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On Leaving Facebook

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Re: On Leaving Facebook

#161

Post by zionic »

unmole wrote: post #126
zionic wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ll match your anecdote with mine. I’ve been everything from CTO to lead engineer. I’ve made sure we always pay well above average for every role because I’d rather have one exceptional engineer than 10 regular ones. FAANG on your resume is an instant disqualification.

Can you please name your company? I haven't worked at FAANG but I most definitely would not want to work for a company like yours.

Not going to dox myself.

> I haven't worked at FAANG

I doubt that.

> but I most definitely would not want to work for a company like yours.

You do you. But I make sure we pay way above average, I want the best people and the best people don’t work for Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google.

Re: On Leaving Facebook

#162

Post by loeg »

ojbyrne wrote: post #67
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.

You can save in ordinary taxable accounts, too. The sky is the limit.

Re: On Leaving Facebook

#163

Post by tjr225 »

Aperocky wrote: post #112
fallmonkey wrote: post #94

"A common question I get is about work/life balance. And I view it a little different too now. At Facebook I could get by barely working a few hours a day. But the job was so unsatisfying that it spilled the frustration in the “life” part" This is the golden piece for me. I too recently left a big corp to a smaller place, expecting to sacrifice WLB and my free time - yet I ended up feeling happier and spending less t…

> At Facebook I could get by barely working a few hours a day. But the job was so unsatisfying This is a little too first world. if the work were too sparse and wants more work, why not join interview loops or take classes/training, attend talks? Does Meta not have those options? The frustration feels almost artificial, if one does not want to get more work, then maybe just go boating or mountain biking. Watch some s…

Sure, maybe it is "first world." That doesn't change anything. If I'm stuck at home making 80$ an hour and I hate it, then it doesn't matter how "first world" it is- I'm still going to figure out how to change the situation.

Are you saying that people who are dissatisfied with privileged situations shouldn't have opinions or write about them? Everything is relative.

Re: On Leaving Facebook

#164

Post by [deleted] »

yla92 wrote: post #81
rsynnott wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it kind of fascinating how into the idea of early retirement many people on this site are. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with it as such, but… I don’t really get it. I don’t think I actually know anyone who has early-retired. What would you do with yourself? Is it not better to work for a longer time at a job you like than a shorter time at a higher paying one that you dislike?

This is how I see it. It could also be more towards "financial freedom" instead of "early retirement". Financial freedom in a sense that you don't have to work for money anymore and can live on your investment/saving with some fix withdrawal every year. That also means that you can choose to work at the places of your interest but don't pay much and you will still be okay!

[deleted]

Re: On Leaving Facebook

#165

Post by romanhn »

CincinnatiMan wrote: post #36
kevinventullo wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Performance Summary Cycle. FB’s semi-annual performance reviews.

Are they particularly stressful at FB? Capital One did these too when I worked there and I just assumed most companies did them, but maybe I'm wrong on that front.

Yes, very stressful for both individual contributors and managers. IMO many of FB dysfunctions are attributable directly to PSC and its focus on impact. When promotions and even continued employment are on the line, short-term thinking takes over and every decision is optimized through the lens of the performance review. The great work life balance the author described is far and between in that company.

Re: On Leaving Facebook

#166

Post by stepanhruda »

Aperocky wrote: post #112
fallmonkey wrote: post #94

"A common question I get is about work/life balance. And I view it a little different too now. At Facebook I could get by barely working a few hours a day. But the job was so unsatisfying that it spilled the frustration in the “life” part" This is the golden piece for me. I too recently left a big corp to a smaller place, expecting to sacrifice WLB and my free time - yet I ended up feeling happier and spending less t…

> At Facebook I could get by barely working a few hours a day. But the job was so unsatisfying This is a little too first world. if the work were too sparse and wants more work, why not join interview loops or take classes/training, attend talks? Does Meta not have those options? The frustration feels almost artificial, if one does not want to get more work, then maybe just go boating or mountain biking. Watch some s…

Definitely there, but author probably didn’t find those fulfilling. The rest are leisure activities, which might again not work when a problem solver is looking to apply themselves.

Re: On Leaving Facebook

#167

Post by daxfohl »

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,…

Do note that bonus and promotion are tied to performance, which is huge at senior level. So if you're not motivated to perform, you may actually be better off taking a pay cut to follow your passions, both emotionally and financially.

Re: On Leaving Facebook

#169

Post by comp_throw7 »

zionic wrote: post #127
comp_throw7 wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't imagine a single person where I work factoring this in when scoring a candidate. I guess someone could lie and say a candidate performed worse than they did, but unless the candidate actually performed poorly on other rounds, that isn't an automatic rejection (sometimes we'll ask for a follow-up round). Candidate performance tends to be pretty strongly correlated across rounds (unsurprisingly), so sharp outli…

> I can't imagine a single person where I work factoring this in Then it’s entirely possible you work for an immoral mega corp and your judgment has been compromised by your paycheck. Let me put it in a more blunt way you are more likely to understand. Your team is interviewing someone who was a process engineer on the deep water horizon oil spill. You’d probably feel gross hiring someone whose incompetence poisoned…

I mean, if you've been brainwormed by the idea that FAANG (what, literally all of them?) are _strongly net negative_ compared to the most realistic counterfactual that would spring up in their absence, and not only that, but that engineers working there are therefore morally tainted, then sure.

But no, I don't work for FAANG. I could say the same about any of my previous places of employment, none of which were even tech companies (unlike the current place).

But let's put all that aside - how does refusing to hire someone _leaving_ one of those companies improve the situation? Are you trying to establish an equilibrium where it becomes more costly in expectation to join one of those companies, because it might be harder to find another job afterwards? Good luck, I guess! I don't expect you'll move the needle much, especially given that there'll be quite a few people actively working against efforts like that.

Re: On Leaving Facebook

#170

Post by jakear »

blocked_again wrote: post #138
jakear wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the critique is that you should be perfectly able to do all those thing and more, while working, if you have a job that properly respects work/life balance. On the other hand, if you spend a decade or two constantly grinding on work at the expense of all else, so that when you’re 40 you can do those things, you might find that your body isn’t up for the task.

I have friends who retired at age 25. Retiring early should be the number one focus you have in your life. Everything else is bullshit, noise and propoganda.

Then what? Three options: never work; work for yourself; work for someone else. Each has its costs and benefits. To assume that one path is the ideal state for absolutely everyone is naïveté beyond belief.
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