I’m Michael. I was a principal engineer at Facebook from 2009 to 2017, where I was the top code contributor of all time and also conducted hundreds of interviews. I recently co-founded Formation.dev, an engineering fellowship that trains and refers engineers directly into big tech. Ask me Anything!

r/IAmA

u/abitrolly wrote (the comment Michael replied to):

I burned out from IT startups and spent several years without a job. Now at 40 I run out of money and IT is the only thing I knew. Do I have a real chance at joining FAANG?

u/michaelnovati replied · May 4, 2022 ★ FEATURED

When you say IT, I'm not sure if you mean like hands on programming, or other roles in the IT space. You absolutely have a chance at joining a top tier company. I've seen people from all kinds of backgrounds do it. There's someone who was in his 30s, 40s, was a tattoo artist amongst many other things, and was a great engineer! My only concern would be if you run out of money and can't get the time you need to prepare and focus. Maybe taken a simpler low paying job for a while so you can prepare?