Does the experience you have with certain programming languages or technologies matter during FAANG interviews?

So as I've mentioned a couple times before: FAANG is not a monolith. This also applies to how language-agnostic each company is:

• On one end of the spectrum, you have Meta and Google where candidates (usually) aren't tied to a specific team in the interview stage.
• Meta is the most relaxed historically about just letting smart people in and they can pick whatever team in bootcamp.
• On the other end, you have companies like Netflix and Apple which tend to hire more specialists where specific technical expertise is extremely important.

If you want to learn more about FAANG, watch our masterclass here: [Masterclass] Should You Work At FAANG? - What Big Tech Is Like For Software Engineers

This makes my answers the following:

Does your experience with certain technologies matter during your interview or team selection process at FAANG companies?

It depends. Usually yes, but the degree will vary.

Does your experience with certain programming languages affect your compensation?

It also depends, but many companies pay certain stacks more than others. For example, Google tends to pay MLEs more than SWEs. However, this doesn't mean you should just pivot into the stack that makes more $$ as I talk about here: "If my main goal is compensation, would it be wise to learn blockchain tech since it will potentially be the tech of the next couple decades?"

I am asking because I saw that some roles at Microsoft that are focused on C++/C# or other OOP languages have a higher compensation range that roles requiring JavaScript/React experience.

In general, C++/C# developers get paid more than other engineers because the supply of them is lower. However, there are downsides to being in these stacks:

1. There are far less roles available compared to JavaScript/React.
2. You need to write C++/C# 😂. I started off writing C++ (it was the core language in UCLA's curriculum back in my day), and I'm never going back.