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On Leaving Facebook

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Re: On Leaving Facebook

#421

Post by hiptobecubic »

MichaelMoser123 wrote: post #385
deckard1 wrote: post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, definitely. I'm sure they do take it seriously. I just don't believe taking it seriously to be the same as actually producing results. Managers still take OKRs/KPIs seriously. There are still people that believe in the healing power of Agile. If any of these companies knew what they were doing then they wouldn't require multiple interview rounds. I expect the correlation between one's ability to perform at Google…

Well, i have worked at Amazon, for less than a year; My rather limited impression was, that this is a very dysfunctional organization. Now if this impression is correct, then the leetcode appoach has some merrit; the leetcode approach would select for people, who stick to the technical part in the narrow sense of the word, and who would not question the state of things too much. But I guess, that this is all speculat…

Working like that, at least at Google, will only suffice up to about L4. If you're good at leetcode, you might be hired at L4 directly, but if you're a normal person then it means you have one promotion before you need to learn completely different skills to advance.

I do nothing that looks anything like leetcode whatsoever.

Re: On Leaving Facebook

#422

Post by pdimitar »

tippytippytango wrote: post #173
Aperocky wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

It doesn't work like that. You have to be "on" even if you aren't working. That means you feel like you can't commit to anything substantial since you feel like you should be working. Fucking off on the internet is a coping mechanism to numb the pain of being in this limbo where you aren't working; but, feel like you should be working because you are getting paid a lot. In retrospect it's easy to see that there's thi…

So don't admit it to anyone. Work on it by yourself or by sharing it on HN / Reddit / etc.

It still reads too much as a very first world of a problem to me, admittedly. I recognize that us the people need to have a goal and a direction, otherwise we start feeling like aimless leaves on the wind -- but you can still do a ton of things at home (if you work remotely which you should) while checking your Slack and email every 15 minutes, no?

But if it really bothers you so much then you have to make a choice between (a) prestige / a lot of money / boredom and (b) enjoyment / medium money / purpose. Apparently in big corps you can't have both. Being stuck in a FOMO feedback loop and being unable to choose between either path is very toxic and produces a lot of internal pressure. At some point you have to choose for the sake of your mental well-being.

...Or, as other commenters alluded to, find a job that allows you to combine them. I do doubt that many other companies can give salaries in the $250K - $500K annual range though. But who knows.

As a general observation throughout my life, us the Homo Sapiens seem to suck super bad at picking a side and/or to leave a toxic relationship before it starts to poison us long-term. We must proactively work hard to periodically challenge our priorities and reassess our situation. So if you are up for an advice from a stranger: do that and do it often, something like 2-3 times a month, for whatever period of time, until you feel you finally are where you belong. We the people hold on to things for way too long. It seems to be our default mode of operation.

It also doesn't help at all that our current civilization seems to thrive on bombarding people with FOMO, sigh. But we gotta adapt and find our own way through it all regardless.

Re: On Leaving Facebook

#423

Post by lordnacho »

elb0w wrote: post #79

It always blows my mind how most interview in our field. When I first started in tech I was afraid to talk about not knowing leetcode to my peers. 15 years in and I now can confidently say I’ve yet to meet someone who thinks these are a valid metric. Why do we make this the gate keeper to our industry when we know (except for the very specific roles) we will rarely need leet code type problems. When we do we just goo…

Imagine a job, say "Professional Football Player", where the only criterion for getting the job was "In three weeks, show us your six-pack, do 20 chin-ups, and do the 40M sprint in under 6s".

You don't have to dribble the ball, you don't have to answer a quiz about the rules of the game, you don't have to tackle anyone, you don't have to kick the ball, you don't have to be good at positioning yourself.

Clearly the test seems pretty odd as a way to pick players. But it has benefits as well. The expectations are clear. People who can't do it won't try. People who are in the ballpark and pass will feel special.

