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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

#431

Post by isbvhodnvemrwvn »

BonesJustice wrote: post #92
malandrew wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know lots of engineers, in hiring positions, that have a positive opinion of FB. They still do great engineering and someone working there will learn a lot and take those skills to their next job.

There are engineers who were already working at Facebook when all the negative press started piling up. Then there are the engineers who went to work for them in spite of that bad press. Given the revelations that have come to light, that is a distinction worth considering.

At the same time I don't see people having too much bad opinion about people working in defense industry. Ethics is not an issue with hiring.

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

#432

Post by seisvelas »

JohnFen wrote: post #398
seisvelas wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no money and a very shitty laptop, and thanks to Google Colab's free, hosted Jupyter Notebooks I'm having a blast learning Keras. I'm not saying they're saints, but they've given me something free that's improved my life. Maybe it's ultimately greedy in the sense that later if I need a cloud platform I'll definitely use GCP. But I think that kind of mutualism is actually better in practice than altruism.

> they've given me something free No, they haven't. They're just making you pay with a different sort of currency. I'm not saying that's good or bad, and I'm not saying that you aren't getting value for what you're paying. I'm just saying that the notion that these things are "free" is incorrect.

What is the currency?

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

#433

Post by dontbenebby »

username90 wrote: post #339
dontbenebby wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ironically working for a bank is probably often more moral / does more good than Google. Keeping people's money safe is a very real service. People complain about CC interchange fees, but it costs ~1-2% to process cash as well. (Safes, hiring armored trucks to pick it up, etc). Not all of finance is swapping debt like a commodity til the economy crashes and forclosing on people who had some bad luck. Allowing people…

"Keeping people's money safe is a very real service." Banks primary objective is not to handle transactions but to invest others money in as risky and profitable ventures as legally allowed. As such you are not their customer, you are their product, just like when you use useful free Google or Facebook products such as messaging, document editing, friend connections, search, maps etc.

Depends on the bank. Credit unions don't do this. Neither do "mutual banks"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_savings_bank

There's usually one or the other in pretty much every decent sized city.

My credit union doesn't have a lot of fancy features but it has shared branching (can pull out money at other CUs), ATM access at most 7/11s, and zero cost for a basic checking account that can receive direct deposit, with an online bill pay that can even mail a physical check to whoever I want.

Even larger banks sometimes aren't publicly traded. (

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

#434

Post by drugme »

root_axis wrote: post #425
drugme wrote: post #415

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Orders or magnitude" (plural) means something on the order of 100x. Which suggest to me that either you're either exaggerating quite a bit - or you were using the term without quite knowing what it means. (Which something more specific than simply "a lot").

lol, I know what the term means, thanks. Anyway, a 100x tracking surface area is pretty accurate and not an exaggeration in the least; if anything it is too conservative of an estimate. Just Android, search and analytics on their own are easily 100x the tracking surface area of everything Facebook does, that's without considering: gmail, home, docs, amp, drive, maps, hangouts, chrome, chrome os, messages, voice, ads,…

I don't understand how this isn't completely obvious.

Because you're living in a bubble, and have grown accustomed to thinking that everyone else is using the same lenses to view the world as you are.

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

#435

Post by underwater »

mda wrote: post #349
underwater wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what way? If Google uses your search history to target you with ads is that somehow better than them leaking the data and a third party service targetting you the same way? The end result is the same.

How are they same? Single source you trust versus multiple unknown parties having your data.

Take trust out of the equation. It's one entity that is optimised to extract money from you and your data, vs many companies doing the same.

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

#436

Post by ThePawnBreak »

JohnFen wrote: post #404
bradlys wrote: post #396

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should really count them. They're basically cash after you vest with a public company. Startups have a very low chance of that stock becoming worth anything even after it vests. Comparing faang compensation at $300k tc vs $180k salary plus Monopoly money... Faang wins often enough since you never get enough stock in startups for it to be really worth it. (Short of being a founder)

> You should really count them. I've been in the industry too long to put any real value on them, regardless of whether they're from a Fortune 50 company or a startup. Sure, sometimes they pay, but it's always a gamble. I sorta view them more like lottery tickets than actual compensation.

Dude, the stock you get as a Facebook employee is literally money. It vests every month, so you can go to a broker every month and sell it for thousands of dollars of hard cash. No waiting for IPO, no hoping the stock goes up, no 4 year vesting, no board approvals, no nothing.

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

#437

Post by tozeur »

malvosenior wrote: post #90
bhtru wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have time, can you elaborate why you believe Google is a larger threat to personal liberty and privacy?

Google has far greater potential for invading an individual's privacy than Facebook does. Google has Android, Chrome, search, maps and gmail (and now photos). Those are all very critical pieces to a person's real world life. Facebook has FB, Instagram and WhatsApp. Yes, some private communication but it's limited to "social networking". Your taxes and utility bills don't get mailed to FB Messenger. You don't search f…

I met a lady the other day who said that her job at google was a PM for their advanced technologies group doing “infiltration” into people’s lives.

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

#438

Post by root_axis »

drugme wrote: post #434
root_axis wrote: post #425

Earlier quoted context omitted.

lol, I know what the term means, thanks. Anyway, a 100x tracking surface area is pretty accurate and not an exaggeration in the least; if anything it is too conservative of an estimate. Just Android, search and analytics on their own are easily 100x the tracking surface area of everything Facebook does, that's without considering: gmail, home, docs, amp, drive, maps, hangouts, chrome, chrome os, messages, voice, ads,…

I don't understand how this isn't completely obvious. Because you're living in a bubble, and have grown accustomed to thinking that everyone else is using the same lenses to view the world as you are.

The "bubble" is called reality; I elaborated on my point with detailed reasoning and all you've done is throw around insults like a troll. No point in continuing this discussion any further. Have a nice day.

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

#439

Post by ARandomerDude »

memmcgee wrote: post #426
infinite8s wrote: post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The courts have already supported certain restrictions to free speech, so it doesn't require a wholesale toss of the 1st.

Yes, the idea that campaign donations = speech is a new one as well. Tbh I think we need a constitutional convention to really solve all the problems with the American political system.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._FEC

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

#440

Post by drugme »

root_axis wrote: post #438
drugme wrote: post #434

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand how this isn't completely obvious. Because you're living in a bubble, and have grown accustomed to thinking that everyone else is using the same lenses to view the world as you are.

The "bubble" is called reality; I elaborated on my point with detailed reasoning and all you've done is throw around insults like a troll. No point in continuing this discussion any further. Have a nice day.

I elaborated on my point with detailed reasoning

It was extremely hand-wavy, actually.

Whether you take that as an insult or not is up to you.

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