Skills and Competencies Required to Get Hired by FAANG Companies (5 mins Read)

The FAANG companies which are Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google are some of the largest tech companies in the world. A study of the top corporate roles show a marked difference between the  skills sought after by the market leaders like the FAANGs (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google) as compared with the rest of the market. FAANGs focus on the futuristic view of the strategic skill sets and capabilities, while most of the other companies look at the skills that FAANGs seem to deprioritize in their job postings. 

The study of the top roles across all the sectors show a 40% difference on an average, in the skill sets sought by FAANGs versus other organizations. The skills which FAANGs look at in a marketing manager are engineering, prioritization, problem solving  and business development, while other companies look for the planning ,research and the operations. 

Here are some of the differences in skills that FAANGs seek as compared to the other organizations: 

• Software developers: Most of the organizations look at the skills like integrations and SQL, while FAANGs look for Python, AWS and C/C++ along with problem solving.
• Market research: FAANGs look more at the technical skills, such as science, metrics and engineering , while other companies look for creativity, planning and written communications.
• Finance managers: FAANGs seek critical skills and capabilities like building business partnership, engineering, economics, forecasting and influencing skills, while most of the other organizations seek banking, relationship building and risk management skills. 

The roles and skills are evolving very fast. In e-commerce most of the companies are looking for people with TikTok expertise and in the cyberlandscape, skills like Tensorflow and data lakes are emerging.

What an engineer does at the FAANG companies: The role of an engineer in FAANG companies is all about by the product which is the big difference. There are many engineers who work on a particular product or a project at the same time. The process for everything is nicely structured and quite straightforward. Google can be considered as an ideal example for FAANG companies to operate on a large scale.

At FAANG companies, a person is surrounded by people who are technically sound.  People who have brilliant minds and are technically adept. They know the fact that software is the key at all levels. The non technical employees don’t understand how to code but they grasp it at the conceptual level. Then, the teammates get aligned with each other’s roles and understand their part.

The FAANG companies hire many engineers as they always look for the best talent. They normally design the programs to ensure that all the engineers are doing exceptional work. FAANG companies offer several benefits to their technical as well as the non-technical minds.

Every FAANG company provides the best work environment to their people along with various other benefits like paid off sites, huge salaries, free meals and much more. Engineers working in the FAANG companies work extremely hard and are very consistent in delivering the best performance.

How you can get a job in FAANG companies: Above all, one needs to focus on harnessing the soft skills required to be hired by a FAANG company which are as follows:

The ability to think out of the box, expertise in solving algorithms and data structures, problem solving skills, teamwork, coding expertise, contribution in open source projects, brainstorming, grasp information quickly, ability to improve solutions and organizing one’s thoughts are some of the major qualities that FAANG companies look for in a candidate.

1. Pre screening round: In this phase, the resume is shortlisted by the recruiter and this is considered the most difficult part to crack. A candidate would need to grab the attention of the recruiter by making their CV stand out from the crowd. The interviewer tries to understand the candidate’s background .The CV should match with the job description.
2. The interview process: The interview process varies from company to company, so one should read the blogs which talk about the process. Generally, there are around 3-7 rounds of interviews for an entry level and a lateral movement.
3. Technical test: The concepts one need to focus on are the data structures and algorithms. Doing some competitive programming would help to overcome the challenging problems.
4. Personal interview: This round is divided into two parts, Technical and HR interviews. One can crack the technical interviews by practicing coding and problem solving. The various courses can help the candidates immensely in learning. In the HR interview, candidates will have to prove their worth to the company and explain what makes them the best fit for the role.

Conclusion: We can see that the skills and competencies required to get hired by the FAANG companies are quite different from most of the other companies. If we follow the above tips and techniques, then the prospective candidates can prepare for all the rounds of interviews to the best of his capability. Good preparation will make their selection easier and help the FAANG aspirants stay ahead in the hunt for the job.