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Ask HN: Is all of FAANG like this?

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Re: Ask HN: Is all of FAANG like this?

#121

Post by ghettoCoder »

jasonmp85 wrote: post #99
austhrow743 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand what you mean by "people like this OP". They don't say that they struggled with the hiring process or feel like a fraud. Rather they seem to be easily capable of the work. Actually I'm not sure what any of your post is about. Your friend doesn't like their job because they're hiring people to make facebook ads more effective?

Hiring doesn’t show whether you’re capable of the work, it just answers whether you might be hired. The reply here is entirely in line with the poster; they didn’t say anything about feeling like a fraud, they said candidates in tech minmax career choices with no thought as to their actual purpose. And yeah anyone remotely self-aware would feel disgusting working on adtech. It’s just that most tech workers do not thi…

Some of us end up working at jobs infinitely worse than adtech, the public service.

Re: Ask HN: Is all of FAANG like this?

#122

Post by _spoonman »

giantg2 wrote: post #106
ransom1538 wrote: post #75

I remember talking to a senior person at FB (wears a suit on friday). I asked "how is hiring?". Their response: terrible. People like this OP game systems, know how to test, understands what the boss wants, know ahead of time the questions they will be asked, etc. They have gamed the entire system. So! They tend to get through the interview with ease. The problem is... now what. What is the next thing they need to ga…

I'm struggling with the purpose of my job too.

I’ve been struggling with just purpose in general for years. I’m a husband and father - those are supposed to be my purpose. But sometimes I don’t feel very good at them. Hang in there. We’ll figure this all out.

Re: Ask HN: Is all of FAANG like this?

#123

Post by nathanvanfleet »

It is not clear but you say you only work one day a week and get away with it, but also blame the tools for the inability to get work done?

The process is supposed to be there to protect things from breaking and for allowing so many people to iterate on the same codebases. If it's just that costly and everyone knows it what is the issue?

You're saying that somehow the cost of you or other teammates is disgusting, which is very funny! Tech companies have some of the highest profit per-employee than any other company. Why are you feeling shame towards this? As long as you are putting in the expected time and effort I really wonder why you would feel shame.

If you think the tools can be improved maybe you can work to improve that for everyone?

Re: Ask HN: Is all of FAANG like this?

#124

Post by foldr »

sneak wrote: post #109
ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't feel like the multiples of a toilet cleaner's wage should be a measurement system since it mostly shows income inequality. For example in Sweden and most of Europe, most devs only make 2x-3x NET of what the toilet cleaner makes. Not only because we're underpaid(which I hate) but the toilet cleaners tend to be paid fairly(which I like). In places with high inequality like South Africa, Latin America, Eastern E…

> For example in Sweden and most of Europe, most devs only make 2x-3x of what the toilet cleaner makes. Most devs in Europe are massively underpaid, and should work on the internet instead of some local underpaid wage-slave job. There is a shortage of skilled programmers in the world. There’s no reason to remain underpaid other than really, really wanting to work a very specific set of local timezone hours.

You are right about the underpayment, but you're underestimating the challenges of finding good remote working opportunities that pay more. For one thing, why would an American company offer to pay me twice as much as I could make in the UK if I'm in the UK? They only have to offer a little bit more to inceltivize me to take the job.

Re: Ask HN: Is all of FAANG like this?

#125

Post by ghettoCoder »

jasode wrote: post #81
jupiter90000 wrote: post #49

This doesn't directly answer your question and you didn't ask it, but I feel it relates directly to the source of your frustration potentially: you may never find a job that is fully satisfactory in terms of what you hope to find. I used to be in a similar boat striving to work towards and find some magical job that would make me feel fulfilled and purposeful. They all ended up having things I didn't like and would q…

>So at least what I did is stop trying to put so much of an expectation on my job to fulfill me. I took responsibility to find and do things at and especially outside of my day job that did fulfill me. I'm not debating you but I just want to point out that your advice depends on the personality. It may even work for most workers but for some us, we cannot mentally "compartmentalize" the day job as the isolated 9-to-5…

May I suggest finding a cause you truly believe in and volunteering your tech skills. Most non-profits and advocacy groups have such a huge tech deficit that they could use someone like you.

Re: Ask HN: Is all of FAANG like this?

#126

Post by oliv__ »

chasd00 wrote: post #115
oliv__ wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yours maybe

bookmark this and come back in 20 years. your life should be fulfilling not your job.

I honestly don't see how a life could be fulfilling if you hate or even just don't care for what you spend most of your time on (work)

Re: Ask HN: Is all of FAANG like this?

#127

Post by nathanvanfleet »

ransom1538 wrote: post #75

I remember talking to a senior person at FB (wears a suit on friday). I asked "how is hiring?". Their response: terrible. People like this OP game systems, know how to test, understands what the boss wants, know ahead of time the questions they will be asked, etc. They have gamed the entire system. So! They tend to get through the interview with ease. The problem is... now what. What is the next thing they need to ga…

The only thing I disagree with is that it's "bizarre." I think on average people have 6 careers in their lives. And people change jobs every few years as well. It's just a part of life to improve or change what you work on and there is no shame in that. I've worked in the bay area for almost 4 years at the same company and I think about changing things all the time.

Re: Ask HN: Is all of FAANG like this?

#128

Post by loh »

maest wrote: post #110
grandmczeb wrote: post #105

Let me explain. I was browsing Facebook on my phone at Philz one day and saw Mark Zuckerberg come in wearing a suit (it was a Friday). I asked him "are coding interviews good?". "No", he said, "they're very bad". I would have asked him to explain, but he seemed to be engrossed in the last level of some sort of Mario Bros game. I went back to my phone and clicked on an ad. Only I never click on ads: it was all a dream…

Is this GPT-3 output?

I love (well, kinda...) that we're going to have to start asking this question on a much more regular basis.

What will be really interesting is when it is actually a GPT-3 bot but no one has any clue, conversing with it like it were anyone else.

Re: Ask HN: Is all of FAANG like this?

#129

Post by oliv__ »

2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #117
oliv__ wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yours maybe

Are you telling me that if you had the financial freedom to work on any project you wanted, you’d choose what you’re doing right now?

I enjoy doing what I do. I think it's possible to combine financial success with personal satisfaction. In fact I believe the greatest financial successes are the ones that are most intimately tied to their creator's personal satisfaction, enjoyment and alignment with what they do

Re: Ask HN: Is all of FAANG like this?

#130

Post by AlgorithmicTime »

jasode wrote: post #81
jupiter90000 wrote: post #49

This doesn't directly answer your question and you didn't ask it, but I feel it relates directly to the source of your frustration potentially: you may never find a job that is fully satisfactory in terms of what you hope to find. I used to be in a similar boat striving to work towards and find some magical job that would make me feel fulfilled and purposeful. They all ended up having things I didn't like and would q…

>So at least what I did is stop trying to put so much of an expectation on my job to fulfill me. I took responsibility to find and do things at and especially outside of my day job that did fulfill me. I'm not debating you but I just want to point out that your advice depends on the personality. It may even work for most workers but for some us, we cannot mentally "compartmentalize" the day job as the isolated 9-to-5…

Have you tried finding fulfillment in having a family?
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