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

nytimes.com

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

#321

Post by spike021 »

School-Cotton wrote: post #244
spike021 wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>But more importantly I realized I hadn't used the product in like 3 years. How does this matter? Most people don't personally use the products they work on. If someone works on software in flight computers (I don't know the proper term), in most cases I doubt they're pilots actively using said software. I certainly don't personally use the products I work on for my job. A job is a job. Sure some people find work "do…

> flight computers (I don't know the proper term) avionics?

Ah, yep I'd say that word fits the concept I was thinking of. Thanks!

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

#322

Post by AWildC182 »

nemothekid wrote: post #310
ethbro wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tech is generally worse. Mostly because there's no check on hyperbole. Most businesses have an official mission statement to the effect of: "Help people do {x} at a competitive price." Only a 23 year old CEO says things like "Changing the world by connecting people."

Amusingly enough, I’d argue Zuckerberg nailed that mission.

We grew up wondering how we'd change the world but never stopped and thought about whether or not what we had in mind was all that good of an idea...

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

#323

Post by 1stcity3rdcoast »

crunchlibrarian wrote: post #283
mcrad wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fun fact: Nike's mission is to do everything possible to expand human potential. https://www.economist.com/business/2018/08/02/mission-implau...

This is like something a stoned frat boy would come up with as their first attempt at a mission statement.

Sure, but is it wrong?

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

#324

Post by lrem »

p1necone wrote: post #246
nemild wrote: 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…

My assumption with mission statements was that they were always bullshit made up by a marketing team or some exec and I wouldn't expect them to have much relation to reality. Was I in the minority?

I work in Google and the mission statement seems to be followed.

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

#325

Post by QML »

yaacov wrote: 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…

If you can't change the incentives, change the game: either cap salaries and stock grants, or provide a universal basic income. The point being is, you want to make it easier for people to make the ethical choice.

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

#326

Post by techelitism »

gxigzigxigxi wrote: post #236
deanmoriarty wrote: post #133

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…

As a Googler, Facebook would certainly be a place I would consider if I wasn’t at google. You’re right, of course, that it is a better than fine employer.

What do you think of Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple? Are they worthy of your talents as well?

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

#327

Post by techelitism »

deanmoriarty wrote: post #133
eksemplar wrote: post #117

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…

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…

What other companies do your acquaintances working in tech consider “prestigious”?

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

#328

Post by falsedan »

tropdrop wrote: post #284
pathseeker wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The free market is not fair, and it is not a meritocracy. It's fair, but not based on effort like people mistakenly think it should be. It's silly to think "I should be paid X because it was really hard work" or to try to interfere with the market to force that price. A big part of the issue is ignorance of economics among most of the population. People don't realize they are always participating in markets, even wh…

>So what? Their medical degree obvious isn't qualifying them to be a doctor in the new country. I never understood this, even while in the medical industry myself. Perhaps this might be a little true for an immigrant from Venezuela with a medical degree. But for an immigrant from England, Why not?

Lobbying from the AMA to limit available labour & maintain high wages

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

#329

Post by mbrodersen »

I have always wondered why (especially junior) software developers glorify Facebook/Google/Netflix/whatever claiming that they are the best places to work and "only the best people work there". What a load of nonsense. Those companies are about making money getting people to look at and click on ads. Nothing else! An activity that provide no real value to society. And (adding insult to injury) are responsible for increasing the distribution of non-fact as facts. Compare that with software developers working for companies providing real beneficial products for people, saving lives, giving happiness and improving health. Now that is companies worth working for.

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

#330

Post by dandandan »

mbrodersen wrote: post #329

I have always wondered why (especially junior) software developers glorify Facebook/Google/Netflix/whatever claiming that they are the best places to work and "only the best people work there". What a load of nonsense. Those companies are about making money getting people to look at and click on ads. Nothing else! An activity that provide no real value to society. And (adding insult to injury) are responsible for inc…

Because delivering ads to a few billion people is a hard problem which leads to needing good engineers. They pay _really_ well compared to smaller orgs because it's difficult to hire that talent and ads are _very_ profitable.
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