

It's like hiring someone with a phd. Expensive and often the skills are not a fit