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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

#161

Post by rejectedandsad »

awsthro00945 wrote: post #151
option_greek wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to mention "so what if the iq is actually low?". These folks have passed the same bar the OP has. Now they have to work together with existing team and achieve what progress can be achieved. Anecdotally, a lot of engineers (and especially managers) have this mentality where they don't treat the job as something that puts food on table and helps the company move their products forward in what ever pace the overall…

>These folks have passed the same bar the OP has. The notion that any type of consistent "bar" exists for hiring at FAANGs is a myth. These companies are far too large to consistently apply hiring standards. Some teams intentionally have different standards, some teams un intentionally (due to the hiring managers or interviewers just not being on the same page) have different standards, even within their specific tea…

I’ve never heard of Olympians or similar (ARML or whatever) at Amazon.

For what it’s worth, the process is becoming standardized at the L5 Industry hire level at Amazon as it was for most L4 new grads. The hiring bar being different across orgs is going away soon.

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

#162

Post by proofbygazing »

jasondigitized wrote: post #142
ldjkfkdsjnv wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm tired of the semantics, my co workers are dumb. They passed these interviews by memorizing the answers to questions, and they cant come up with useful software architecture. Everything they code is a one off solution to a one off problem.

Are they better with people than you are? Does that make you dumb as well? If you were “smart” you would have figured out how to work with your leadership team to optimize a solution for all parties. But you don’t know how to, and therefore from my perspective, could also be considered “dumb”.

This comment feels like cope.

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

#163

Post by rejectedandsad »

proofbygazing wrote: post #160

Cracking up at the response to this thread. The comments here show how desperately tech workers need the validation of being in the Gifted Class and if you insinuate there's a culture of stupidity in FAANG they fall to pieces. No comment on your predicament, best of luck and look for anybody smart and hustling around you that you can latch on to.

Honestly the reason why I’m so depressed/sometimes suicidal is because I’m part of a FANG that everyone considers to be stupid and poor. I wish people ever had given me any validation.

OPs fixation on IQ to denigrate their coworkers is pretty scummy though.

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

#165

Post by rejectedandsad »

fridif wrote: post #20

Everything you've said indicates you are working at Amazon. Save all of the money and run away once you've lucked into a Google offer.

OP said they spent 4 months interviewing for the spot. Only Google takes that long.

But let’s say it is Amazon, and they are right that their coworkers are low IQ. I’m an Amazon engineer and have been for 3 years. Do you think I’m stupid too because I can’t get a Google offer? I contemplate suicide daily because of comments like this. Why should I continue if society and people like you think I’m never going to be worthy of anything?

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

#166

Post by rejectedandsad »

Arainach wrote: post #98
mkleinstadt wrote: post #82

OP joined Amazon without a doubt. (Build everything in house, working nights and weekends, rigid team-switching rules.) I just interviewed there and the onsite presented more red flags than a Soviet military parade. Would definitely recommend treating them somewhat differently from the other FANG companies

When someone joins Google or Microsoft or Facebook, they say "I joined Google/Microsoft/Facebook". When they join Amazon, they say "I joined a FAANG company". It's amazingly how well it correlates.

Do you think that’s because Amazon is a lesser company?

I work at Amazon and I’m depressed as hell because of it - not because the work is bad, but because you people think people like me are subhuman. I’ve studied leetcode for years but apparently my IQ is just too low to get into a better company - what should I do? Is my career over, or should I just accept being considered a subhuman for the rest of my life?

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

#167

Post by DoreenMichele »

rejectedandsad wrote: post #163
proofbygazing wrote: post #160

Cracking up at the response to this thread. The comments here show how desperately tech workers need the validation of being in the Gifted Class and if you insinuate there's a culture of stupidity in FAANG they fall to pieces. No comment on your predicament, best of luck and look for anybody smart and hustling around you that you can latch on to.

Honestly the reason why I’m so depressed/sometimes suicidal is because I’m part of a FANG that everyone considers to be stupid and poor. I wish people ever had given me any validation. OPs fixation on IQ to denigrate their coworkers is pretty scummy though.

Lots of people are suicidal because of real world, intractable problems. Then if you say you are suicidal, they say you just have a mental health issue, not "a real problem."

It's one of the suckiest things humans currently do to each other on a regular basis in an "evil is prosaic" kind of way.

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

#168

Post by rejectedandsad »

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…

There are lots of Google orgs with horrendous turnover. You just don’t hear about it because they move to other teams.

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

#169

Post by fsvavsd »

ldjkfkdsjnv wrote: post #105
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…

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.

How does OP knows that they are low IQ? That seems insulting to me. It is one thing to say they lack right skills or are unmotivated to work hard. But saying someone is low IQ without doing IQ test is same as calling a fat person lacks discipline to eat healthy.

Or reading your or OP's comments and assuming that you have social and possibly serious mental health issues. Not very nice, right?

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

#170

Post by awsthro00945 »

rejectedandsad wrote: post #161
awsthro00945 wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>These folks have passed the same bar the OP has. The notion that any type of consistent "bar" exists for hiring at FAANGs is a myth. These companies are far too large to consistently apply hiring standards. Some teams intentionally have different standards, some teams un intentionally (due to the hiring managers or interviewers just not being on the same page) have different standards, even within their specific tea…

I’ve never heard of Olympians or similar (ARML or whatever) at Amazon. For what it’s worth, the process is becoming standardized at the L5 Industry hire level at Amazon as it was for most L4 new grads. The hiring bar being different across orgs is going away soon.

Maybe in your org that's true. In my org, we are intentionally heading in the opposite direction. We are intentionally holding different standards, complete with different question banks and different interview tasks (sometimes code challenge, sometimes not) depending on which team you join, even for L5s within the same job family.
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