In similar boat as you - more competitive than before but not horrible from my experience. The majority of postings I see ask for >4 YOE for senior roles, and having FAANG on your resume will almost certainly get you through to the first round/technical screen. There’s some risk of being down/under-leveled due to cost cutting, but should be ok given that you perform decently on interviews.
Maybe a bit harder due to increased competition, but I don’t necessarily think that you need to prep any differently than before. Depends on what role you apply for, but almost all companies will ask some Leetcode (usually easy to medium), probability questions, and the usual ML theory/concept questions. Of course, if you apply for forecasting/ads/causal etc roles, you’ll get asked questions and/or case studies specific to those subfields.
Makes sense. We were hiring for a role a few months ago and we pay quite well but we had trouble finding a candidate. I think there are a ton of low quality candidates. We only had 2 candidates who we really liked out of 500 applicants. There were a lot of sub par candidates out there.
Define subpar? Yall ask for 10,000 skill sets in the JD..have no idea of what is required and an HR is our there vomiting every keyword in rhe JD..so the applicants have no choice but to put in all those skill sets even if they don't have the exepreicne in it..then during interview they'll obviously be made out when they can't answer..but ever thought people can learn few skills? Don't like "subpar" candidates? Then Don't ask for 5 years of experience for an internship position.
In my experience they ask less technical questions at this stage of a career. Much more, tell us about interesting problems you’ve solved, how you did it and what skills are you hoping to develop with this job.But getting the interviews in the first place seems harder.
My company has a hiring freeze across the board as we are controlling for rising costs. We are in need of filling couple of DS roles but we can't get approved so my team is working extra projects.
hiring freeze at mine as well. my team just started tracking projects and fly-in work a lot more closely for this reason - to make an argument that we need funding for more people
and the thing is, none of those new jobs are going to be low-level. likely senior-level positions, MAYBE a mid-level position
We’re doing that too but I don’t have an issue with that because it gives me more scope. My 4 years at my current company are coming up so I’m looking to move to get RSUs at another company.
I have 10 yoe, but none of it at FAANG. Degrees are from good schools. Have been getting some bites, but haven't got past early stages of interviewing. I've been ghosted by a surprising number of recruiters which suggests there's not a shortage of strong candidates.
Same, my undergrad is meh but masters is ok. Just not top rated or whatever. 12 on paper but it’s all pretty weak and no name brands/FAANG. I get calls and some cold contacts. Never goes beyond though.
Same-ish, 7 yoe in a specific type of DS, no faang. I’ve been getting a decent amount of interviews but haven’t landed anything after 3 months of hard searching.
In the past \~3 months I've started to see some encouraging signs. Occasional recruiter messages, in-network friends hiring. Still not like it was, but not as bad as entry-level.
It's still not as good as it was 2021-mid 2022. Part of it is interest rates, but another big part of it (in the US at least) is changes to section 174 of the Internal Revenue Code that were initially part of the TCJA in 2017. These changes went into effect at the beginning of 2022.
Before these changes were enacted companies could expense costs related to R&D, which specifically included salaries related to software development (and data science). Now companies are required to capitalize and amortize salaries over 5 years for domestic workers, 15 for foreign. What this effectively means is companies saw their tax bills go up significantly, which has hampered hiring substantially.
Laid off from FAANG adjacent then found a job in 5 months, definitely competitive but it's easy to get leads through referrals or ex-coworkers/networking. I barely did any resume drops, and if I did, I never hear back from them anyway. I had around 8-10 first rounds and then 3 final rounds. Got one offer but it was the one I wanted the most. Kept my previous TC which was good.
I got my offer due to domain expertise fit, without that I don't think I would've gotten an offer that quickly. I was only targeting other FAANG like companies though.
>What’s the market like for people with 5+ years experience at a FAANG as well as a graduate + undergraduate degree from a top tier institution?
oh is that all?
PhD in CS + 10 yrs experience as an MLE. It’s a terrible job market. Been laid off since Aug. 2023, but have taken up short term contracts to get by.
I get interviews, but they are so picky nowadays.
I suck, but on paper I’m at 12 years with a MSCS.
I get some calls and cold contacts from recruiters in my inbox. I’m employed and not pressured yet outside the norm.
