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Ask HN: Ex-FAANG developers, where are you now and why?

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Re: Ask HN: Ex-FAANG developers, where are you now and why?

#391

Post by napoleonIV »

sjg007 wrote: post #199
kangax wrote: post #127

I was E6 at Facebook for 1.5 years. Left due to a combination of not finding the right team/project and constant pressure to work on something impactful rather than fixing existing issues I cared about. This seems to be a common issue at FB with senior engineers joining and having to ramp up quickly (2 of the senior teammates left while I was there for the same reasons). Currently at WeWork where you don't have to wr…

"multi-page assessment of all the impactful things you've done" ... ? So things aren't organized along a product line?

He is probably referring to performance review.

Re: Ask HN: Ex-FAANG developers, where are you now and why?

#392

Post by dlor »

dhnsmakala wrote: post #379
dlor wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, this matches my experience as well. I've been at Google 6 years now in various SWE roles. I can count the number of times I've been directly asked to do something by anyone in my management chain on one hand.

What are examples of things you took initiative on (without violating NDA or revealing personal details?) Are we talking about new major products/features? Did you join with past experience/at a senior level? What org/product area?

It's hard to explain, not because of NDA but because of context specific things. Almost everything I do is open source, but can't fit into a comment.

My only advice to people at BigCo is to make sure you have a good reason for doing whatever it is you're doing. Your boss telling you to do something is not always a good reason to do it.

And make sure you have some kind of metrics that show your work is important. If you're told to do something that you don't think is important, make sure you have metrics showing that your work is more important and do that.

Re: Ask HN: Ex-FAANG developers, where are you now and why?

#394

Post by mleonhard »

I was leonhard@amazon.com for 2.5 years, mike@restbackup.com (failed startup), and then leonhard@google.com for 5 years. Now I'm bootstrapping a dating app business. I'm doing this because:

1) I want to do work that aligns with my passions: technology, making the World a better place, being respected, making money, and feeling peaceful.

2) I'm burned out and this way I can give myself time to rest and recover. Some days I don't work at all.

3) I spent 15 months using the dating apps heavily. They all provide poor experience for people looking for serious relationships. I have a lot of ideas for making the experience better and I want to test them.

If you want to try the app and have influence over its design, send me an email (see my profile) and I'll invite you to the alpha test.

Re: Ask HN: Ex-FAANG developers, where are you now and why?

#395

Post by amirathi »

dhnsmakala wrote: post #378
amirathi wrote: post #268

Ex-Amazon engineer here. Worked for ~4 years in the Prime Music team. Contrary to popular belief, I had incredible time at Amazon. Learned a lot, good work life balance, progressed to L5 etc. Primary reason I quit is to start something of my own and not live under a draconian H1-B visa that treats people like second class citizens (will save H1-B rant for some other time). What am I doing now? I enjoy building dev to…

$2k/mo seemw very high for India (I'm not too familiar), are you supporting a family/spouse as well or is New Delhi just expensive?

South Delhi is expensive. I pay $1000/month on rent. That's also because I have a larg'ish space (home office, guest room etc.)

Living in tier 2 Indian cities or suburban areas can cut down the expense in half. ~$1000/month for a comfortable lifestyle.

Re: Ask HN: Ex-FAANG developers, where are you now and why?

#396

Post by dhnsmakala »

dlor wrote: post #392
dhnsmakala wrote: post #379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are examples of things you took initiative on (without violating NDA or revealing personal details?) Are we talking about new major products/features? Did you join with past experience/at a senior level? What org/product area?

It's hard to explain, not because of NDA but because of context specific things. Almost everything I do is open source, but can't fit into a comment. My only advice to people at BigCo is to make sure you have a good reason for doing whatever it is you're doing. Your boss telling you to do something is not always a good reason to do it. And make sure you have some kind of metrics that show your work is important. If y…

So say my boss assigns me a task of questionable value. Should I really question it having been there for a few months, or would they take it as I don't trust their judgement?

I just started recently and was considering leaving for a startup, but have decided to stay and see if it gets better (I have only been at BigCo for few months). Mainly I feel like I'm not really needed, and it's a long existing and complex system so I can't propose some project of my own that easily. Many changes require multiple teams input etc. Feels slow.

Thanks for the advice, I will definitely keep it in mind.

Re: Ask HN: Ex-FAANG developers, where are you now and why?

#397

Post by mleonhard »

jmillikin wrote: post #34

Another ex-Googler. I worked there as an SRE for six years, then left due to lack of career advancement opportunities[0]. Currently I work at Stripe, which is less capable on some narrow technical metrics but a far more pleasant environment. Stripe is hiring. We list open positions at https://stripe.com/jobs#openings . Email me at jmillikin@stripe.com if you'd like to hear more about the engineering work here. --- Go…

I'm glad to recognize another Xoogler in this thread. I'm leonhard@. I worked on MDB and then on MSV Packages. I'm glad that you landed in a good job. Your comment resonates a lot with me.

Re: Ask HN: Ex-FAANG developers, where are you now and why?

#398

Post by wilbo »

fermienrico wrote: post #111
CydeWeys wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't take the book suggestion to be naive/glib. It could actually be quite helpful. My brief involvement in a failed startup would have gone differently had I known more about the business side of things, and reading a good relevant book is one of the best ways to learn about something.

I strongly and passionately disagree. I’ve read many many startup books. They are all completely and utterly useless in my opinion. If you want to know something specific say accounting, read a book about that specific area. If you want to know more about the “general” aspects of startups - listen to interviews of founders about which unique chellenges they faced. I strongly discourage anyone starting a business to n…

I’m a big fan of “just in time” learning. When I’m facing a specific challenge I look for books and articles that will educate me more about potential solutions (eg your accounting book example).

However, for many founders, myself included, there’s an aspect of “you don’t know what you don’t know” and in these cases I find the generalist books quite helpful. For these topics, it is extremely helpful to have a wide but shallow understanding of business, strategy, law, etc so if you encounter a problem you at least understand enough to know where you can dive deeper (or know you need to hire someone else). The advice in general business strategy books certainly lacks nuance. But for anyone who is not already enmeshed in the many many aspects of running a complete business themselves, they are great guides to gain a 10,000 foot view very quickly.

Re: Ask HN: Ex-FAANG developers, where are you now and why?

#399

Post by Bahamut »

romed wrote: post #276
Bahamut wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But a newly promoted staff engineer has more ability to move up in pay in annual reviews.

Not really. A newly promoted engineer is very likely to get Meets Expectations, since the criteria for promotion is nominally that the person has already been meeting expectations at the next level.

Yes really based on my own experience in a FAANG - if you hit the top of the pay band, your salary will go up at a minuscule percentage, even with significant outperforms ratings.

Re: Ask HN: Ex-FAANG developers, where are you now and why?

#400

Post by dhnsmakala »

anoncoward111 wrote: post #383
dhnsmakala wrote: post #378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$2k/mo seemw very high for India (I'm not too familiar), are you supporting a family/spouse as well or is New Delhi just expensive?

It must be, because I'm living comfortably in NY on less than $2000 a month post tax 0.o

Yeah, same here in the bay area.
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