Ask HN: Is all of FAANG like this? • Hacker News Board

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

#171

Post by scarface74 » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 12:43 PM UTC

dtech wrote: post #162

scarface74 wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This meme needs to die. AWS was always built from the ground up to be a new product not an offshoot from Amazon retail. https://www.networkworld.com/article/2891297/the-myth-about-...

Jeff issued a famous memo early on that mandaded public interfaces even for internal usage [1]. GP was talking how this improves reward structure, not about AWS [1] https://medium.com/slingr/what-year-did-bezos-issue-the-api-...

Which has nothing to do with

This was Bezos' reasoning for making as much of their internal software available to the public via AWS

Those APIs had nothing to do with AWS. So how was the original poster not talking about AWS when they mentioned AWS?

Also a clean public interface says nothing about how badly written and documented the underlying code is.

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

#172

Post by rovr138 » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 12:43 PM UTC

oliv__ wrote: post #126

chasd00 wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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)

Live close to work or remote. This reduces commute times and frees up time during your day. Take vacations and do things that excite you. If not remote, take advantage of days you can work from home and go for a long weekend somewhere. Or work from home for a week and go somewhere.

Work to live not the other way around. Clock out and do things.

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

#173

Post by WJW » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 12:44 PM UTC

chownie wrote: post #149

WJW wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's why they pay you money for it. If it was fun, people would do it for free (see the FOSS world and its endless discussions on how to monetize).

That answers a point I didn't make. Everyone exchanges their time for money, if you work a job that's entirely unfulfilling you're trading happiness too. It's an exchange that no one wins.

The company might still win in that exchange, since they get the labor they paid for anyway. Whether you are happy or not is only important insomuch as it alters your productivity. Don't fall into the trap of thinking a company of FAANG size cares all that much about individual employees.

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

#174

Post by Traster » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 12:46 PM UTC

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…

If you're hiring smart people and they get into your company and find no way of succeeding, that's because your company sucks, not your hiring. This person isn't complaining that the job is to make people click on facebook ads, they're complaining because the company is so badly organised that 90% of the time is wasted not even on doing the job.

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

#175

Post by iorrus » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 12:46 PM UTC

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.

I work in R&D for a marquee brand corporation in Europe. Senior Dev, salary is €60k minimum salary in my country is €20k.

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

#176

Post by greeniron » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 12:47 PM UTC

nmpennypacker wrote: post #108

I don't understand how that's 'ethnically' wrong. Yes, all of FAANG companies are like this. In order to work for these companies you have to become comfortable with the idea of being paid more to do less. My advice to you would be to pick up a more rewarding side-project, or to use the in-between hours to do something that you enjoy. Ride a bike or something. Think of your main gig as a function to make money. If it…

i mean, it's definitely not "ethnically" wrong LOL. (ps: in case people missed it, it's ethically, not ethnically)

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

#177

Post by cc23 » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 12:47 PM UTC

I worked at a large tech company, not a FAANG though, and experienced much of the same as you. It took forever to get things done, and a large part of that was due to the dev environment. There were numerous internal tools that were not well documented. Etc.

I moved to working at start ups where the code is open source. Start ups move faster, and it's easier to use open source tools than internal/proprietary tools. At the large tech company, we couldn't use anything past C++03 (this was in 2016), due to technical constraints. At my start up, we use the newest C++ as soon as it comes out.

For what it's worth, the start up I work at now is fairly large and has a lot of code running in production. So I get the reward of pushing to prod, but the dev speed of a smaller company. Sure I take a pay hit, but I still make more than enough money, and I get to work on cool stuff.

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

#178

Post by ZephyrBlu » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 12:47 PM UTC

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…

I feel the same way. I don't see the point in wasting 40hrs of my life every week doing something I hate, I'd rather go all-in on something that interests me and have something to show for the hours I put in.

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

#179

Post by baq » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 12:48 PM UTC

sneak wrote: post #85

cyberdrunk wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I get why it's important, it just feels poopy. I think it summarizes a lot of office work. We're organized in processes which are efficient and/or necessary at the scale of the company, but which severely restrict and constrain us, making a lot of us unhappy. For people for whom it's unbearable, there are two options: either join a small company or just check out completely, treat your job as some bullshit that bri…

> be glad you're not cleaning toilets for 20% of your pay Be advised: If you are programming computers in 2020 and making only 5x what a toilet cleaner makes, you are approximately 100% underpaid.

or maybe programmers are overpaid...

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

#180

Post by doctor_eval » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 12:52 PM UTC

cliff_badger wrote: post #150

plafl wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is why I'm convinced places that use proprietary tech are going to fail in the future since the natural forces of competition will cause the internal technology to stagnate. I doubt proprietary tech is going to fade completely, but it's true that maybe there are forces that are pushing for big companies to make more and more projects open source. If you think about it it makes sense: the employees are happier…

I think you're incorrect, although I hope you're not. This idea will never become a reality for the vast majority of companies, for the exact same reason that companies fear piracy. If I open source my product then anyone who uses that open source code is a lost sale. A lost sale means I make less money, less money means the board is mad, on and on and on... The bottom line is money, and open sourcing their code mean…

Well, that’s only true if you plan to sell the code. Much code exists not for its own sake, but to support the business. Maybe you need to build an in house inventory system for some kind of complex product you’re building. You were never gonna sell that software, but you still won’t open source it because that would help your competitors...