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

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

#581

Post by logicslave » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 8:11 PM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #543

logicslave wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isnt true. Top performers on top products always have larger compensation. Its not discussed openly, but guaranteed they are receiving bonuses in the seven figures. If you think this isnt happening, you are naive or havent been on an inner circle at a large corporation. Whoever told you theres no bonuses at Amazon is not a top employee

Is there any actual evidence of this, though? Whenever software engineer salary comes up on HN, there are always one or two people who come out of the woodwork to share this oh-so-secret information. "Despite the pay bands that all big companies have and some even publish, there are secret squirrel individual contributor software engineers who make $600K and get million dollar bonuses! Trust us, it happens, guarantee…

You think the people inventing the critical algorithms behind amazon s3 and aws in general are line of business employees making what everyone else in their band makes? A trillion dollar corporation is going to let that guy walk out the door to save instead of chipping him an extra million?

This isn't about people who get their work done fast and execute on projects well.

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

#582

Post by vii » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 8:12 PM UTC

CGamesPlay wrote: post #7

It's possible that your or your team's productivity is actually bad, and in general at the company you are expected to do more, but the team you are on is a puddle of low productivity within the overall org. How would you know if this is the case? There are a few signs. What degree of tenure do other people on the team have? If old-timers aren't on the team, or worse, if they leave the team for others within the comp…

Great points!

FAANG companies like to manage people without giving negative feedback. This can be very confusing if you are used to explicit feedback and come from a more direct culture. "Listening to your manager" can be difficult if you are not used to decoding the issues.

Coasting is often possible. But this is not a good strategy - you are throwing away a huge opportunity to excel, grow and take on more challenges and scale. If you are not having a great time with growth on your current team, it's not advantageous to do the minimum. Instead, look for more exciting projects!

Why do FAANG companies allow coasting? It means people can feel safe, find passions and ideally excel and uncover huge value in these growing industries. Rather than a visible stick, there are (invisible) carrots. Take advantage of these!

As noted, eventually, lack of progression will count against you. You will be overlooked when big chances come up and fail to build relationships that will aid you in your career. It's hard to hire people who find these tasks easy - showing your capabilities will open doors.

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

#583

Post by qntty » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 8:15 PM UTC

enumjorge wrote: post #444

qntty wrote: post #372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AKA, please work harder for your corporate masters because poor people are suffering. What's that? You want your corporate masters to pay a fair share of tax so poor will suffer less? No, just work harder and that extra work won't benefit people who need it.

To be fair it’s the OP who’s implying he or she wants to do more. Its not about working harder to please your corporate masters but about taking action to improve your own happiness.

Yes, for OP they seem to have some kind of motivation to work. I was criticizing framing of the issue as not "doing right by your company", not the idea that working harder might be useful for OP. I think we've all been in the situation of having a reason to work harder but still feeling unmotivated. I don't know how "tough love" would help someone like this and the reasons given by khazhoux for working harder make no sense.

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

#584

Post by noknownsender » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 8:22 PM UTC

SubuSS wrote: post #518

ben0x539 wrote: post #502

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I prefer not to discuss compensation Why not?

I guess I have old school compunctions against discussing it, probably comes from generations of folks not talking about it and considering it impolite. I also have seen how people react when they realize there might be a huge pay variation for same titles - it's not good for anyone. I avoid conflict as much as possible nowadays, so it makes me more reticent. I pretty much redirect direct questions even from family b…

I'm generally of the opinion that the tradition of never discussing salary is entirely pushed by management to prevent underpaid workers from asking for more.

If nobody knows how much they could be making, they can never really be sure of what they are worth.

At a company that size, it probably saves Corporate billions, while serving the average employee not at all.

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

#585

Post by fulafel » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 8:23 PM UTC

henrikschroder wrote: post #152

jasode wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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…

> It may even work for most workers but for some us, we cannot mentally "compartmentalize" the day job as the isolated 9-to-5 soul-sucking slog and then use the weekend activities to make up for it. Remember that the absolute majority of humanity are working soul-sucking slog jobs to get a salary to be able to afford a home and food and some nice things. We who work in tech are extremely fortunate to be able to find…

Citation needed!

