Getting into FAANG vs BB/EB/MM
I’m a college student trying to figure out what I want to do, and I’m focusing on tech and ib. I’m wondering if you guys can help me gauge the difficulty of getting a FAANG swe or data science job vs getting an ib job at a known firm. This is assuming that you’ve done all the work, meaning studied/leetcoded for faang, and studied technicals and networked for ib.
Fyi, both fields look interesting to me and I’m still taking classes and internships in both to figure out what I like. I’d like this additional info to see what to prepare for.
Any insights?
unfortunately, both fields are not easy to get into as they both pay very well.
IMO, i think the question you should ask yourself is what you are good at and let that be the guiding post.
As someone who has recruited for and received offers from both SWE (including FAANG) and IB, it depends.
Getting into IB seems much more luck-based as a lot of it is based on your personality, fit interviews and soft skills. On the other hand, FAANG focuses more on your technical skills so it is more objective and feels like less of a lottery.
If you are well-prepared and are able to ace the technical interviews, then getting into FAANG will probably be easier to get into. Otherwise, IB will probably be easier to get into.
How would you judge the difficulty of the tech interviews? How should I prepare and how many hours/week should I spend?
Lot of videos on youtube for SWE. Really depends on your background in coding and your understanding of data structures and algorithms. SWE and Data Scientist are not the same though, so really research what you want to do. DS involves much more quantitative skills, less coding knowledge (a lot of Stats guys in DS roles). SWE is not as math heavy in most cases, just algorithmic stuff.
The programming interviews range from Leetcode Easys to Hards, depending on the company and interview stage. Spend as much time practising Leetcode as you need to until you feel comfortable with Mediums and are able to do some Hards. I think Leetcode Hards are becoming more common these days so ideally you should feel somewhat comfortable doing Hards as well.
Keep practising even after you feel comfortable so that your skills don't atrophy.
Hours/week is irrelevant as it will be different for each individual.
Aside from the programming interviews, you also may have system design interviews so prepare for that as well. Learn CS fundamentals (data structures and algos, OOP, etc.) too.
Note this is all just for SWE interviews. For data science, I don't really know.
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