Facebook has struggled to hire talent since the Cambridge Analytica scandal • Hacker News Board

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

#271

Post by Panini_Jones » Fri, May 17, 2019, 2:09 AM UTC

zippzom wrote: post #268

Personal anecdote: I had a job offer from Facebook and a couple other big tech companies. The Facebook offer was substantially better fiscally than the other ones and it was clear to me that they were having trouble hiring. Their initial equity grant has no cliff and the signing bonus was massive for somebody two years out of school: $75,000 cash in first paycheck. However I ultimately turned it down because of ethic…

> Their initial equity grant has no cliff and the signing bonus was massive for somebody two years out of school: $75,000 cash in first paycheck.

* Google got rid of the cliff too. * The $75K sign-on bonus is nothing new. These are not signals that we're having trouble hiring now.

> However I ultimately turned it down because of ethical concerns about working there combined with a sense that people would not approve of my job choice. I.e. even if I don't find what they're doing ethically questionable (and I do, although I don't think they're so bad), I didn't want to have to explain myself or defend them to everybody when I mentioned where I worked. Just my two cents as somebody who was one of the 50% of candidates who turned down the job.

Honestly, working at FB as a SWE is awesome. Like beyond awesome. If impressing other people is what you're optimizing for, you do you, but just know that you're missing out big time.

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

#272

Post by axaxs » Fri, May 17, 2019, 2:13 AM UTC

I tell everyone I can to avoid them, just based on my own personal experience. It was by far the worst process of any company I interviewed with.

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

#273

Post by dymk » Fri, May 17, 2019, 2:16 AM UTC

> After the publication of this story, Harrison contacted CNBC to say “these numbers are totally wrong.”

> “Facebook regularly ranks high on industry lists of most attractive employers,” Harrison said in a statement. “For example, in the last year we were rated as #1 on Indeed’s Top Rated Workplaces, #2 on LinkedIn’s Top Companies, and #7 on Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work. Our annual intern survey showed exceptionally strong sentiment and intent to return and we continue to see strong acceptance rates across University Recruiting.”

Perhaps it's best not to take a couple ex-recruiters word as blanket truth about company wide trends.

Of course, the article simply mentions this then goes straight back to asserting company wide morale problems, which is an interesting narrative to pursue, when that's not really what the majority of employees are feeling (which is further reflected by strong hiring numbers and low engineer attrition).

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

#274

Post by fune_fr » Fri, May 17, 2019, 2:17 AM UTC

Most companies go through this transition as they fill their niche, the raw eng talent starts to get hidden under an empire-building layer of middle management.

They've been able to hire some middle management to mind what remains. Replacing change-makers with reject managers from Netflix, etc. Not necessarily bad folks, just not going to be doing a lot of work.

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

#275

Post by arcticbull » Fri, May 17, 2019, 2:20 AM UTC

nathanlied wrote: post #192

mrtksn wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>google is a bigger concern for privacy and personal liberty Big claim. Any proofs? With Facebook, what annoyed me was that they set up internal teams to help with political candidates social media campaigns - no matter who the candidates are. Extremely worrisome if you prefer to have people elected through a democratic process that is based on the discussion. This is not like understanding what people want or how do…

> With Facebook, what annoyed me was that they set up internal teams to help with political candidates social media campaigns - no matter who the candidates are. (EU citizen here): I would prefer corporations (especially ones with such depth of funds and breadth of influence) be kept entirely outside the electoral process. If that's not feasible, then the second best option is, indeed, that they provide the same serv…

My ideal system is to eliminate all private money from elections. You as a candidate are given a stipend by the FEC at the beginning of the campaign season, the same amount as any other candidate for the same office, and you are free to spend it. You ran out? Tough. See you next election cycle.

Nobody is allowed to give you money or anything else of value (including free airtime) -- not individuals, not companies, just the FEC. Anything else is bribery, and a crime. That way, you're not going to do things just to please your benefactors and get you an edge over your opponent next time, as your war budget is already accounted for. Instead you can focus on doing what's best for the people.

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

#276

Post by [deleted] » Fri, May 17, 2019, 2:30 AM UTC

55555 wrote: post #252

walls wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google has your data and uses it for themselves. Facebook has your data and gives it (or leaks it) to anyone with money.

They both sell ads and offer advanced targeting options. Very similar businesses.

[deleted]

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

#277

Post by seattle_spring » Fri, May 17, 2019, 2:30 AM UTC

throwaway55554 wrote: post #112

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.

Ok, but Blind is filled with the type of people who would fit right in at FB.

Ouch, there's honestly no worse insult than being compared to the average Blind user.

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

#278

Post by cdcooksey » Fri, May 17, 2019, 2:31 AM UTC

bradlys wrote: post #148

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…

And, yet, here in the bay - my company (a startup) sent out two offers to candidates quite recently and they both went to FB instead. There is no shortage of people joining FB because there's no shortage of people wanting to join a big company. Maybe if they're all comparing offers between big companies then they'll join some other big co but if the difference is startup vs Facebook... FB wins.

It seems like your computer should consider remote workers. I live in Denver and have told Facebook recruiters that I’m specifically not interested in working at Facebook, but I would consider a remote position at a startup. I’m sure as hell not relocating to the Bay Area is all.

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

#279

Post by Despegar » Fri, May 17, 2019, 2:31 AM UTC

tomrod wrote: post #256

Despegar wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if the exec team realizes that the ad-tech industry had their Great Financial Crisis. Nobody is in love with them anymore. They'll get as much reception from politicians as Wall Street did when Congress passed Dodd-Frank. Banks don't earn much more than their cost of capital anymore.

> Banks don't earn much more than their cost of capital anymore. This doesn't sound right. Can you add some citation or detail?

Goldman Sachs's return on equity used to average 20-30% before the crisis. Now a decade after the crisis they're glad to be doing more than 10%.

https://i.imgur.com/gtE05WX.png

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

#280

Post by euske » Fri, May 17, 2019, 2:33 AM UTC

mrtksn wrote: post #64

clairity wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "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 is a bigger concern for privacy and personal liberty Big claim. Any proofs? With Facebook, what annoyed me was that they set up internal teams to help with political candidates social media campaigns - no matter who the candidates are. Extremely worrisome if you prefer to have people elected through a democratic process that is based on the discussion. This is not like understanding what people want or how do…

A bigger problem to me is Google's search bias and subtle manipulation. The same goes for Facebook's news curation algorithm. These things can directly impact our democracy, yet it's much harder to tackle or even investigate, because the whole thing is so elusive and subjective.

To me privacy seems to be already a lost cause. We've lost it and there's little hope to take it back. Also privacy violation is a relatively easy problem to understand. For bias and manipulation, however, we don't even know what to do.