It’s hard to find a developer who would turn down an opportunity to work at a FAANG company. Needless to say, it’d be even harder to find an aspiring developer who would opt out of said opportunity. An internship or a junior-level position at one of the FAANG (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google) companies means not only a competitive salary and attractive perks, but also challenging tasks and endless self-education possibilities, vitally important during the early stages of one’s tech career. Lastly, having one of the top-tier companies on your resume significantly simplifies further career advancement and places you on a broad avenue for networking.
In this article, I will talk about trending tech skills in 2021 that may help trainees or junior developers secure their desired position at FAANG. I will also uncover some tips for successful interviewing at the Big Five tech giants and reveal whether a cover letter can assist you in your FAANG job search. Let’s dive in.
Contents
- About FAANG
- Technologies In-Demand at FAANG
- Key Takeaways
- Which FAANG Companies Require a Cover Letter for a Tech Job?
- Interviews at FAANG
About FAANG
The main reason FAANG companies stand out so notably is that the market capitalization for the quintet is over $4 trillion. But for non-investors, these companies have one thing in common – they build services that permeate our daily lives.
- As a Facebook employee, you’ll get a chance to contribute to the development of the 3rd most popular website in the world and the #1 social network, used by 2.8 billion people monthly.
- At Amazon, you’ll join a team of 1 million enthusiasts to work on one of the world’s largest all-in-one stores, or perhaps you’ll work with unique technologies like Alexa and Kindle.
- Being an Apple employee is all about working on exciting projects from iPhone to Siri and helping shape some of the world’s greatest products.
- The subscription-based streaming service Netflix provides its workers with absolute freedom, and a competitive compensation package, with complete health insurance, unlimited vacation days, and even an employee stock purchase plan.
- Lastly, Google (parent company Alphabet) doesn’t even need an introduction. Working on a world-famous web search engine, work and productivity services (Google Docs, Google Sheets), email (Gmail) and video sharing (YouTube) tools would be an honor for any engineer. Speaking of perks, first-year engineers at Google get 15 days of paid time off their first year, but are also allowed to take an unpaid 3-month leave of absence if necessary.
Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? Let’s get straight to the point and see what skills you need to join one of the FAANG companies as a junior software developer.
Technologies In-Demand at FAANG
We analyzed 195 vacancies for aspiring developers advertised on the career pages of Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google. Below is the outcome – the technologies which were mentioned the most frequently in those job listings.
(Note that this research represents only the preferences of the employers and the current market demand.)
The frequently-used terms Machine Learning (71%) and Deep Learning (33%) show us that Facebook focuses on building and scaling AI-based applications, so aspiring ML specialists are in high demand across all the company’s offices. Therefore, proficiency in Image Processing (12%), PyTorch (12%), TensorFlow (9%), Neural Networks (9%), and Data Science (7%) will add value to your resume when applying to Facebook.
Such areas of research as Virtual Reality (43%), Augmented Reality (43%), and Computer Vision (36%) will also keep trending up, and experience in these technologies will be highly valuable at Facebook over the following years.
Python (34%) and C++ (33%) are the most sought-after programming languages. They are mentioned less often than AI technologies, but job postings imply a certain experience in both these languages.
Hardware (29%) is another frequently used keyword in the analyzed job openings, so if you have a practical knowledge of Electrical Engineering (17%), Embedded Software (11%), or Signal Processing (3%), the chances are higher that you can find a job at Facebook.
Amazon
Working for Amazon requires programming language knowledge: proficiency in C++ (65%), Java (57%), Python (48%), C# (43%), and JavaScript (35%) is highly valued at this company. The knowledge of frameworks, such as React.js (13%) and Node.js (9%), will also come in handy if you decide to apply for one of Amazon’s jobs.
Applicants are expected to be capable of utilizing such coding practices as ODD (43%) and should possess some experience with Amazon’s cloud platform AWS (39%). Knowledge of Data Structures (35%) and Algorithms (30%) is also essential.
Just like other top-tier companies, Amazon is actively looking for Machine Learning (30%) professionals with knowledge of Statistics (9%), PyTorch (5%), and TensorFlow (5%). Speaking of soft skills, Amazon welcomes those who are adept at Problem Solving (30%) and Communication (22%).
Apple
