Landing your dream job at Google, Amazon, Netflix, or Apple may seem like a dream, but it’s completely attainable with the right skills and training. Learning institutions like San Francisco Bay University have developed training programs to get you noticed and hired in Silicon Valley, but it’s important you have the right set of skills to get your foot in the door.
Here’s a lit of skills you should acquire before applying:
1) Programming
If you want to work in big tech, you need to know how to program. This may seem daunting, but plenty of resources are available online and in your local community to help get you started. There are dozens of programming languages to choose from, but the most popular ones for big tech jobs include Java, Python, and Ruby on Rails.
2) Mobile development
Mobile technology is growing exponentially. If you want to work in big tech, you need to know how to develop for mobile. Java and Python are the most popular languages used by Google, Apple, and other major companies. According to Glassdoor, these are some of the skills that could help you land your dream job at Google: Advanced knowledge of one or more general-purpose programming languages (e.g., C++, Python, Java)—working knowledge of machine learning concepts and libraries (e.g., scikit-learn, Theano). Experience with natural language processing toolkits (e.g., NLTK). Knowledge of information retrieval systems (e.g., Lucene, Mahout) and big data technologies (e.g., Hadoop, Spark).
3) Web development
Web development is another essential skill for big tech jobs. For example, if you want to work at a company like Google, you need to know how to build websites and web applications. HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are the most popular programming languages for web development.
4) Databases
Most big tech companies use databases to store their data. So if you want to work with them, you need to know how to use and develop database systems. Popular database systems include MySQL, MongoDB, and Cassandra.
5) Systems administration
Systems administrators are responsible for the upkeep and security of computer networks and systems. If you want to work in big tech, you need to learn how to design, configure and maintain computer servers. Most tech companies will require you have knowledge of Linux, Windows, or Mac OS X.
6) Cloud computing
Cloud computing is the future of big tech, so it’s important to know how it works. For example, if you want to work at Amazon, Netflix or Google, you need to know about cloud architecture and implementation. Popular cloud services include OpenStack, Amazon AWS, and Microsoft Azure.
7) Quality assurance
Every company wants products that are consistent with its brand image, but enforcing this consistently isn’t easy without quality assurance specialists working on the ground floor. For example, QA technicians for big tech companies test their mobile apps and websites before they launch them in public app stores or online marketplaces.
8) Big data
If you want to work in big tech, you need to understand what big data is and how it works. According to ZDNet, these are the top skills that could get you hired at Amazon: Experience working with relational databases (such as MySQL or PostgreSQL). Familiarity with tools for distributed computing (including Hadoop distributions such as Cloudera or Hortonworks).
