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On Leaving Facebook

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Re: On Leaving Facebook

#61

Post by renewiltord »

pkdpic wrote: post #11

Glad to see this was about working at FB / Meta rather than being a user. Just for personal interest. Newish dev doing my first attempt at a FAANG interview. Wondering if I should be trying for FaceBook as long as Im bothering to study. Had a very positive-feeling convo with a recruiter there ~6mo ago before "Meta". Sounds like it might be a negative thing to have on your resume now though? Any thoughts?

I’ll hire at $400k cash comp for 2 yrs experience and I won’t skip you for Meta. The only problem is that, like most big tech companies, it has some people who are there as a retirement.

Meta is better than Alphabet about that, though.

Re: On Leaving Facebook

#62

Post by ptero »

pm90 wrote: post #31

Why would you need several offers if the new job will be paying less than your current position? Can’t you just tell them how much you make and ask them to match that in equity?

I doubt many (any?) startups would match FB's 10-year senior engineer's total comp. That would burn up the startup's cash (and/or ownership) very quickly.

I think the main draws at a startup for a post-FAANG senior engineer are feeling good about the product they build (more useful to the world than FB's ads) or the role/environment (less bureaucracy and org process). I am sure there are many exceptions, but I suspect that after 10 years in a senior role at a FAANG money stops being the most important thing you need from a job. My 2c.

Re: On Leaving Facebook

#63

Post by bradly »

CapmCrackaWaka wrote: post #43
donsupreme wrote: post #13

"everyday life it’s still very prestigious place to be working at. Getting a mortgage or a car loan is easy, saying you work for Facebook gets you on the fast line." I once felt that way but after leaving FAANG years later, I realized how snobby something like this would sound.

I’m not sure what this means. Getting a mortgage and a car loan was easy, a car loan approval took no time at all. Does working at FAANG speed this process up somehow?

No. Nobody cares about the specific company when you are getting a loan.

Re: On Leaving Facebook

#64

Post by dahdum »

jjulius wrote: post #28
dahdum wrote: post #22

I didn’t see retirement addressed, that would be among my top priorities personally. Unless he’s already financially independent and can retire at will, taking a 30% paycut off FB’s top 5% comp could mean delaying retirement by many years. Given fixed living costs, retirement savings could easily drop by much more than 30%. I’m not disagreeing with his choice, it’s a personal one and he may not want early retirement,…

It's entirely circumstantial and boils down to, "Is it worth sacrificing my [mental health/happiness/whatever] just to retire a couple of years sooner"?

If he had a $330k salary, 30% is roughly $100k. Take 50% for marginal income taxes and he’s banking an extra $50k/year into retirement savings. That’s almost enough to support a comfortable year of retirement for most FIRE people, even before compounded investment returns kick in.

As someone mid career and planning on early retirement, I look at this situation as a choice between working X more years at Facebook being mildly fulfilled or 2*X years elsewhere for only a chance at being happier.

Again that’s my personal view based on my own retirement goals and savings rate. I’m sure he made the right choice for himself.

Re: On Leaving Facebook

#65

Post by rsynnott »

CapmCrackaWaka wrote: post #43
donsupreme wrote: post #13

"everyday life it’s still very prestigious place to be working at. Getting a mortgage or a car loan is easy, saying you work for Facebook gets you on the fast line." I once felt that way but after leaving FAANG years later, I realized how snobby something like this would sound.

I’m not sure what this means. Getting a mortgage and a car loan was easy, a car loan approval took no time at all. Does working at FAANG speed this process up somehow?

I’m not sure how it would, at least these days. Mortgage underwriting is, I gather, pretty formulaic now. There was a time where it was an advantage if the branch manager approved of you, but particularly after the last crash, banks started getting a bit worried about that approach.

Re: On Leaving Facebook

#66

Post by packetslave »

vanusa wrote: post #58
float4 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are questions of the hard type really that common? Thought it was mainly medium.

Don't know about FB specifically, but in Bezosland they apparently are, according to this proud Amazonian, at least: https://www.teamblind.com/post/I-always-ask-leetcode-hard-7S... Smells like a troll - but perhaps only "partially" so.

Must be a challenge to find LeetCode Hard questions that you can somehow tie back to one of the Leadership Principles.

Re: On Leaving Facebook

#67

Post by ojbyrne »

dahdum wrote: post #22

I didn’t see retirement addressed, that would be among my top priorities personally. Unless he’s already financially independent and can retire at will, taking a 30% paycut off FB’s top 5% comp could mean delaying retirement by many years. Given fixed living costs, retirement savings could easily drop by much more than 30%. I’m not disagreeing with his choice, it’s a personal one and he may not want early retirement,…

9 years at facebook, maxing out 401k and Roth Megabackdoor ~= $450k in tax-sheltered retirement accounts. That is a hell of a good start for retirement.

EDIT: forgot the employer match. More like $600k.

Re: On Leaving Facebook

#68

Post by duxup »

pkdpic wrote: post #41
mercutio2 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well of course we won’t say that to your face! But it’s certainly a factor when I’m reviewing resumes.

Counterpoint appreciated. Any chance someone could expand on this? Not sure how serious the commenter was.

Generally you wouldn’t want to speak poorly about a candidate’s choices to their face.

Re: On Leaving Facebook

#69

Post by munchbunny »

pkdpic wrote: post #41
mercutio2 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well of course we won’t say that to your face! But it’s certainly a factor when I’m reviewing resumes.

Counterpoint appreciated. Any chance someone could expand on this? Not sure how serious the commenter was.

Some hiring managers will care about your moral compass and your motivations more than others. (This isn’t a moral judgement on my part, just stating the phenotypes of hiring managers that I’ve seen.)

They might not ask you to your face to explain things like joining a company right after it got #metoo-ed, but if they care they’ll absolutely be thinking the question.

Re: On Leaving Facebook

#70

Post by dahdum »

xmprt wrote: post #56
dahdum wrote: post #22

I didn’t see retirement addressed, that would be among my top priorities personally. Unless he’s already financially independent and can retire at will, taking a 30% paycut off FB’s top 5% comp could mean delaying retirement by many years. Given fixed living costs, retirement savings could easily drop by much more than 30%. I’m not disagreeing with his choice, it’s a personal one and he may not want early retirement,…

On the other hand, one could easily work at Facebook for 10 years and have enough saved up to retire immediately depending on what their living expenses look like. So taking a 30% paycut to work on something that you find more interesting is less about being able to retire and more about working on something interesting until you decide that you'd rather retire.

The kicker for me is based on my age, savings rates, and planned spending, a 30% drop from FB level comp could put retirement nearly twice as many years in the future.

I’d have to really hate my job to give that up, especially since he noted it’s easy to rest and vest with a few hours of work per day.

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