Getting real about Tech Companies
INSPIRATION: I want to start my article with a recent incident that occurred with me and many others, it's about a fine day when we visited The Microsoft company for an event conducted by Microsoft Azure named "AZURE DEV DAY". Most of us kept posts, and stories on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter when we attend such types of events/workshops. Just after we hit the post button we get DM's from our followers/friends saying "Hey why did you go there" or "Hey did you go there for an internship" or "Hey are you doing any internship if so how are you doing it" and many more.
HYPE: At an early stage of my life, even I would have done the same if any of my followers posted such a story but now I don't since my whole thinking about tech and companies has changed after I joined a community where I was exposed to the truth about so-called. "MAANG" companies and other such tech giants like Microsoft etc. Hence this motivated me to spread awareness since many deserve at least one chance to know the truth behind these tech companies.
Most of the people around me probably my classmates, seniors, or anyone who has great talent and potential often are underpaid or less recognized while they get placed, they could have used their talent to explore the technology stack they loved but now they are doing a 9-5 job and learning about the companies technology stack and still being underpaid. Hence by seeing such things around me, I got an inspiration to create awareness of many great, unlimited, and unrecognized opportunities one can get by engaging in "Communities" and contributing to "Open Source". Once you start exploring the world of Open Source you will find yourself with unlimited opportunities and endless options in your tech career just all it needs is "a will to learn."
The people are often misguided by this hype created such as "1 or 2 Crore package" or joining an IIT/NIT/IIIT will fetch you a big amount of packages etc unless you have seen the salary breakdown and at last how much cash you get in hand. These all are schemes to hype such tech giants. In India first IIT was hyped and so is "MAANG" overhyped. There are much better opportunities given by tech startup companies or in remote jobs/internships in comparison to "MAANG".
RESOURCES: My way of thinking and my tech career changed after I joined a community named "Hackerabad" and I am always grateful for that. They are many other great communities like Eddie Hub, Community classroom, MLH, etc where you meet people with similar interests, network with them, learn and build together, etc. The best part of learning with communities except for the opportunities is their endless swags and prizes. The communities very often organize or get involved in such hackathons, workshops, and events as Microsoft azure day, and Google cloud community days (just in case you haven't RSVP'ed yet https://gdg.community.dev/events/details/google-gdg-cloud-hyderabad-presents-cloud-community-days-hyderabad-2022-1/), etc.
COMMUNITY LINKS: The below-given communities are some of the awesome, resourceful communities I have been part of :
HACKERABAD: https://discord.gg/VjeDCDDd
COMMUNITY CLASSROOM: https://discord.com/invite/77xJrUBmpp
MAJOR LEAGUE HACKING(MLH): https://discord.mlh.io/
EDDIE HUB: https://discord.com/invite/jZQs6Wu
Atsign Community: https://discord.com/invite/ftrH7c6jZA
PLACES TO CONTRIBUTE TO OPEN SOURCE PROJECTS:
Github: https://github.com/
Google Summer of Code: https://summerofcode.withgoogle.com/programs/2022/projects
Eddie Hub: http://finder.eddiehub.io/
F-Droid: https://f-droid.org/
FossHub: https://www.fosshub.com/
OSDN: https://osdn.net/
SourceForge: https://sourceforge.net/
Open Source Fest with Kubescape: https://www.commclassroom.org/OpenSourceFest
To get started with your first contribution today itself in open source check out this link
Youtube channel links to get you started with open source:
Kunal Kushwaha: https://www.youtube.com/c/KunalKushwaha/videos
Eddie Jaoude: https://www.youtube.com/c/eddiejaoude
Upcoming Events/Workshops/Hackathons:
MLH Hackathons: https://mlh.io/seasons/2023/events
Community Classroom Events: https://www.commclassroom.org/events
Hackon India 2022 by MLH: https://ti.to/mlh/hackcon-india-2022
Google Cloud Community Day: https://gdg.community.dev/
Chainlink Events: https://chain.link/community/events#upcoming-events
and for the rest, you can always explore on the internet.
CONCLUSION: Hence I encourage everyone to enroll themselves in communities and to start contributing to open source since even most companies prefer "Open Source Contributors" and it adds a lot of value to your tech career and resume.
NOTE:- This article does not apply to all developers since few of them like their jobs or have their dreams/fantasies, this article is just to create awareness about "Open Source", "Communities" and "MAANG" so that the reality is known by the developers