5 pros and cons of being a Software Engineer in MAANG

It’s been about seven years in the corporate tech industry. I, like a lot of other people, had a dream to join one of the most sought-after tech companies in the world. I eventually landed a job in one of them. In the last couple of years, I have had quite a few personal challenges which forced me to think about how I can get around and find myself in a giant company. I’ll explain some imporant pros and cons of working in big tech in this article. Please note that these are from my personal experiences and might not resonate with everyone.

Pros:

• Good pay: Most software engineers hired in MAANG get RSUs (Restricted Stock Units) that vest over time. When it vests it becomes sellable. These become income. After a couple of years in the company, the base salary + bonuses (stocks + cash bonus) together form a package that is unbeatable by companies that do not give RSUs to employees.
• Job Security: Despite the recent layoffs, my experience with this says that most permanent Software Engineers do not get fired unless something really unexpected happens.
• Good perks and benefits: Nice campuses, sometimes free food, free phones, laptops with high specs, medical, dental, fitness reimbursements, insurance coverages, discounts on apps and products, medical leaves, prolonged paternity/maternity leaves.
• Connections: Most of these companies have a very stringent interview process. Which is the reason why they usually recruit the smartest most hardworking people. It’s a great place to meet really smart people and learn from them.
• Certifications: Usually these companies have the budget for certifications, education, language learning, etc.

Cons:

• Strict Policies and Business Compliances: Policies are everything and everybody needs to follow that. Because of this, the work is often not really flexible. For example, you wouldn’t be able to work from Bali whenever you want. Most of these companies also have no sabbaticals unless there are exceptional situations. This means that you won’t be able to ever entirely focus on your side hustle. You could pursue some side hustles. But, depending on the company there are many rules to the kind of side hustles you can pursue. The general rule is that you can’t pursue anything that conflicts with the business interests of the company. Although, there might be a lot of gray areas around this.
• Intense Interview Process: This isn't really a con of working in a big tech company but I assume there are people reading this who may want to get into these companies. It’s a very well know fact that the interview process in MAANGs is very tough. Coding rounds, system design, behavioral. I’ve personally been on the interview panel a lot of times and often I’m surprised to see how high the bar is. Preparation is extremely important.
• Imposter Syndrome: This is more of a personal topic. It’s great to constantly have smart people around. But, it can also be very overwhelming. It’s very easy to not see any value in the work you’re doing or think that you’re not providing any value.
• Appreciation: Since most of these companies hire people who can be classified as overachievers the performance pressure can be enormous. For example, if you’re in a team that is very engineering driven, but you are more of a people-person albeit an engineer, it is tough to get enough appreciation from the team members. This depends on the manager to a great extent. Often, open and honest communication helps but it’s rare that it solves the root cause of the problem.
• Career Growth: It’s tough to see career growth in such huge companies because of the strong hierarchical structure. If you’re not in the right place at the right time, things might be slow. It highly depends on many external factors and it’s tough to predict how exactly promotion works unless you have a good mentor or a manager.