Ask HN: Is it possible to get a job at Facebook without going to ivy league?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7688226

by _RPM • 12 years ago

7 20 12 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

One of my dream jobs is to work at Facebook. I didn't go to an Ivy League school, but I'm about to have my CS degree from a public university. I am self-taught developer as well.

SamReidHughes• 12 years ago

Facebook hires a number of Stanford people and that's not an Ivy League school.

flylib• 12 years ago

Stanford has a better CS program then any Ivy League school so that's not a surprise

damnmachine• 12 years ago

Just like Google, I'm sure they only admit the best of the best. However, if the skills, creativity, and out-of-box thinking that they desire are present, it shouldn't matter where you went to school. You either have "it" or you don't.

davidalves• 12 years ago

Yes, it's possible.

Source: I went to San Jose State University and I'm a software engineer at Facebook. :)

Slizyboy• 12 years ago

I went to CMU and am a software engineer at Facebook.

Out of curiosity, why do you think that having an Ivy League degree is necessary? Is there anything we did to convey that impression, or anything we can do to combat it preemptively?

_RPM3• 12 years ago

Well, I just have noticed that many people have gone to Stanford or Harvard, you know big name schools. I don't have hard data, but thanks for the comment :)

throwaway344• 12 years ago

Just as a quick note, Stanford isn't an Ivy. The ivies are Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, Penn, and Yale.

samfisher83• 12 years ago

CMU is one of the best schools for CS so...

akuhn• 12 years ago

Hello. I am an engineer at Facebook. My CS degree is from a small school. Our CS department had 5 professors and 50 graduates per year. One of our cafes on campus is called "Living the Dream". That is the kind of people we are looking for. We hire by talent not by school. That said, keep living your dream!

fbguy• 12 years ago

I attended University of Illinois (also a public university) and dropped out, and I'm an engineer at Facebook. :)

mrcorey• 12 years ago

I have a non-technical BS from Ithaca College, did my graduate work in social science, and do research at Facebook. It is a wonderfully heterogeneous place.

mfdutra2• 12 years ago

I'm a drop out from a 3rd world country and I'm an engineer at Facebook. I'm also an interviewer, an trust me guys. We really don't care where and if you graduated. If you are good, you are in.

_RPM3• 12 years ago

Did you create an account to answer this question?

mfdutra2• 12 years ago

Yeah, I didn't have one, I guess. I was hoping to get notifications from this thread, but no. :-(

sangkancilguru• 12 years ago

You can do better than work at Facebook. It is now a big company with all the travails of Corporate Tech America, on the same levels of Ebay and Google.

krapp• 12 years ago

Well, the 'pro' arguments are that these companies you named probably pay well, involve working on interesting and cutting edge technologies, and, having one on your resume would guarantee consideration for jobs in the future.

The cons are, what... they're not tiny startups which no one will even remember a year after they're gone?

devanti• 12 years ago

I know several engineers at Facebook. None of them went to an ivy league school

271828182842• 12 years ago

Hi!

Please, please, please, please, please, please, don't forget the opening text from Y Combinator:http://ycombinator.com/ad.html

Then remember WhatsApp's founder was rejected.

_RPM3• 12 years ago

Hi. I don't understand. I've read it, but can you please share some insight to what that means?

271828182842• 12 years ago

Whenever I see a post that is like "How do I get a job at <POPULAR_COMPANY_XYZ>" I am reminded of the fact that Google tried to sell to Yahoo before they were Google, and that the founder of WhatsApp was turned down by Facebook.

I just have a feeling that you aren't interested in Facebook as much as you are in doing something interesting, which might include a new company.

Ask HN: Is it possible to get a job at Facebook without going to ivy league?

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