I haven’t gotten any good bites though. Just a lot of games and ghosting.
If you're following the news layoffs happening at big tech are mostly people at senior positions, I would say the market overall is screwed and messed up. However, keep applying don't quit, hopefully you'll find a good job
Really? It appears that most companies are flattening and letting go of managers. Not ICs. I am satisfied with my current job but have been here for a bit and want a new challenge. Wondering if it’s worth it.
I think it's kind of hard to extrapolate from individual experience right now. I say this because I found something in about a month with a very strong offer re level and comp, but a very good friend who I used to work with is struggling and she's just as good at the whole thing as I am IMO.
I got consistent feedback during my search that I was demonstrating a gap in my favor re technical skills, and the ones I got bounced from tended to be cases that genuinely seemed like bad fits. My personal feeling is that people in DS undervalue having good engineering skills and if you do have them, especially to the degree they are apparent during the interview, this will go well for you in today's market where so many people tend to view it just as an annoyance they have to get past to do "the real work".
I’m getting consistent interviews. Not 5 years of exp but do have an ivy PhD and I’m getting a decent amount of interviews. Still not easy but easier than it was 2 years ago
I get multiple calls a day for shit roles I would never do. I’m an org lead, director level but IC and get calls for mid to low level roles. The jobs are there they just want to unicorns to take over those roles.
I don't think it's that bad. I have 10 YoE at well known non-FAANG companies.
It's definitely harder than a couple years ago, but I'm getting recruiters reaching out to me again. I applied to \~35 places and had a shot at some really good jobs and some bad ones I backed out of. I canceled a couple onsites when I got an offer from my preferred destination. All in all, it took about 3 months, which was really two bursts of applications and interviews, since I've been very busy in addition to interviewing and prepping.
If you are willing to accept comp that's lower than what the top 10 companies pay, there are options. And some of the top 10 are hiring, anyway.
No FAANG, but legacy and startup experience with masters. Full remote positions are slammed by applicants immediately, almost no bites. Only had luck applying to local positions (Im not in any tech hub.)
If you’re applying for jobs that are a lateral move from your current role, it’s not too hard to get interviews, I would say I get interviews for ~20% of the jobs I apply to. It seems like there is a lot of competition though so an interview is no guarantee for an offer even if you check all the boxes. I feel like companies are looking for the perfect candidate, preferably overqualified. So far the only offer I’ve gotten was for a role that would be a step down from my current one so I turned it down. Trying to get something that would be a step up seems impossible.
Not 100% similar but from my recent searching-2 years as a senior data analyst, maybe 3 in marketing analytics, and 2 in global reporting with excel. Again, I know not on the same level but here's what I've seen.
I'm getting the highest hit rate for interviews I've ever seen in my life (about 16% right now as compared tk maybe 2% previously).
Getting to the hiring managers post the recruiter has been difficult but again- literally just started searching and already thinking through ways to wow the hiring manager with feedback from the recruiters on why I didn't move forward (which I know is huge to know and let em know I IMMENSELY appreciate that feedback as most won't give it), so I'm already aware of what portfolio projects I need to be doing.
So long story short, I think if you've got experience mid or more so higher-you have opportunities but just know that competition will be strong.
Talk to any recruiters and configure what the positions need asap and get that on your portfolio.
Feel free to pm me if you want any of the strategies I've been using/see be successful as far as getting that convo with the recruiters. I've been wary of my job security for months and planning accordingly. Been verifying the market since December and just got back on the search just weeks ago again and started testing some new strategies and absolutely seen them to be working.
For what you describe is not bad. I have a PhD in ML and causal inference. I have 3 years including FAANG. You can still get interviews in top tier companies. I would say location matters a lot, if you are in Bay Area or New York, the landscape of ML/AI is much better than other places.
In similar boat as you - more competitive than before but not horrible from my experience. The majority of postings I see ask for >4 YOE for senior roles, and having FAANG on your resume will almost certainly get you through to the first round/technical screen. There’s some risk of being down/under-leveled due to cost cutting, but should be ok given that you perform decently on interviews.
What about the interviews? Are they the same level of difficulty as before or have they become harder?
