Out of curiosity, what industry do you work in that doesn't require the leetcode hoops but still pays as well as FAANG? Or is it just due to your experience and network?
I was a long time (18 year) journeyman enterprise software developer until 2014 by trade.
I then started getting “architect” type jobs as far as responsibility. Where I was brought in when the companies needed to mature their processes. But I was still hands on.
I belatedly discovered the “cloud” in 2017 and in 2018 I was hired at a startup where the then new CTO wanted to be cloud native and was envisioning pivoting the company to selling micro services to support large health care companies apps and websites (that came in handy post Covid). I led the efforts.
Two years later a recruiter called me from Amazon Retail about a software developer position. I had no interest in either working for any large company as a software developer or doing the leetCode monkey dance at 46.
We kept talking and she suggested that I apply for a role in AWS Professional Services consulting in “application modernization” - full stack app dev + cloud + “Devops” + a lot of customer facing/presentation responsibilities.
The rest is history.
I don’t recommend this statistically unlikely route to anyone. 99% of developers should “grind leetCode” and get a good at coding interviews.
Working for small companies, I just happen to have experience from pre-sales all the way to implementation down the stack to cloud infrastructure. Not bragging, I’m just old /s.
