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Facebook has struggled to hire talent since the Cambridge Analytica scandal

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Re: Facebook has struggled to hire talent since the Cambridge Analytica scandal

#231

Post by _bxg1 »

clairity wrote: post #51
jfasi wrote: post #38

I just spent three months hiring in NYC, and now that I think about it, I haven't seen a single person mention they were considering counteroffers from Facebook. For context, Facebook and Google are the two largest tech companies with a significant NYC presence. It's telling that a substantial portion of our candidates admitted to considering competing offers from Google, but literally no one was considering Facebook…

> "It's telling that a substantial portion of our candidates admitted to considering competing offers from Google, but literally no one was considering Facebook." intersting anecdote. google is a bigger concern for privacy and personal liberty, yet jobseekers are shunning facebook because of the more wide-ranging negative press.

Google collects more data, but they're much less free-wheeling with how they share it around. Pick your poison I guess.

Re: Facebook has struggled to hire talent since the Cambridge Analytica scandal

#232

Post by _bxg1 »

mrtksn wrote: post #35
nostrademons wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't think there is any company in the FAANG that is an altruistic enterprise I feel like Google started that way, and then lost its way sometime between 2009-2012. Projects like Google Scholar, Google Books, Google Summer of Code, Google Reader, Google Open Source, Google.org, and pulling out of China didn't really have much of a business justification, but were simply something good that they could do. Unfortu…

I don't think that it has anything to do with altruism. Back then, it was not the right time to optimise for profit as new and exciting things were happening daily, it was time to explore not to exploit. These days the exciting things are happening in other areas, so for the Internet giants, it's time to optimize for profit.

Also, as a smaller player, they stood more to benefit from open source projects (Android and Chrome) and open standards (the web and email). Now that they're on top, the most rational strategy is to secure their position by destroying the bridges they used to get there, locking down those open technologies.

Re: Facebook has struggled to hire talent since the Cambridge Analytica scandal

#233

Post by return1 »

redwards510 wrote: post #55

As much as everyone wants to believe this is because all the applicants are suddenly taking strong ethical stances, I bet it has more to do with Facebook simply not being considering cool or exciting anymore.

Its ML research is exciting. I would like to work with Yann Lecun

Re: Facebook has struggled to hire talent since the Cambridge Analytica scandal

#234

Post by shapov »

dmix wrote: post #164
paxys wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but one of the biggest reasons it isn't considered cool or exiting anymore is all the negative press.

Really? Obvious data privacy issues finally becoming mainstream is what is finally convincing programmers to not want to work there? Hasn’t all of this stuff been obvious forever to programmers?

It's possible now, that this information has gone mainstream, programmers worry about how their non-tech friends view them for working there.

Re: Facebook has struggled to hire talent since the Cambridge Analytica scandal

#235

Post by freedomben »

I've known several people that would no longer work for Facebook, but the Cambridge Analytica isn't the biggest concern. It's the fact that they are censoring people, even within private groups.

I have a friend that jokingly said (in a private group) that men are vile pigs. We knew she was joking - it was good natured. Yet, Facebook issued her a warning and removed her post and threatened her with a ban. First they came for Alex Jones and I said nothing because I don't like Alex Jones (and think he's insane), but now that the precedent is set that Facebook is the speech police, it will expand to us all (especially with their machine learning advancements that are here and yet to come).

The EFF has a really important article about this that I implore everyone to read[1].

[1] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/01/private-censorship-not...

Re: Facebook has struggled to hire talent since the Cambridge Analytica scandal

#236

Post by return1 »

drugme wrote: post #180
redwards510 wrote: post #55

As much as everyone wants to believe this is because all the applicants are suddenly taking strong ethical stances, I bet it has more to do with Facebook simply not being considering cool or exciting anymore.

And the root cause of its suddenly "not being considering cool or exciting anymore" would be?

... not really innovating? its main product is still centered in social signaling and gossip ... just like day 1. Also the social craze is not so crazy anymore (I wonder, how are the other social apps doing?)

Re: Facebook has struggled to hire talent since the Cambridge Analytica scandal

#237

Post by decebalus1 »

mrep wrote: post #179
decebalus1 wrote: post #31

Hmm... the headline is in direct contradiction with what I read on Blind. People are still flocking at Facebook's gate for an offer.

Ha, first thing I thought of when I saw a Facebook struggling to hire post is blind. If any reason is causing people to not interview with facebook, I would argue it was the weekly burnout thread that was happening on blind last year.

Oh, interviewing is one thing. I would advise everyone to interview with Facebook, especially when you don't want to work there (less pressure). If you get an offer, it would most likely be pretty generous so you can further use it as leverage at the companies you want to work.

But yeah, Facebook is the new Amazon when it comes to working people to death.

Re: Facebook has struggled to hire talent since the Cambridge Analytica scandal

#238

Post by village-idiot »

Balgair wrote: post #71
jfasi wrote: post #38

I just spent three months hiring in NYC, and now that I think about it, I haven't seen a single person mention they were considering counteroffers from Facebook. For context, Facebook and Google are the two largest tech companies with a significant NYC presence. It's telling that a substantial portion of our candidates admitted to considering competing offers from Google, but literally no one was considering Facebook…

There is also an issue with the 'evaporative' effect. If no one who works there is seen as 'ethical', then you'd expect the people that do work there to be unethical/dubious. So, trying to get a promotion is then more cut-throat, the lunch crew has a few more 'jerks', the HR is a bit more biting, etc. Your hackels get raised and you are more suspicious of the motivations (however begnin) of others. Better to just not…

There’s also the reputation impact as well. When all of the bad things at Uber eventually became public, Uber engineers started reporting difficulty in getting new jobs. Apparently hiring managers assumed, perhaps correctly, that anyone who stuck it out at a toxic place that long was possibly the source of toxicity themselves.

Re: Facebook has struggled to hire talent since the Cambridge Analytica scandal

#239

Post by UncleEntity »

killjoywashere wrote: post #225
la_barba wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pre-Disclaimer: I don't mean to only pick on Google here, it applies to any company that collects such a vast amount of personal data on users. Also.. nothing personal :) >Actually, Google has. In extremely vague terms, yes. I want to see an itemized list. For e.g. At company X, this is what we collect: 1) Your Name, age, location, DOB. 2) Your location is sent to COmpany X every 10 minutes 3) Your IP is tracked per-…

Far better than an itemized list, you can download all your data from Google https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3024190?hl=en > The default should be zero/as little as possible collection of data. Really? What about telemetry for self-driving cars? Is it immoral to develop a system that leads to less blunt trauma and death on roads? We (HN users, I don't work for any of these companies) can define your term "…

> What about telemetry for self-driving cars?

They own the cars so they can track them all they want.

Tracking me all over the place after I click the "Do Not Track Me" button isn't acceptable.

> Is it immoral to develop a system that leads to less blunt trauma and death on roads?

It quite could be. Just as we humans decided to not use the scientific research generated by the Nazis on unwilling human subjects there are definite limits to what is acceptable even if the overall benefits are huge.

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