Year in Review: 2023 at Formation

Our goal at Formation is to build a more diverse and skilled engineering workforce, drawing talent from a variety of backgrounds and experiences. Despite the tough times in the tech sector this year, our Fellows have shown incredible resilience and determination. We’re grateful for the small part we’ve played in their journeys.

Formation offers a dynamic, personalized technical interview prep platform tailored to each engineer's individual goals. This year, our Fellowship platform was cemented as the preferred choice for non-CS degree holders hoping to elevate their careers, and many of our Fellows from underrepresented backgrounds are landing roles at top-tier tech companies despite industry layoffs and hiring freezes.

Our goal is to present our placement data in a way that everyone can understand and use to make well-informed choices for themselves. If you’re considering joining our Fellowship, we hope that our clear and simple data helps you decide if it's the right choice for you. Our team is happy to talk to you more to see if it’s a good fit.

That said, we're excited to share key data and trends from our Fellowship in 2023*.

Fellowship data insights

Formation’s mission is to create the diverse engineering workforce we want to see in the world, and that means training engineers with at least some experience from all walks of life and educational backgrounds. We’re proud to support all kinds of engineers in landing their dream roles. Here’s what that meant this year.

• 66% of our placed Fellows didn’t have a CS degree. We are the go-to place for people without CS degrees to level up their careers and learn how to turn hard skills into technical interviewing expertise. 35% were self-taught with non-computer science degrees, and 31% were bootcamp grads.
• 55% of our Fellows identify as being from one or more underrepresented backgrounds in tech. This is contrary to the current market, where underrepresented groups are experiencing a disproportionate impact from layoffs and hiring freezes.
• $81,012 was the average increase in first-year total compensation for our Fellows. On average, Fellows were placed at jobs that paid significantly higher than their previous role.
• Nearly 50% of this year’s placements were at top-tier tech companies. We define top-tier companies as those that are innovative, engineering-driven organizations. This includes FAANG companies and best-in-class high-growth tech organizations. This percentage dropped in 2023 due to FAANG hiring freezes—in 2022, we achieved a 73.8% top-tier placement rate. Our team is working around the clock to apply their combined hundreds of years of FAANG-level experience with the evolving market conditions to help Fellows navigate the market and be best prepared for their interviews. We are optimistic that this rate will increase in 2024. You can check out where our Fellows placed below. We have a wide variety of fellows with a range of experience, and this transparent list shows the full range of company placements,

Tech industry trends

Taking key insights from our own Fellowship and combining them with the latest news in tech, here’s what we think are the important trends that emerged in 2023.

• The job market has been tough. Spread among both FAANG companies and smaller start-ups, 2023 saw 50% more layoffs than in 2022.
• Early-career roles have been significantly impacted. There are a limited number of entry-level roles available, especially for those with non-traditional backgrounds. At the beginning of 2023, 72% of interview requests went to candidates with over six years of experience.
• The technical bar is high. While FAANG-level companies are hiring again, competition is fierce. It’s more important than ever to sharpen technical skills to prepare for interviews at companies with a top-tier hiring bar.
• FAANG companies are hiring again—slowly. We saw a number of our Fellows get hired and begin interview loops at FAANG-level companies, Apple and Meta, for example, that slowed (or froze) hiring earlier this year.
• The average 1st-year total compensation for Fellows with 3+ YOE decreased to about $189,000.  This is on trend with what we’re seeing across the industry. Historically, FAANG-level companies have offered some of the most competitive compensation packages for our Fellows. We’re seeing a leveling in tech compensation. In prior years, the demand for talent outpaced availability so significantly that companies were doing whatever they could to entice individuals to join them, for example, offering large signing bonuses or other incentives. Now, companies are recalibrating, with layoffs, more reasonable and standardized compensation bands, and in some cases, even re-leveling of individual roles.

How Formation is adapting

At Formation, we have an open line of communication with our Fellows. We provide a dedicated team, including three staff members, to support each Fellow. They can provide feedback 24/7 through a number of internal communication channels, including feedback surveys and check-ins. Along with the adjustments we’ve made thanks to Fellow feedback, we made additional changes to further adapt to the evolving tech landscape. Here’s a snapshot of how we’ve enhanced our offerings to better meet the needs of our Fellows during this time:

• AI-powered Job Hunt feature: Introduced a job hunt feature, powered by AI, to algorithmically source and surface up to 5 job postings each day that uniquely align with each Fellows’ job preferences, enabling them to more quickly apply to roles they love at scale.
• Additional interview support: Added coaching and practice for additional interview types and concepts that Fellows are seeing in interviews, increasing the number of interview types we support to all 14 types Fellows may experience.
• On-demand booking capabilities: Made it easier for Fellows to book check-ins, group sessions, and peer sessions on-demand when it works best for them to provide them with flexibility and instant resources.
• New sessions added: Created new session types focused on networking, job hunting, and creating compelling story narratives for behavioral interviews.
• Diversified mentor pool: Added dozens of additional senior engineering Mentors and Career Coaches from FAANG-level companies with years of industry experience to diversify perspectives within our Fellowship. We now have hundreds of mentors and coaches supporting our Fellows.
• Partnered with Netflix: Launched the Netflix x Formation Program to provide rising senior college students from historically marginalized groups with the technical training, senior engineering mentorship, and career coaching they need to prepare them for Netflix New Grad SWE engineering roles.
• Partnered with Waymo: Launched Waymo x Formation to provide rising juniors and current Masters students from historically underrepresented groups with an affinity and interest in autonomous vehicles the opportunity to partake in technical training, senior engineering mentorship, and career coaching, with the goal of securing and succeeding in an internship at Waymo.
• Our first patent: Received a patent on our backend algorithm (USA no. 11551321) that powers our highly-personalized platform approach, creating entirely individualized interview prep roadmaps for each new Fellow to target their unique skills & skill gaps.
• Improved Mentor onboarding: Further built out our Mentor training and mentor feedback channels for more consistent session quality and better session matching for every Fellow.
• Social features: Shipped new features to allow Fellows to better connect and interact with their peers at Formation.
• Fellowship-wide events: Created recurring Town Halls to address ongoing tech industry trends and provide actionable ways to navigate them.
• Alumni Network Events: Added exclusive events for alumni to continue supporting their careers post-Fellowship.
• Improved schedule tools: We now have an automated system for Mentors to take last-minute sessions when another Mentor has an emergency.

These adjustments would not have been possible without our incredible Mentors and Career Coaches who have given their time to our Fellowship. Every single one of them has had a tremendous impact on Fellows’ lives, and we’re grateful to have them in our community.

Looking ahead to 2024

As the industry evolves, so does Formation. We’re proud of the work we did in 2023 and plan to continue the momentum into 2024 and beyond. In 2024, we're excited to build on our successes and bring new improvements to our platform. The tech world is always changing, and we're committed to keeping our Fellows ahead of the curve.

*These numbers are accurate as of our last update on December 21, 2023, and are based on Fellows who submitted placement data on or after January 1, 2023. See the full details on how our numbers are calculated and other important disclosures about outcomes here: https://formation.dev/terms/#outcomes

Ready to level up your own career? Apply to Formation today.