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Comment by movedx | Hacker News Reader

Is it the "top", though? If you get a job at Apple are you a "made man" at that point? Is your career at its peak?

I don't think so. I would decline a position at Apple, Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.

There are plenty of other companies offering problems at a similar scale that are equally as hard.

If you get a job at FAANG, you are pretty much guaranteed to be employed for the rest of your life due to the weight the names of FAANG carry.

Sure, other companies might offer similar challenges but if you've only worked at a random company X, it doesn't give you an advantage in future job interviews. Name recognition is more important than some realize.

Yeah, pretty much this. I can't stress enough the difference living in a hot area for tech, having a famous school or some big names in your resume makes in attracting recruiters from top companies vs working for some random mom and pop shops in a unknown city.

It used to be like that, but these days I often encounter the opposite, with ex-FAANG people having stigma attached to them, though arguably mostly google. FB is I think second in that.

500k per year, what a tough "stigma"

Well, in the SFBA area, I guess.

Outside (even more outside USA), and also in terms of workplace environment "feeling" and choice of projects, things get a bit different.

Is there still clout? Yes, definitely. But it stopped being automatic badge of merit, at least according to friends who either work(ed) in FAANG companies, or were on the other side of recruitment involved.

Hmmm, I am not convinced. How do you see this stigma manifest?

I've had companies reject my CV explicitly because of my Google job (as they've had bad experience with ex-Googlers before).

That seems like a very narrow minded approach. I’d be concerned about applying to that sort of company just by hearing that they apply nonsensical filters like that. Can you give some examples, since you claim there are multiple?

I once applied for a job at medium-sized startup, passed their phone screen, take home assignment and onsite, and then had a meeting with the CTO where I was told that they have had problems with ex-Googlers before, and then was rejected after that conversation.

Have they mentioned any particular problems that they've had, if you don't mind me asking?

FAANG are good to have on your resume, undoubtedly, but nothing is "for life" in tech.

There was a time when IBM and HP were great brands to have on your resume - today, their reputations are much reduced.

As someone who worked at a FAANG and still struggled to find my next job, I can tell you that this is absolutely not necessarily true. It may moderately increase the number of recruiters that spam you, but in my experience, it did not otherwise make it any easier to find a different job. You're going to still have the 100:10:1 ratio. You're still going to get whiteboard-hazed. You make it sound almost as though you can just waltz through the door at most companies, simply for having worked at one of these FAANG companies in the past.

It would be nice. At least that would give some value to literally studying for their interviews.

> If you get a job at FAANG, you are pretty much guaranteed to be employed for the rest of your life due to the weight the names of FAANG carry.

This is simply false.

I've never been out of work. Ever.

No but that’s not true of the NFL either. For every Tom Brady there are a thousand guys who play for a year or two, make $1 or $2 million, and have to figure out what to do with the rest of their lives. But even getting to that level momentarily takes a ton of talent and hard work.

> ... there are a thousand guys who play for a year or two, make $1 or $2 million, and have to figure out what to do with the rest of their lives ...

What poor, unfortunate souls. Whatever will they do with their millions? /s

It does take a lot of talent and hard work, but that doesn't mean people who are working elsewhere (places other than Apple/Facebook/Google) aren't working hard or don't have talent.

It's as if the argument is: unless you work at a FAANG you're not hard working or talented. Much like people who believe a video game isn't a video game unless it's released on Steam. BS.

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