Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Is all of FAANG like this?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

321–330 of 648 posts

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

#321

Post by danjac »

saalweachter wrote: post #167

So the only answer I can give you is "maybe?" because I don't really know how all FAAMGs operate and I don't know exactly how much productivity you are actually seeing. I will say a megacorp feels much less productive than a startup, because of the amount of overhead involved. Meetings on product design, meetings to coordinate development, meetings to talk about how many meetings we have, a month spent writing perf r…

> Meetings on product design, meetings to coordinate development, meetings to talk about how many meetings we have, a month spent writing perf reviews, launch processes that require buy in from three different PAs to change the color of a widget.

This starts to happen to small and medium sized companies once they start hiring from the megacorps.

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

#322

Post by holiveros »

Hard to tell, I would guess most large well-established companies have situations / teams like this.

I work for a large videogame company, things are more or less the same, except we have two clear modes of operation among teams: * "production" (gameteams themselves), work in frantic mode all the time (crunch time being very common) * all other teams, work in glacial mode, technical debt is pretty high, same as your situation

When I started, it was my dream job. Years later...

Quite difficult to find a dream job and maintain that state of mind for long.

I would suggest you speak to your manager(s) and find / create some new projects, be creative and proactive.

Or, your current job may not really make you happy and you'll need to find something else to do.

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

#323

Post by ghaff »

hartator wrote: post #294

> I normally work about one day trickle out my changes during the the week [...] don't feel what I'm doing is ethnically wrong, because the company is evidently pleased Well, it is ethically wrong. If it was not, you weren't trying to mislead the rest of the team by artificially spreading out your work.

I guess you're arguing that you have an ethical obligation to always be working at full speed for your employer, i.e. sandbagging is an ethical failure. I can't agree with that and I'd argue that in at least some situations padding deadlines is the only sensible thing to do. But I suspect we won't convince each other.

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

#324

Post by watwut »

austhrow743 wrote: post #90
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 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?

And in addition slacks as much as he can get away with. There is that option where even if it looks like you can get away with working only on Mondays spreading results, you would work on Tuesday, Wendsday etc too.

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

#325

Post by api »

I've long speculated that FAANG companies over-hire, over-recruit, and over-pay as a way of sucking all the talent off the market to reduce the talent pool for rivals. They certainly have the cash to do this, and top engineering talent is rare enough that it could work.

The shift to 100% virtual tele-work could be a countermeasure, since under-recognized and under-utilized talent exists all over the world.

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

#326

Post by watwut »

Traster wrote: post #174
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.

I knew a very smart guy who even won some competitions and such.

He never found a company or position where he would be productive. He was "demotivated" in multiple companies (I met his former colleges from other companies who confirmed and seen him in multiple teams).

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

#327

Post by davewritescode »

The best places to work aren't necessarily FAANG companies. A good smaller company working at a breakneck pace is often times a lot more engaging. The pay is never going to be as good but work satisfaction can be a lot higher.

What you're describing can be fairly typical at larger companies FAANG or non FAANG.

However, sometimes a big enough project with enough priority comes along where an exec gives you the ability to bypass a lot of red tape. These types of projects are exactly the kind of thing you want to find yourself on and they've given me immense satisfaction.

You may also look to expand your role by fixing/improving things without being asked. I find it hard to believe that you can complete everything that needs to be done on your project by only working one day a week.

I will tell you as someone who oversees a team of engineers, the ones who see the vision and understand why we do things and can get ahead of future issues are way more valuable than people who pick off stories off a board.

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

#328

Post by malechimp »

If what gets assigned to you seems so easy and quick to do, what exactly is holding you back from doing extra in your extra time? I'm sure that if you look around you'll find a dozen ways to add value to your company. E.g. the review process takes too long? Why is that? How can you optimize the bottleneck if any? Maybe write a new tool or propose a new process.

Maybe I'm naive but I would think that quitting a fine job in this economy just because you are asked too little off it...well it just seems plain wrong on every level I can think of.

Then again if you are so unhappy then there is really one constitutional obligation (I guess you're in US) and you have to try to honor it. Move away and try to be happy elsewhere.

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

#329

Post by sjg007 »

Enjoy the job while it lasts. Keep learning. Do good work, document it. Network, network, network. Ask for more work. Help others.

That can be harder than you think at first but remember that nothing stays the same forever. Change is inevitable.

In the end, this is why some people leave and start or join startups. Maybe a new opportunity will present itself because of the people you met and worked with while at your FAANG and they will invite you to join them (or vice versa).

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

#330

Post by jhatemyjob »

> a waste of my time on earth

Uhh.... what? As you say you're only on the computer 1 day a week. So go do something else. Go fishing, spend time with your family/friends, take up a hobby. Life isn't just work. Sheesh.

If you want to "do good work and get paid preportionally" then start your own company. Tech jobs aren't a meritocracy.

Post reply on HN