This is my motive behind grinding LC to get into a FAANG as well: inflation is out of control, housing in my locale has tripled in price in the past decade, uncertainty regarding climate change and the energy crisis, my lack of faith in social retirement programs.
Many people would kill to have the opportunity to study for 100 hours in order to secure a 2-3x increase in pay. That is only 2 hours a week for a year. If a SWE is making $150k and they can spend 100 hours grinding LC to get a job which pays $400k they are going to make $250k extra in their first year of the new job or $2500/hour spent grinding LC. The present value of an extra $250k/year for the next 20 years of your career at 3% interest is roughly 3.7 million dollars. So over the period of a 20 year career you will net $37k/hour spent grinding LC.
The fact is that so many SWEs — as seen in this thread — outright refuse to grind LC to get into a FAANG which is why not everyone is making boat loads of money at a FAANG. The process to get there is well known but many are not willing to put in the work to get through the process.
I do believe that LC filters don’t reflect a SWEs ability to develop software, but it is a reflection of their commitment to do what it takes over long periods of time to complete an objective, regardless of whether or not that objective has merit.
Many people would kill to have the opportunity to study for 100 hours in order to secure a 2-3x increase in pay. That is only 2 hours a week for a year. If a SWE is making $150k and they can spend 100 hours grinding LC to get a job which pays $400k they are going to make $250k extra in their first year of the new job or $2500/hour spent grinding LC. The present value of an extra $250k/year for the next 20 years of your career at 3% interest is roughly 3.7 million dollars. So over the period of a 20 year career you will net $37k/hour spent grinding LC.
The fact is that so many SWEs — as seen in this thread — outright refuse to grind LC to get into a FAANG which is why not everyone is making boat loads of money at a FAANG. The process to get there is well known but many are not willing to put in the work to get through the process.
I do believe that LC filters don’t reflect a SWEs ability to develop software, but it is a reflection of their commitment to do what it takes over long periods of time to complete an objective, regardless of whether or not that objective has merit.