51–60 of 560 posts
Sure they have so much money that they do research, build open source tools etc. but how that company came by and what it is actually doing, is so different to all the others.
In a bad way.
I have to wonder how many of the top 50 or so tech companies have really sterling reputations for warm-hearted goodness. Powerful organizations usually end up stepping on somebody's toes either in getting to the top or staying there. And really, where else are you going to work if you are a developer and want to make money? One of the big banks? Plenty of dirt there. A defence contractor? Ditto.
I think what’s really stunning is the media blitz in the last few months about the real shady stuff in the major tech firms. Google protecting high level sex abusers and also legal but unprofessional HR violating conduct. Amazon getting sweetheart deals from city governments. Both criticized for military and security state contracts. Google and Mark Zuckerberg both pandering to the Chinese government. Netflix having a cultish abusive work environment. Everything going on at Facebook, which is this year’s Uber in terms of cascading scandals- though last month that was Tesla. Even consumer outrage against Apple’s products for getting increasingly overpriced or less innovative, though that’s more purely subjective. Saudi blood money funding SoftBank and SV startups, alike. It’s almost as if the only leading tech company getting goodwill or at least lack of controversy has been Microsoft.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
My theory is that pay and working conditions at Facebook are as good as they are precisely because of people feeling like this. They are having to pay a premium to attract engineers as a result of the moral opposition.
It's very similar to when you hear people say "I love my job but they don't pay a living wage!" It's because you love your job, you have to pay for that.
I don't buy that. I don't think enjoying your job and being paid well need to be mutually exclusive. I think it's in an employer's best interest that their employees enjoy their job. Part of that is that an employee has to not feel the stress of being underpaid or overworked.
Allowing 19-year-old kids to have their name and photo published in the newspaper of record in an article that quotes their snarky comments about how they're not sure if they'd deign to work for any given company is journalistic malpractice. I don't blame the kids. They're young and naturally earnest, and are marinating in an environment where performative wokeness results in positive social reinforcement. They don't…
They're probably not smart enough to get in, anyway. If they were, they'd go to FB, milk that huge salary, unload their RSU's on a regular basis, save and invest, and FIRE by age 35. Signed, a CS graduate and FB stock holder with 500% return.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
They're probably not smart enough to get in, anyway. If they were, they'd go to FB, milk that huge salary, unload their RSU's on a regular basis, save and invest, and FIRE by age 35. Signed, a CS graduate and FB stock holder with 500% return.
Is it possible that someone smarter than you doesn’t want to work at Facebook? There are plenty of reasons, beyond ideological ones, not to want to work there. I don’t think I have any ideological objections to Facebook, but the product itself doesn’t interest me and I’m not a user.
I don't work at FB but I'm sure for a product of that scale even if you don't use or care about the product itself, there may be interesting projects for you to work on.
I also don't think I'd care to work on FB the product, but I'm sure it'd be interesting to get to use Haskell to fight spam and work with Simon Marlow. They also use OCaml for some compiler stuff that I'm sure would be interesting.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
My theory is that pay and working conditions at Facebook are as good as they are precisely because of people feeling like this. They are having to pay a premium to attract engineers as a result of the moral opposition.
It's very similar to when you hear people say "I love my job but they don't pay a living wage!" It's because you love your job, you have to pay for that.
Allowing 19-year-old kids to have their name and photo published in the newspaper of record in an article that quotes their snarky comments about how they're not sure if they'd deign to work for any given company is journalistic malpractice. I don't blame the kids. They're young and naturally earnest, and are marinating in an environment where performative wokeness results in positive social reinforcement. They don't…
I'm a similar age group / community and this sort of perspective is not at all uncommon, and it's legit. There is no "performative wokeness" going on in my experience.
After Susan Fowler wrote her exposè on Uber's culture a couple years ago, many commented saying that they would have trouble attracting talent given their tarnished reputation. Did that ever happen in practice?
This is anecdotal evidence based on my interview experience and conversations with employees, but it was obvious to me that the company had a win-at-all-costs, cutthroat culture. Fowler's exposé certainly took things to a whole new level, but before her report you could see enough from public information (reports of execs' behavior, etc.) and the interview process to know Uber's values & culture. I know of people who were avoiding Uber before the Fowler exposé. I suspect that Uber wouldn't have wanted those people anyways because of contrasting values.
Put another way, I think that the type of people who wouldn't have joined after the Fowler report wouldn't have joined before it. This is now a few years back, though - seems like things may be different now with Dara Khosrowshahi as CEO.
Allowing 19-year-old kids to have their name and photo published in the newspaper of record in an article that quotes their snarky comments about how they're not sure if they'd deign to work for any given company is journalistic malpractice. I don't blame the kids. They're young and naturally earnest, and are marinating in an environment where performative wokeness results in positive social reinforcement. They don't…
They're probably not smart enough to get in, anyway. If they were, they'd go to FB, milk that huge salary, unload their RSU's on a regular basis, save and invest, and FIRE by age 35. Signed, a CS graduate and FB stock holder with 500% return.
Allowing 19-year-old kids to have their name and photo published in the newspaper of record in an article that quotes their snarky comments about how they're not sure if they'd deign to work for any given company is journalistic malpractice. I don't blame the kids. They're young and naturally earnest, and are marinating in an environment where performative wokeness results in positive social reinforcement. They don't…
They're probably not smart enough to get in, anyway. If they were, they'd go to FB, milk that huge salary, unload their RSU's on a regular basis, save and invest, and FIRE by age 35. Signed, a CS graduate and FB stock holder with 500% return.