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‘I Don’t Really Want to Work for Facebook.’ Say Some Computer Science Students

nytimes.com

201–210 of 560 posts

Re: ‘I Don’t Really Want to Work for Facebook.’ Say Some Computer Science Students

#201
While I feel this title is sensationalized and a little too over your face, like come on you guys all know it is NOT easy to get a facebook job, it is well paid and definitely can have a lots of challenging fun and had a offer from Facebook and at the same the determination/confidence to reject it, IMO, is a privilege not that many people in the world have, I do sympathize with the fact to have a long term career within certain company, you have to align your mission with the company's, otherwise it will eventually leads to suffering. Facebook has now its own identity crisis, a lost cause from within. It needs to rediscover or reinvent its vision, if not successfully done, such loss of great minds will definitely continue.

Re: ‘I Don’t Really Want to Work for Facebook.’ Say Some Computer Science Students

#202
post #169
post #9

> Ms. Brown said a lot of students criticize Facebook and talk about how they would not work there, but ultimately join. “Everyone cares about ethics in tech before they get a contract,” she said. This describes my what I've observed perfectly. There are very few companies that make new grad offers comparable to Facebook's, and career advancement opportunities and working conditions at Facebook tend to be better than…

I loved this quote: > “Employees are wising up to the fact that you can have a mission statement on your website, but when you’re looking at how the company creates new products or makes decisions, the correlation between the two is not so tightly aligned,” said David Chie, the head of Palo Alto Staffing, a tech job placement service in Silicon Valley. “Everyone’s having this conversation.” I call these anodyne missi…

PR mission

Re: ‘I Don’t Really Want to Work for Facebook.’ Say Some Computer Science Students

#203
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And I don’t blame them. Developers are largely undercompensated for the utility they provide for firms, both across companies and within (compared to other roles). In the Bay, it’s the difference between living comfortably+saving for their future and just making ends meet. It’s a bit like blaming the scientists of the Manhattan Project for dropping the atomic bomb.

> It’s a bit like blaming the scientists of the Manhattan Project for dropping the atomic bomb. Consider Joseph Rotblat. He worked on the Manhattan Project because believed that it was needed as a deterrent against a German nuclear weapon. After he learned that Germany had given up on the bomb, he left the Manhattan Project - the only one to do so - and felt betrayed by its use in Japan. "Rotblat believed that scient…

There's some evidence that the use in Japan was partly an attempt to deter the Soviet Union from future aggression.

Re: ‘I Don’t Really Want to Work for Facebook.’ Say Some Computer Science Students

#204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Facebook an absolutely prestigious employer Anecdotally, I’m helping several friends, who are each exceptionally capable, employed at Facebook with new jobs. They reached out before this revelation, to their credit, though this threw fuel on the fire. I suspect Facebook will be known for having hired mediocre sell-outs a few years from now.

From your profile: > I trade private equity stakes in technology companies. Former aerospace investment banker and before that, algorithmic equity derivatives trader. You're also the one who submitted this article. Somehow I doubt you are actually helping friends at FB find new jobs. I think it's much more likely that you are short FB. There's a lot of your type out there spreading articles like this as much as possi…

I graduated six years ago, have worked at Microsoft and Dropbox, and anecdotally around a quarter of my friends at either of them wouldn't work at Facebook now. Parent comment is not obviously wrong, and you shouldn't assume bad faith.

Your last submission was titled "We're lucky Mark Zuckerberg is in charge" and around half your comment history is devoted to defending Facebook. At least if you're going to question someones motives, you should state yours.

Re: ‘I Don’t Really Want to Work for Facebook.’ Say Some Computer Science Students

#205
post #136

Allowing 19-year-old kids to have their name and photo published in the newspaper of record in an article that quotes their snarky comments about how they're not sure if they'd deign to work for any given company is journalistic malpractice. I don't blame the kids. They're young and naturally earnest, and are marinating in an environment where performative wokeness results in positive social reinforcement. They don't…

These kids are computer science students from Berkeley. They're not going to be hurting for job offers. If it helps filter out dumbass employers who are going to hold their opinions about Facebook against them, so much the better.

Of course they're not going to be hurting for job offers, in general. The issue is that hiring teams at high-performing, stressed-out early stage startups (including many that are doing important work that will change people's lives for the better) can be ridiculously petty and catty in the hiring process -- especially when they're looking at 10+ qualified candidates for every new hire.

Regardless of how well these students are set up for life in general, it would still suck for them if they lost out on a great career opportunity because the people guarding the door for that opportunity, on the day that they reviewed that candidate, decided to be douchily dismissive of the fact that said candidate decided to provide overeager quotes for a NYT article back when they were a college student.

Re: ‘I Don’t Really Want to Work for Facebook.’ Say Some Computer Science Students

#206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From my experience, most of this negativity just appears on HN or on channels who have some strong bias (usually business related) against Facebook. All my acquaintances working in tech, which includes people from very wide sociodemographics ranges, consider Facebook an absolutely prestigious employer, with top talent, top challenges, top compensation and top name for building a personal brand. Hell, I interviewed at…

> Facebook an absolutely prestigious employer Anecdotally, I’m helping several friends, who are each exceptionally capable, employed at Facebook with new jobs. They reached out before this revelation, to their credit, though this threw fuel on the fire. I suspect Facebook will be known for having hired mediocre sell-outs a few years from now.

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Re: ‘I Don’t Really Want to Work for Facebook.’ Say Some Computer Science Students

#207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Danish CS degrees are in high regard, and we’re all fairly good at English. There are a lot of Danes in Silicon Valley, I mean, C++, C# and Ruby were made by Danes, so it’s not like Murica isn’t open for us. You can make a lot of money in IT anywhere though. I manage 70 people, in a muniplacity that is well paid. I’ve been headhunted for much higher salaries throughout my career though, but I’ve always preferred publ…

Yukihiro Matsumoto is Danish?

Oh, it was just Ruby on Rails, well, the more you know.

My bad.

Re: ‘I Don’t Really Want to Work for Facebook.’ Say Some Computer Science Students

#208

I get that we don’t like Facebook, but isn’t this a bit much? Are they worse than google or amazon? What about people who work for Coca-Cola? What about the people who make mobile games and loot boxes for Blizzard? Where is it ethical to work? I mean, I’ve been in public service for decades, so I know a thing or two about choosing idealism over money, but that’s not for everyone and I frankly don’t think Facebook is…

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Re: ‘I Don’t Really Want to Work for Facebook.’ Say Some Computer Science Students

#209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a lovely conspiracy theory, and it makes people feel better about the situation, but it's not how things work in real life. Speaking as someone who worked in this field for a couple of decades, it's more likely that one or more New York Times reporters have developed good sources inside Facebook, and are milking them. The New York Times didn't make Facebook a monster, Facebook did.

NYT claims they spoke to over 50 sources. It's not just milking "a couple". "over 50 sources" sure sounds like a very concerted effort to find dirt. > The New York Times didn't make Facebook a monster, Facebook did. Did the parent assert anything like that?

sure sounds like a very concerted effort to find dirt.

That’s what newspapers are supposed to do.

Re: ‘I Don’t Really Want to Work for Facebook.’ Say Some Computer Science Students

#210
post #200
post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I loved this quote: > “Employees are wising up to the fact that you can have a mission statement on your website, but when you’re looking at how the company creates new products or makes decisions, the correlation between the two is not so tightly aligned,” said David Chie, the head of Palo Alto Staffing, a tech job placement service in Silicon Valley. “Everyone’s having this conversation.” I call these anodyne missi…

Chomsky talks about this.

Any chance you know the pieces where he most focuses on this?
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