do i really want to work out of fang or men company or is it what i'm programmed to think
based on what i see people online saying how amazing it is these are the most amazing companies
to work for you're only successful if you work for one of these companies this is something i've been
thinking about recently as i've been getting so so many questions about why don't you work out
a fan company why don't you go work at facebook or why don't you work at netflix or google and
it really surprised me at first how many questions i was getting related to this because it's not
something i had even really put much thought to and to have so many people be so passionately
asking me this really got me thinking today i'm going to be sharing with you my thoughts
on working at a fang company or mang for this video we're just gonna say fang to keep it simple
but before we dive into it make sure to hit that subscribe button for more tech and coding related
videos give this video a thumbs up and also leave in the comments other tech or coding or career
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also i want to say a huge shout out to formation.dev for sponsoring this video if you
are a junior to mid-level engineer who wants to find a job at a fan-level top-tier company their
fellowship program is meant for you formation has a really unique program that's recently helped
engineers land roles at facebook google twitch lyft airbnb and many of the top companies in
silicon valley and one thing i really like about formation and i thought was really interesting
is it was founded by staff level engineers from both facebook and nextdoor who have interviewed
thousands and thousands of different candidates and wanted to make that process better you can
apply directly on their website at formation.dev for this fellowship and get set up with a training
plan that is personalized to you for your specific skills gaps direct mentorship from
super senior engineers and referrals directly into top companies in the industry that's pretty
amazing and one thing i'm really excited about is to hear directly from the ceo of formation sophie
hi my name is sophie and i founded formation after years of interviewing just hundreds of
engineers at facebook and nextdoor and after years of mentoring people trying to bridge
the gap i learned that people did not need access to any more instruction you know the
internet has made it such that people have virtually unlimited access to material online and
the overwhelming amount of it is actually making it such that people just have no idea what they
should be studying or how good they need to be at what topics um and what people need is not just
more videos or more leak code but rather access to real practice opportunities where they can
practice solving algorithms and talking through system design decisions and get feedback on
how they are performing and so we designed the entire fellowship around this model of unlimited
practice and feedback directly from current engineers at the world's top tech companies
you know technology is having a game-changing impact across almost every industry and
it is my hope that you know if you're ambitious about making a positive impact on the world
that there is a pathway into the tech industry for you
i remember when i was first starting out in the tech industry i often would think that working at
these companies was the end-all be-all that if you work at one of these companies one of these fan
companies you have made it and my thought process on that or my take on that has definitely shifted
a lot as i've grown throughout my experience in the tech industry but before we even really
dive into that i want to kind of highlight that yes there are some amazing perks that
come alongside working at these companies but as a side note to a side note a lot of these perks come
with working at a lot of other companies but we really correlate them directly to fang companies
and that's fine so today i want to share with you some of the pros and cons uh as someone who has
been in the industry now for almost five years as a software developer and has worked at both a big
company and a startup have friends that work at fan companies have friends that work at startups
and just what i've heard and where my thought process is on that i've seen recently a ton of
videos on this topic about do i want to work out a fan company or videos really saying how amazing it
is or how unamazing it is and i really wanted to share my thoughts with you so let's kind of take a
second step back and look at what are the benefits of working at a fan company well for starters pay
usually working at a fan company results in high salary high benefits high stock different
kind of things like that the entire package it often times more than not you are going to have
a really cushy salary and i would say actually cushy full compensation everything that comes with
it another thing another benefit of working at one of these companies is the side perks
from free gym memberships to gyms in the office to unlimited learning resources to these amazing
mentors to just the potential of the perks are it's kind of all-encompassing maybe it'd be free
lunch free snacks free food uh different things like that that definitely make it really enjoyable
another thing that i don't think is talked about enough at fang companies and this is just from
what i have heard from friends as i mentioned i don't work at a fan company but is there is
this community you're working with other amazing people and this sense of especially when you're in
office and you're meeting these other people and connecting with these other people that you get
that sense of community another thing with working at fang companies that is often spoken about is
career growth yes working at a fan company looks amazing on your resume it really helps you whether
you leave a fan company to start your own company or move to another company that that kind of what
is it clout is that what it's called is that what the young kids are calling it nowadays
uh that being able to have on a resume will really help you and elevate you in your career
journey okay so those are just some of the perks of working at a fan company but my question to you
is and something that i've been wondering is can't you get that at other companies can't you get paid
well can't you get that sense of community that learning growth can't you get all those maybe
some some are more than others for example maybe pay isn't quite as high as working in a fan
company as it is at some other companies or maybe uh that career growth or career trajectory isn't
quite as high but can't you get is it really just only these few companies that offer that
and that is why i was always so hesitant when people ask me about
what company is my dream company or what company in fang do i really want to work for or will i
make a switch to a fan company and my answer is for me it's not about what company i work for
it's about aligning myself and my values to a company who has very similar values as well now
is there ever going to be a company that is totally aligned more often than not
no but overall things that are important to me for example are flexibility good pay good community
learning growth being able to grow my career taking on new challenges feeling like i have
mentorship and support so these are all things i just said fang has to offer but i also know from
my experience that this these are all things that a ton of other companies have to offer as well
which i think is really exciting because it means that you're not limited to
five companies or a few companies in order to get these things so here's my takeaway after
kind of my summary or my takeaway out of all of this which is do i want to work at a fan company
it doesn't i'm neutral i don't have a yes or no i absolutely love where i'm at
now and what i am doing now and it's not something that i strive towards but rather i strive towards
just continuing to have my values and my things are important to me met which they are and
that's kind of where i'm at so i don't want to say a yes or a no but i want to say having
that specific company on my resume is completely unimportant to me and actually one thing i often
see well not often but i see some friends or some ex-colleagues or anything like that and i caution
to be aware of is too many people align their full identity with where they work
and oftentimes this is elevated when you work at a very popular company it's something that
you should definitely be proud of and you know let the world know of but it's
there comes a very fine line when it becomes a little too a little too much and i've definitely
had friends who just like they they align their entire identity with where they work
and i think it can be easy and turn to to get lost in that context then and not really know what are
your values your specific uh things that you find important different things like that but rather
focusing more so on what the company finds important only spending time with people in
the company and that can be a very slippery slope so i do feel back in the day maybe i need like a
cane or something back in the day when i was young uh no but back in the day fang companies were
the standard they had a ton of amazing perks that other tech companies did not offer at the
very beginning but do i feel like that is how it is today absolutely not and i really feel like
people should set their goals rather on working for an amazing company that meets their values
versus working for a company just because they heard it's really cool to do so
and there are so many amazing companies that are focusing on really interesting technologies that
are not part of fang i know there are amazing companies working on blockchain web 3 the cloud
different things like that and that's so exciting and they have so much to offer as well the summary
of the summary of this video i would say is really focus on aligning or finding a company that aligns
with what is important to you versus finding a company that is a fan company just to put it on
your resume just to say you have done so okay oh i'm glad i got that off my back this is a topic i
really wanted to talk about for a while because i can't even tell you how many dms i get a day
about do you want to work at a fang company and it really took me off guard at first so
that is my take on it i hope you let me know your thoughts so do you agree do you disagree
let me know where you're at if you haven't already though make sure to click on the link in
the description to check out formation they will literally change your career and in turn your life
through your career so make sure to check them out they have an incredible program
and a lot a lot to offer thank you for watching and i'll see you all soon thanks everyone
you