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Ask HN: I joined a FAANG and it is awful

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Re: Ask HN: I joined a FAANG and it is awful

#101

Post by Noumenon72 »

seahawks78 wrote: post #84

"Instead, I'm on a team that has and horrendous turnover and is staffed with below-average IQ people." "This company builds EVERYTHING in house, and the toolset is like going backwards in my career 10 years." I am guessing this is either Amazon or Google. I would think that this is most likely Amazon ("horrendous turnover": 50% of people who join Amazon leave within the first 2 years). In LinkedIn you will routinely…

What's wrong with being derogatory? If I want to go to the bar and complain that my coworkers are all so ugly it hurts to look at them, that doesn't hurt them, and you could genuinely sympathize.

Edit: below-average IQ people can be genuinely painful to work with. If you recast it as "I have to explain simple things to my coworkers repeatedly, they don't grasp abstractions, forget what was said in meetings, and make random changes without understanding why", you should be able to sympathize with that. It's also a sign your team is considered low status, and you might not be able to accept that.

Re: Ask HN: I joined a FAANG and it is awful

#102

Post by im3w1l »

My first advice is "fuck the haters" here saying you shouldn't judge your coworkers. You absolutely should.

With that out of the way: Do you want to become a leader? Do you want to lead these people? Is it realistic to do so? If you are their better than this might be a good way to handle it.

If you are unable or unwilling to lead them, then you should probably transfer out asap. They'll pull you down, and you will notice it happen and you will resent them for it.

Re: Ask HN: I joined a FAANG and it is awful

#105

Post by ldjkfkdsjnv »

tZqGafFdSbj5w34 wrote: post #78
laurieg wrote: post #14

"staffed with below-average IQ people" I'm not sure why your co-workers' IQ is your concern. To come out of the gate with a comment like this sounds like you have a strong disdain for them. Part of your reason for joining the company was the paycheck. I assume the checks aren't bouncing. My advice is the same advice I would give to many people: Learn from your coworkers. Understand the problems that the team and the…

I seem to be getting a lot of heat for this comment - fair enough, but I will expand on that. Before joining this company, I hired and managed teams across various startups. I don't think I would be speaking out of turn to say in every company we looked for aptitude and intelligence. I don't know what my previous or current colleagues literal IQs are, but you know a highly intelligent person when you meet and work wi…

You shouldnt have to feel bad for calling people low IQ. I work at FAANG and feel the exact same way. Completely underwhelmed by the talent.

Re: Ask HN: I joined a FAANG and it is awful

#106

Post by sagivo »

I've been in two FAANG companies and I can tell you know - go back to startups. I came from startups and couldn't wrap my head around how slow things are. In FAANG everything is promotion driven so people spend most of their energy reverse engineering the system and choosing work that will help them get promoted. It's a never ending, beautifully designed rat race. You will spend weeks on performance reviews, evaluations and other HR corporate mambo jumbo. If you spend more than 50% of your time on actual work you are lucky.

If you have a startup mindset you should go back to startups. You will be more productive, happy and grow faster.

Re: Ask HN: I joined a FAANG and it is awful

#107

Post by dehrmann »

xeromal wrote: post #89
tZqGafFdSbj5w34 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I seem to be getting a lot of heat for this comment - fair enough, but I will expand on that. Before joining this company, I hired and managed teams across various startups. I don't think I would be speaking out of turn to say in every company we looked for aptitude and intelligence. I don't know what my previous or current colleagues literal IQs are, but you know a highly intelligent person when you meet and work wi…

IQ is kind of a weird metric to measure people by. Do they get their shit done?

I read it as a proxy for "am I going to learn from them."

Re: Ask HN: I joined a FAANG and it is awful

#108

Post by TigeriusKirk »

tZqGafFdSbj5w34 wrote: post #85

I appreciate all the comments (even the criticism). In so many ways, this post has already helped me see things more clearly. One final thought is that I know I can quit - that isn't the question. I could make more money (with less stability) consulting, or find a middle ground at a Series C+ company. What I probably should have said in my OP is that quitting feels wrong. I've never quit a position after three months…

You don't owe them anything beyond your best effort during the time you work there.

There's nothing wrong with leaving a broken work situation.

Re: Ask HN: I joined a FAANG and it is awful

#110

Post by nostrademons »

tZqGafFdSbj5w34 wrote: post #78
laurieg wrote: post #14

"staffed with below-average IQ people" I'm not sure why your co-workers' IQ is your concern. To come out of the gate with a comment like this sounds like you have a strong disdain for them. Part of your reason for joining the company was the paycheck. I assume the checks aren't bouncing. My advice is the same advice I would give to many people: Learn from your coworkers. Understand the problems that the team and the…

I seem to be getting a lot of heat for this comment - fair enough, but I will expand on that. Before joining this company, I hired and managed teams across various startups. I don't think I would be speaking out of turn to say in every company we looked for aptitude and intelligence. I don't know what my previous or current colleagues literal IQs are, but you know a highly intelligent person when you meet and work wi…

Of possible interest to you:

https://www.ribbonfarm.com/the-gervais-principle/

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