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Experience with formation dev

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Entry-Level Software Engineer at Taro Community6 months ago

Hello! I'm a junior SWE (about 1 year of SWE work experience) and I'm currently building my portfolio + side projects and intend to start interview prep in about July/Aug this year. Hoping to move into a new role by the mid of 2025. Does anyone have recent experience with formation dev and could share on what the experience was like & if it is worth it, especially in the current job market? I am aiming for big tech firms and definitely willing to put in the effort that is needed. Also spoke to a recruiter at Interview Kickstart but read online that the quality has dropped + the recruiter was kinda pushy so if anyone has experience with IK, do share here too. Thank you so much in advance, I'll appreciate any kind of advice on how to go about prepping as this is my first time!

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Discussion

(10 comments)
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    Thoughtful Tarodactyl
    Taro Community
    6 months ago

    Im no expert but I think interviewing.io might be a better deal. Havent used formation or interviewing.io but interviewing.io has dedicated coaching packages for big tech companies and I hear great things. U get assigned a 1-on-1 mentor who will coach you to crack interviews. In either case definitely dont spend money until you get the interviews. In this market getting big tech as a junior is hard (they're not hiring any juniors tbh) and most openings are for atleast mid level.

    • 0
      Profile picture
      Entry-Level Software Engineer [OP]
      Taro Community
      6 months ago

      Thanks so much for your advice! Will defo check them out :'))

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    Tech Lead/Manager at Meta, Pinterest, Kosei
    6 months ago

    I put a few thoughts here!

    Formation.dev is founded by a bunch of ex-Meta people, so I automatically trust it more than others. (and I've enjoyed talking to several members of their founding team)

    We have several people in Taro who have gone through it so let me ask them to share their opinion here!

    • 0
      Profile picture
      Entry-Level Software Engineer [OP]
      Taro Community
      6 months ago

      Hello Rahul, thanks for this! Yes if you know anyone who has had previous experience with formation.dev or any other platform that has been really useful, please do let me know! I can ping you on slack if that helps :'))

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    Software Engineer @ Code Obsessed (Ex-Amazon)
    6 months ago

    In my experience, LeetCode and exchanging mock interviews is enough for DS&A interviews. You can also find many DS&A mocks on Youtube. System Design is more complex, has less straightforward answers, and it's harder to find mocks on Youtube. It could be worth it to buy a paid service for System Design mock interviews, depending on the price.

    I don't trust any bootcamp to teach software engineering. Even university was not useful for that. It simply takes way more time than a bootcamp can give.

    I used to use interviewing.io for DS&A when it was cheaper, but in retrospect I didn't need it. Discipline for doing LeetCode problems is more useful. It's actually surprisingly difficult to do a single LeetCode problem daily. I would be at 1,000+ problems if I did a daily LeetCode problem.

    Interview preparation is mostly about dedication and time. I am certain that if anyone did 1,000 LeetCode problems, they would be ready for DS&A interviews. There is a similar story for System Design. Few of us actually have that kind of mental capacity though.

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      Entry-Level Software Engineer [OP]
      Taro Community
      6 months ago

      Thanks Danny for this! Very useful perspective. Seems like it really does come down in being disciplined, diligent, having a clear plan and sticking to it, especially given the amount of resources available out there.

  • 1
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    Tech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course Hero
    6 months ago

    So Formation.dev is one of the better interview bootcamps out there. They have results, and the founders are legit. However, their results have definitely dwindled in this market, especially among junior engineers.

    Personally, I don't think Formation.dev is worth it right now, especially if you already have Taro on your side. Formation.dev is extremely expensive (around $5,000), because selling the time of talented humans directly is very hard to scale. In this economy, just getting the interview is much harder, and that's not something Formation.dev is uniquely qualified to do (optimizing a resume is really not that hard).

    At the end of the day though, it's your call. If you can't buckle down and do a LeetCode problem to save your life (and you can't find an accountability partner here in Taro or elsewhere), then Formation.dev can be worth it. With these programs, you aren't paying for the advice (that's already online, including in Taro), you are paying for the people who force you to a follow a regimen. It's sort of like a group of career parents.

    InterviewKickstart and Formation are not miracle cures: If they were and could guarantee a Big Tech placement, they would cost $50,000 (that's less than the raise I got when I broke into FAANG), not $5,000.

    Regardless of your choice, I highly recommend our job searching course if you haven't gone through it already: [Course] Ace Your Tech Interview And Get A Job As A Software Engineer

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      Entry-Level Software Engineer [OP]
      Taro Community
      6 months ago

      Thanks Alex for the solid advice, you made several good points. Then what do you reckon of places like interviewing.io? Read somewhere that if you do well for your annonymous interview, they let you unmask your identity and that can be counted as the phone screening round. Is that a good way to get to the next round? I totally agree that securing the interviews are the hardest in this environment

    • 1
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      Thoughtful Tarodactyl
      Taro Community
      6 months ago

      With interviewing.io https://start.interviewing.io/company-introductions you need atleast 4 YoE and be in the top 10% for their intros to work. They have a really awsome discord server. Highly recommend u join it. You can ask the staff any questions you have and also talk with other folks who have done the mentorship program or also other mentors

      I'm not affiliated with them or anything. I'm just a huge fan of their platform and ive received a ton of great advice from folks in the server

    • 0
      Profile picture
      Tech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course Hero
      6 months ago

      Then what do you reckon of places like interviewing.io?

      Never worked with it. In general, I don't believe in paid interview services minus LeetCode Premium as learning to build self-control is incredibly valuable. Even if you dodge it for the interview by paying folks to hold you accountable, you need to do it after you start the job.

      That being said, everybody is different and I trust the people within the Taro community. There are folks here who used Formation.dev and succeeded. There are folks here who used interviewing.io and succeeded. Clearly, they can work.