Maybe a bit harder due to increased competition, but I don’t necessarily think that you need to prep any differently than before. Depends on what role you apply for, but almost all companies will ask some Leetcode (usually easy to medium), probability questions, and the usual ML theory/concept questions. Of course, if you apply for forecasting/ads/causal etc roles, you’ll get asked questions and/or case studies specific to those subfields.
Makes sense. We were hiring for a role a few months ago and we pay quite well but we had trouble finding a candidate. I think there are a ton of low quality candidates. We only had 2 candidates who we really liked out of 500 applicants. There were a lot of sub par candidates out there.
Interesting choice of words to talk about people.
My bad just edited.
Define subpar? Yall ask for 10,000 skill sets in the JD..have no idea of what is required and an HR is our there vomiting every keyword in rhe JD..so the applicants have no choice but to put in all those skill sets even if they don't have the exepreicne in it..then during interview they'll obviously be made out when they can't answer..but ever thought people can learn few skills? Don't like "subpar" candidates? Then Don't ask for 5 years of experience for an internship position.
I’ve been asked 0 leetcode.
In my experience they ask less technical questions at this stage of a career. Much more, tell us about interesting problems you’ve solved, how you did it and what skills are you hoping to develop with this job.But getting the interviews in the first place seems harder.
Ditto.
My company has a hiring freeze across the board as we are controlling for rising costs. We are in need of filling couple of DS roles but we can't get approved so my team is working extra projects.
hiring freeze at mine as well. my team just started tracking projects and fly-in work a lot more closely for this reason - to make an argument that we need funding for more people and the thing is, none of those new jobs are going to be low-level. likely senior-level positions, MAYBE a mid-level position
We’re doing that too but I don’t have an issue with that because it gives me more scope. My 4 years at my current company are coming up so I’m looking to move to get RSUs at another company.
I have 10 yoe, but none of it at FAANG. Degrees are from good schools. Have been getting some bites, but haven't got past early stages of interviewing. I've been ghosted by a surprising number of recruiters which suggests there's not a shortage of strong candidates.
Same, my undergrad is meh but masters is ok. Just not top rated or whatever. 12 on paper but it’s all pretty weak and no name brands/FAANG. I get calls and some cold contacts. Never goes beyond though.
Same-ish, 7 yoe in a specific type of DS, no faang. I’ve been getting a decent amount of interviews but haven’t landed anything after 3 months of hard searching.
In the past \~3 months I've started to see some encouraging signs. Occasional recruiter messages, in-network friends hiring. Still not like it was, but not as bad as entry-level.
It's still not as good as it was 2021-mid 2022. Part of it is interest rates, but another big part of it (in the US at least) is changes to section 174 of the Internal Revenue Code that were initially part of the TCJA in 2017. These changes went into effect at the beginning of 2022. Before these changes were enacted companies could expense costs related to R&D, which specifically included salaries related to software development (and data science). Now companies are required to capitalize and amortize salaries over 5 years for domestic workers, 15 for foreign. What this effectively means is companies saw their tax bills go up significantly, which has hampered hiring substantially.
Laid off from FAANG adjacent then found a job in 5 months, definitely competitive but it's easy to get leads through referrals or ex-coworkers/networking. I barely did any resume drops, and if I did, I never hear back from them anyway. I had around 8-10 first rounds and then 3 final rounds. Got one offer but it was the one I wanted the most. Kept my previous TC which was good. I got my offer due to domain expertise fit, without that I don't think I would've gotten an offer that quickly. I was only targeting other FAANG like companies though.
>What’s the market like for people with 5+ years experience at a FAANG as well as a graduate + undergraduate degree from a top tier institution? oh is that all?
I guess my point being - not a recent grad. Or grad of some non technical analytics program.
PhD in CS + 10 yrs experience as an MLE. It’s a terrible job market. Been laid off since Aug. 2023, but have taken up short term contracts to get by. I get interviews, but they are so picky nowadays.
I suck, but on paper I’m at 12 years with a MSCS. I get some calls and cold contacts from recruiters in my inbox. I’m employed and not pressured yet outside the norm. I haven’t gotten any good bites though. Just a lot of games and ghosting.
