The Tech Career Podcast with Fexingo: Engineering Jobs, Interviews, and FAANG Career Strategy

Episode 24 of The Tech Career Podcast breaks down the real onboarding experience at FAANG companies in 2026. Lucas and Luna trace a typical first 90 days for a new software engineer at Amazon, from reading internal codebases to shipping their first feature. They discuss why your first project is often your hardest, how to navigate team documentation that was last updated three years ago, and why building a reputation for asking good questions beats coding fast in the first quarter. The hosts also share the single metric Amazon uses to evaluate new hires at day 90 — and why most engineers miss it. Specific case: an SDE-2 at Amazon's AWS S3 team in Q2 2026. Listeners will learn the five things a new FAANG engineer should do in week one, the right way to ask for help without looking incompetent, and how to turn your first 90-day review into a promotion track.

#FAANG #Amazon #AWS #S3 #Onboarding #NewHire #SDE #Engineering #TechCareer #First90Days #CareerAdvice #SoftwareEngineering #CodeReview #Mentorship #RampUp #TechJobs #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast

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Lucas and Luna tackle a stressful but common scenario: your FAANG coding interview veers off the planned question. Maybe the interviewer adds a constraint you haven't seen, or asks you to solve a problem you've never encountered. Lucas breaks down a three-part framework — pause, reframe, communicate — using a real example of a binary search question that got twisted into a search in a rotated array. They discuss why interviewers do this deliberately, how to buy thinking time without freezing, and why the worst mistake is to keep coding in the wrong direction. Luna shares a counter-intuitive tip from a Google interview debrief: one candidate got a 'strong hire' after admitting they didn't know the answer but asked great clarifying questions. This episode is for anyone who has memorized LeetCode patterns but panics when the prompt shifts. No scripts, no gimmicks — just tactical advice for the moment your interview stops being a test of recall and becomes a test of adaptability.

#FAANG #TechInterviews #CodingInterviews #InterviewStrategy #ProblemSolving #Engineering #SoftwareEngineering #CareerAdvice #InterviewTips #FAANGInterviews #TechCareers #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #TheTechCareerPodcast #LucasAndLuna #InterviewPrep #Communication #Adaptability

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Lucas and Luna break down the concrete steps for getting promoted at a FAANG company, using the specific case of an engineer at Google who went from L4 to L5 in 18 months. They discuss how to build a promotion packet, get the right manager support, and navigate the calibration process. The episode also touches on how the current tech hiring environment in mid-2026 affects promotion chances, with slower headcount growth making internal advancement more competitive. Lucas shares a real example of a promotion packet that failed because it didn't tie work to measurable business impact, and explains the key difference between 'doing your job well' and 'performing at the next level'. The show closes with a practical checklist for listeners preparing their own promotion cases.

#PromotionAtFAANG #FAANGCareer #EngineeringPromotion #GoogleL4ToL5 #TechCareer #CareerGrowth #ManagerSupport #PromotionPacket #BusinessImpact #Calibration #PerformanceReview #TechIndustry2026 #EngineeringJobs #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #TechCareerPodcast #FAANGStrategy #CareerAdvice

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Episode 21 of The Tech Career Podcast takes on one of the hardest FAANG behavioral interview questions: 'Tell me about a time you failed.' Lucas and Luna break down why this question is so common at Meta, Google, and Amazon, and why most candidates flub it. They walk through a real example from a former Amazon engineer who turned a production incident into a promotion story, and share a specific framework called the 'failure staircase' — a four-step structure that turns a mistake into evidence of growth. The episode covers the one story element that triggers red flags for recruiters, how to choose the right failure (not too small, not too catastrophic), and why the best answers often involve a 'before and after' self-awareness beat. No filler, no vague advice — just a concrete, reusable structure for your next behavioral round.

#FAANG #TechInterview #BehavioralInterview #EngineeringInterview #FailureQuestion #Meta #Google #Amazon #InterviewPrep #CareerAdvice #TechCareers #SoftwareEngineering #InterviewTips #GrowthMindset #SelfAwareness #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #Technology

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You've got a FAANG offer—congratulations. Then your current company matches it with a counteroffer. What do you do? Lucas and Luna walk through a real case: a senior engineer at a Series B startup who got a $340,000 total comp offer from Google. Her CEO countered with a promotion to Staff Engineer and $360,000 in equity over four years. They break down the three things you must evaluate before accepting any counteroffer: vesting schedule differences, the 'loyalty tax' on future raises, and the cultural signal a counteroffer sends to your manager. Plus, how to decline a counteroffer professionally—and why the handoff conversation matters more than you think. This episode is about making a high-stakes career decision without burning the bridge behind you.

