u/IncomeGlittering319 wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
This pretty accurate describes the job hiring process of Codesmith. You do mock interviews with alum as well- both phone screens and video interviews. You also have access to alum who work for CS as mentors to schedule calls with to review your resume or prep for more targeted up
u/michaelnovati replied · ★ FEATURED
I've worked with a couple dozen Codesmith people later on who have paid for Formation for their second, third, fourth job transitions and many still get advice from Codesmith at the same time. The main problem is those support engineers are like your PEERS at Formation and the mentors are actual FAANG-level recruiters and engineers who give better perspective for how top tier companies.
For example, someone's Codesmith mock interviewers told them to "practice their buzzwords more" and they have two mock interviews who focus on DS&A - who could be peers at Formation, versus dozens of FAANG-tier senior, mid, staff, manager level engineers you can choose from to do mocks with at Formation.
These alums have found the Codesmith network useful for referrals because people tend to stay connected for years after graduating.
If you get an offer on your own, free negotiation help from Eric K is great, but again, not as useful for complex top tier offers in my opinion from what I've seen because of no internal experience in compensation at top tier companies and focuses more on salary based non-tech/traditional compensation. I'm sure he would disagree with this statement but it's my opinion in comparing advice he's given people to advice a 20 year FAANG recruiter gave, side by side. Just doesn't have that perspective.
Sorry I talked about Formation too much here, and Formation has downsides too, but the whole point was to show that the lifetime career support at Codesmith is accurate and true but it's not as useful as you progress to top tier companies.