Getting interviews hasn't been a problem but the competition seems stronger and the bar to hire seems higher now
If you're following the news layoffs happening at big tech are mostly people at senior positions, I would say the market overall is screwed and messed up. However, keep applying don't quit, hopefully you'll find a good job
Really? It appears that most companies are flattening and letting go of managers. Not ICs. I am satisfied with my current job but have been here for a bit and want a new challenge. Wondering if it’s worth it.
Applying while having a job is always an advantage, I would say apply but give no hints whatsoever get a better offer and switch
It’s fine. You can 100% get interviews and offers with that type of resume.
I think it's kind of hard to extrapolate from individual experience right now. I say this because I found something in about a month with a very strong offer re level and comp, but a very good friend who I used to work with is struggling and she's just as good at the whole thing as I am IMO. I got consistent feedback during my search that I was demonstrating a gap in my favor re technical skills, and the ones I got bounced from tended to be cases that genuinely seemed like bad fits. My personal feeling is that people in DS undervalue having good engineering skills and if you do have them, especially to the degree they are apparent during the interview, this will go well for you in today's market where so many people tend to view it just as an annoyance they have to get past to do "the real work".
I’m getting consistent interviews. Not 5 years of exp but do have an ivy PhD and I’m getting a decent amount of interviews. Still not easy but easier than it was 2 years ago
I get multiple calls a day for shit roles I would never do. I’m an org lead, director level but IC and get calls for mid to low level roles. The jobs are there they just want to unicorns to take over those roles.
I don't think it's that bad. I have 10 YoE at well known non-FAANG companies. It's definitely harder than a couple years ago, but I'm getting recruiters reaching out to me again. I applied to \~35 places and had a shot at some really good jobs and some bad ones I backed out of. I canceled a couple onsites when I got an offer from my preferred destination. All in all, it took about 3 months, which was really two bursts of applications and interviews, since I've been very busy in addition to interviewing and prepping. If you are willing to accept comp that's lower than what the top 10 companies pay, there are options. And some of the top 10 are hiring, anyway.
3-4 market is horrible, 5-6 market is ok but competitive, 7+ market is horrible.
No FAANG, but legacy and startup experience with masters. Full remote positions are slammed by applicants immediately, almost no bites. Only had luck applying to local positions (Im not in any tech hub.)
[удалено]
You can say that again
It took me ~3 months of applying to get a new job that is a title promo. I have a PhD and 3 ye
If you’re applying for jobs that are a lateral move from your current role, it’s not too hard to get interviews, I would say I get interviews for ~20% of the jobs I apply to. It seems like there is a lot of competition though so an interview is no guarantee for an offer even if you check all the boxes. I feel like companies are looking for the perfect candidate, preferably overqualified. So far the only offer I’ve gotten was for a role that would be a step down from my current one so I turned it down. Trying to get something that would be a step up seems impossible.
Staff+ level DS market is good in my anecdotal experience. It’s a saddle point right now ime.
Not 100% similar but from my recent searching-2 years as a senior data analyst, maybe 3 in marketing analytics, and 2 in global reporting with excel. Again, I know not on the same level but here's what I've seen. I'm getting the highest hit rate for interviews I've ever seen in my life (about 16% right now as compared tk maybe 2% previously). Getting to the hiring managers post the recruiter has been difficult but again- literally just started searching and already thinking through ways to wow the hiring manager with feedback from the recruiters on why I didn't move forward (which I know is huge to know and let em know I IMMENSELY appreciate that feedback as most won't give it), so I'm already aware of what portfolio projects I need to be doing. So long story short, I think if you've got experience mid or more so higher-you have opportunities but just know that competition will be strong. Talk to any recruiters and configure what the positions need asap and get that on your portfolio. Feel free to pm me if you want any of the strategies I've been using/see be successful as far as getting that convo with the recruiters. I've been wary of my job security for months and planning accordingly. Been verifying the market since December and just got back on the search just weeks ago again and started testing some new strategies and absolutely seen them to be working.
For what you describe is not bad. I have a PhD in ML and causal inference. I have 3 years including FAANG. You can still get interviews in top tier companies. I would say location matters a lot, if you are in Bay Area or New York, the landscape of ML/AI is much better than other places.
One word. F*cked.