#FAANG #Counteroffer #TechCareer #EngineeringJobs #SalaryNegotiation #Google #Startup #Equity #Vesting #StaffEngineer #TotalCompensation #CareerStrategy #JobOffer #BurnBridges #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #Technology #CareerAdvice

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In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the strategic differences between startup and FAANG engineering careers, focusing on how to successfully transition from a small company environment to a large tech giant. They discuss practical steps including adapting to scale, navigating the interview process, and leveraging startup experience as a strength. Specific examples include how to frame your startup work in terms of impact and system design, and why FAANG teams value engineers who have worn multiple hats. The hosts also touch on common pitfalls like underestimating the importance of behavioral interviews and over-indexing on coding challenges. Whether you're at a Series A startup or a late-stage unicorn, this episode offers actionable advice for making the leap without losing your edge.

#FAANG #StartupToFAANG #CareerTransition #EngineeringJobs #TechCareers #InterviewTips #SystemDesign #BehavioralInterview #CodingInterview #ResumeTips #LeverageStartupExperience #Scale #EngineeringCulture #TechGrowth #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #TechCareerPodcast #EngineeringInterviewPrep

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Lucas and Luna discuss the power of a curated 'tech portfolio' — a public collection of code, design docs, and blog posts that demonstrates engineering skill beyond the resume. Inspired by a Google recruiter who said 70% of hiring managers check portfolios before scheduling interviews, the hosts walk through how to choose projects, write READMEs that tell a story, and host work on a personal site or GitHub. Lucas shares why one well-documented side project can signal more than a degree from a top school, and Luna breaks down the single most common mistake engineers make with their online presence. The episode includes practical tips for organizing repos, writing clear documentation, and using your portfolio to reframe career gaps or pivots. No more submitting resumes into black holes — this episode shows how to make your work visible.

#TechPortfolio #EngineeringCareer #SideProjects #GitHub #FAANGPrep #ResumeTips #CodingInterview #TechCareerStrategy #PortfolioBuilding #OpenSource #PersonalBranding #RecruiterTips #TechJobSearch #CareerPivot #EngineeringBlog #Documentation #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast

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In this episode of The Tech Career Podcast, Lucas and Luna tackle one of the toughest moments in any engineer's job search: getting a rejection from a FAANG company after a long interview process. They break down the psychology of rejection, explain why a 'no' from one team doesn't mean a 'no' from the whole company, and share a concrete three-step recovery plan used by a former Google recruiter. Lucas reveals a little-known fact: most FAANG companies allow you to reapply immediately to a different role, and internal recruiters often look favorably on candidates who've been through the process once. Luna adds practical advice on getting specific feedback, even when the company's policy says 'no detailed feedback.' They also discuss how to use rejection as a signal to calibrate your interview prep, rather than as a verdict on your ability. If you've ever bombed a technical interview or gotten a generic rejection email, this episode gives you a framework to turn that disappointment into a faster path to an offer.

#FAANG #TechInterviews #InterviewRejection #EngineeringJobs #CareerStrategy #GoogleRecruiter #BouncingBack #InterviewPrep #TechCareer #CodingInterview #SystemDesign #BehavioralInterview #RejectionRecovery #InterviewFeedback #TechJobSearch #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #Technology

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Lucas and Luna explore how side projects actually tip the scales in FAANG engineering interviews — and not just the 'build an app' kind. They break down a real case: a developer who built a simple open-source tool that grew to 2,000 stars on GitHub and used it to pivot from a non-target school into a senior-level interview loop at Amazon. The hosts discuss what hiring managers look for beyond the resume bullet: maintainability, documentation, and evidence of systems thinking. They walk through the difference between a project that signals curiosity versus one that signals depth, and why a well-commented utility library can beat a flashy but half-finished front-end clone. Lucas shares a specific framework for evaluating your own project — the 'three signal test' — and Luna pushes back on the idea that side projects are only for junior engineers. The episode closes with practical advice on how to frame your project when the interviewer says 'tell me about something you built.'

#SideProjects #FAANG #EngineeringInterviews #GitHub #OpenSource #Amazon #SeniorEngineer #CodingInterviews #TechCareers #SystemsThinking #Portfolio #HiringManager #LucasAndLuna #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #Technology #TechCareerPodcast #InterviewStrategy

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Lucas and Luna help you weigh a FAANG offer against a startup offer — not just salary and equity, but equity structure, vesting schedules, liquidity timelines, and the real difference in engineering culture. They break down the trade-offs using a concrete example: a senior engineer with a $350k total comp offer from a FAANG company versus a $180k salary plus 1% equity grant from a Series B startup valued at $500 million. They walk through the math on how to value startup equity, compare RSUs with ISO options, and think about dilution and secondary sales. The hosts also discuss when a startup bet is worth taking even if the comp numbers look lower on paper — and when FAANG's stability and career development trump a potentially higher upside. This episode gives you a practical framework for making one of the biggest career decisions in tech.

#FAANG #Startup #TechCareer #Engineering #SalaryNegotiation #Equity #RSUs #StockCompensation #CareerStrategy #TechJobs #StartupEquity #SeriesB #Vesting #Liquidity #EngineeringCulture #TechCompensation #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast

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