How I got into FAANG

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Over the past months, many colleagues and friends have asked about my preparation, interviewing experience, and how my life has changed since I joined Amazon as a Software Development Engineer, working on the Alexa iOS application.

Although I don’t want to bore you with irrelevant anecdotes and stories, it’s still important for the bigger picture to understand who I am, my background, and how I ended up in the FAANG interview process.

Before code

Just like many reading this article, I don’t come from a traditional computer science educational background. I spent all of my twenties in the restaurant and nightclub industry, navigating a relatively successful decade as a club DJ.

That life, for many obvious and non-obvious reasons, was not sustainable. Working in night clubs six nights per week really takes a toll on one’s wellness, fitness, and ultimately, happiness.

Driven by the mainstream success of mobile applications like Snapchat and Uber, I decided to end my career as a DJ. I began to attend college remotely and was able to get a position as a QE intern at a software company in Munich. There, I developed Selenium UI automation tests in Java.