The global employment rate is about 60%, for reference... So nearly all of the employed would have to have such a demoralizing job to make an absolute majority.

I think many relatively low income workers still have things meaningful social relationships at work, or perform jobs frequently rated as meaningful like nursing/farming, which can make up for some of it.

In nearly all western countries people could get all the things you mentioned even as unemployed, but most people choose to work, frequently because they like luxuries and status.

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

#586

Post by moron4hire » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 8:24 PM UTC

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #529

moron4hire wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it's not easy to find, but it exists out there. I think a lot of people's dissatisfaction comes from the narrative surrounding "financial freedom". We get bombarded with the idea that financial freedom is the one, true path to working on your passions. For a variety of reasons, I think that's bullshit. It creates a false hope that there is some state one can achieve that is free of misery. There is no perfect jo…

This post reads like someone who has achieved (or perhaps inherited) financial freedom and now does whatever they want and doesn't understand why others don't do the same thing. Your first third of your comment argues against trying to obtain financial freedom, but then tries to nudge the reader to do things that likely require financial freedom to achieve. > Or not. Maybe they fire you. But if they do, it's not the…

No. We're not hurting, but we are not by any means financially independent.

You're kind of proving my point on "fears are typically unfounded". Missing a rent payment one month does not usually lead to immediately losing your home. Also, I would wager that a lot of people have friends and family through which they can get assistance if it goes longer than that. It's going to be extremely stressful, but it's not usually going to mean the person is suddenly homeless.

This is what I'm advocating: being more realistic about the worst case scenario. You're probably not actually going to get fired, and you're probably not going to end up homeless if you do.

If your personal, intersectional position is much more precarious, by all means, proceed with more caution. I'm just some dude on the internet. I don't know you. But I'm not writing specifically to you, I'm writing to the aggregate. It doesn't negate that most people have more fear than they need to about getting fired.

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

#587

Post by Maro » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 8:26 PM UTC

I worked at FB London in 2016-2017, on the Workplace team. It was not like the OP describes. It was great, everybody was super smart and hard working, velocity was significantly higher than any other job I had (incl. my own startup). I easily learned the most at FB in my career (I was ~35 then). I always recommend everybody to apply/interview at FB/G because it's such a great oppty to see a "spaceship" from inside, set your own expectations wrt velocity and impact going forward, and just learn a lot. I'm still playing by the "FB playbook" today.

I left bc I didn't like London, I didn't like the DE role, and I can make a lot more money in Dubai (higher comp, no taxes, low cost of living, high conveniance and luxury).

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

#588

Post by Kapura » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 8:42 PM UTC

bumby wrote: post #575

SeanBoocock wrote: post #555

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a fellow game developer I really identify with this. I found a job that I am passionate about, even though it came at a significant tradeoff in terms of total compensation compared to FAANG. I would rather optimize for personal fulfillment and building something worthwhile, even if it comes at the expense of money.

Please don't take this as a disparaging comment because it's not meant to be, but...how to you define "worthwhile"? I had to read the OP's comment twice because it wasn't immediately apparent to me that coding in the gaming industry met my intuitive definition of a "worthwhile" endeavor. FWIW, I think it's awesome you found something that meets your personal goal, I'm just curious how you arrived at that definition o…

This is a compilation of people reacting in real time to the next game I'm working on. Nothing I could ever build at a FAANG company compares to this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtxaEDp3AFI

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

#589

Post by ghettoCoder » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 8:43 PM UTC

feteru wrote: post #134

ghettoCoder wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

What? What do you mean by worse...

Worse as in you try to get things done in a cost effective way in order to deliver value to taxpayers but have to deal with lifers, deadwood, and clueless managers who are completely risk-averse. I know. I work in the public service.

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

#590

Post by ksaj » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 8:53 PM UTC

I thought this was similar for all large enterprises. A bank I used to work for referred to it as silos, because anything you wanted to do required climbing your silo, crossing through a bunch of intermediate silo heads, down the targeted silo, then back again. Repeatedly, until you either finish or give up.