How to become a Facebook coder
Ask any programmer around the world where they would like to work. Nine out of ten will likely say that they would like to be a Facebook coder. It’s one the most well-known brands on the planet, and anyone would do anything to get there. But what is the secret? What are they looking for? Let’s take a look at what you need before you apply and how you can get a job as a software developer at Facebook.
Get to grips with Facebook’s history
It all started at Harvard College in 2004. It was originally created by Mark Zuckerberg for students. Within a month, half of Harvard’s students had signed up. They expanded the program to other universities later that year and in 2006 it was made open to everyone. It’s also one of the largest companies in the world with approximately 50,000 employees and earning $70 billion in 2019.
The majority of jobs are located in North America
Facebook only advertised for 1,855 jobs in November 2020 across their entire business on its own website. Only 192 were for software engineering. It’s not easy to get into this company, as there are very few open positions. It could be that it is just the time of the year, but it seems very sparse in comparison to the 84,000 software development jobs on Indeed right now. The majority of Facebook’s software engineering jobs, however, are located in North America. Europe seems to be their second most popular location to hire. It’s not surprising.
California is the place to be
Menlo Park is the clear winner, followed closely by New York and Seattle. London is fourth, however, and has a decent number of jobs. These are all tech hotspots so even if you don’t get a job at Facebook immediately, you have other options.
Remote jobs are rare
Only a few remote positions are listed on their website. They aren’t remote, at least not explicitly. However, this could change in the near future. Facebook has allowed people to work remotely since the pandemic and they expect this trend to continue. They may have half of their workforce working remotely in the future, Zuckerberg stated in an interview with The Verge. “We have to do it in a thoughtful and responsible way. We’ll do this in a measured manner. It’s possible, I believe, that we could reach half of the company working remotely over the next five to ten years – maybe closer than 10 years but somewhere in the middle. That’s a huge and ambitious goal. It could change the way you get into the tech company. It’s worth noting, however, that their FAQ states that you will need to live in a nearby area, even if it is far. This could be because they want you to be available to the office on occasion. You can find out more by reading their FAQ.
Things could change so make sure to check back often.
Sometimes, we’ve seen cities such as Tel Aviv and Singapore see a sudden increase in new positions. We believe it’s a useful indicator because the ratios seem to match their largest offices.
What are the top trends Facebook is focusing on?
We noticed key trends as we looked through their job descriptions and career pages. One of these was the need to be able to understand Android and iOS operating system. It is worth keeping up-to-date and learning about all the latest trends. You never know, you could be the one who makes the next breakthrough. These are some of the ones we see often.
Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence
Facebook is just one of many companies that are doing extensive research on artificial intelligence. It’s important to understand the differences between Artificial Narrow Intelligence, where a computer excels at a particular task, and Artificial General Intelligence, which is designed to help a computer think through problems at the human level.
Natural Language Processing
This is where code is used to analyze a sentence to determine what was actually being said. This is a tricky area of programming because human language is full sarcasm. It can be difficult to figure out what someone is trying to say, despite all the subtext and nonverbal cues. This topic is often discussed in a variety ways, including conversational AI, NLP, and dialogue systems. All of them tie into natural language processing.
Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality
You probably already know that Facebook has Oculus and is investing heavily into virtual reality. You might not be aware of augmente