Re: On Leaving Facebook

#424

Post by TrevorAustin »

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'm a hiring manager and while I despise Facebook/Meta (https://twitter.com/search?q=%40trevaustin%20facebook&src=ty...), there's no denying that it's a positive qualification on a resume.

It's not what you want to do with your life, but I've had jobs at suspect places while I was getting established (Palantir) and lots and lots of others have too. It's better than having worked somewhere people haven't heard of (ie above replacement value) and much better than having worked somewhere with a reputation for doing poor technical work.

Re: On Leaving Facebook

#425

Post by hiptobecubic »

dottedmag wrote: post #333
throwaway675309 wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For every software engineering faang level company that requires leet code interviews, there are 100 others that do not. Your rhetorical question is patently absurd.

Do they pay the same salary?

By salary you mean total comp, and in my experience "not at all."

Re: On Leaving Facebook

#426

Post by draw_down »

quest88 wrote: post #416
andrew_ wrote: post #26

I just do not understand why somebody with 20 years of experience would invest that kind of time in leetcode. just say "no" and be done with the BS, and with the kind of financial success the author has enjoyed previously, wait for the right company to come along that doesn't require it. That's the only way the industry is going to fix itself; enough people start saying no.

I don't like these questions either. But, I've come to accept that it's worth your time if the companies you're interested in ask the questions. Especially so if they have a big compensation package.

No post body was provided.

Re: On Leaving Facebook

#427

Post by pdimitar »

spookthesunset wrote: post #182
tippytippytango wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't work like that. You have to be "on" even if you aren't working. That means you feel like you can't commit to anything substantial since you feel like you should be working. Fucking off on the internet is a coping mechanism to numb the pain of being in this limbo where you aren't working; but, feel like you should be working because you are getting paid a lot. In retrospect it's easy to see that there's thi…

Last two years of my life was this. Sitting at home with nothing meaningful to do but still having to park my butt in my kids bedroom.

So why didn't you use your time better and invest in other skills you want to have?

Re: On Leaving Facebook

#428

Post by erwincoumans »

scollet wrote: post #215
Barrin92 wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if the work were too sparse and wants more work, why not join interview loops or take classes/training, attend talks? because it's never that easy. If you try to get work from somewhere else maybe your manager starts to think you're bored or not interested, you definitely can't just leave and go mountain biking because then you look even lazier. So at the end of the day in every gigantic organization a substantial…

> bug business Ship it

Move fast, bug things.

Re: On Leaving Facebook

#429

Post by pdimitar »

thematrixturtle wrote: post #311
tippytippytango wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't work like that. You have to be "on" even if you aren't working. That means you feel like you can't commit to anything substantial since you feel like you should be working. Fucking off on the internet is a coping mechanism to numb the pain of being in this limbo where you aren't working; but, feel like you should be working because you are getting paid a lot. In retrospect it's easy to see that there's thi…

Bingo. Working from home also exacerbates this, since there is no longer a physical division between "work" and "home", plus there is virtually no social pressure not to slack off.

...And the problem is, what exactly?

Re: On Leaving Facebook

#430

Post by hiptobecubic »

me_me_mu_mu wrote: post #213
neilv wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this the point in your career when you have so much money that you don't actually need a job?

I mean how much money is enough money? You have FAANG tier people crying about TC - at some point it becomes clear that's their whole identity. Maybe they're just sad to be stuck in horrible cities (I'm also in one of them lmao) where no amount of TC buys them peace and happiness. It is pretty cringey, and honestly sad. I've been to so many meetups which basically turn into grieving sessions for highly paid engineers…

And you have people making 6x less than you working at different jobs than yours. These kinds of complaints really lack perspective imo. Getting paid less at work is the same as over paying when buying something. Would you call it cringey if someone doesn't want to pay 30% more than all their neighbors for their house? They can "probably" afford it, can't they? Just be happy you have a house at all, right? What's a few dollars anyway?
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