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Meta workers can opt out of being tracked at work up to 30 min

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Re: Meta workers can opt out of being tracked at work up to 30 min

#391

Post by rootusrootus »

lionkor wrote: post #25

Broken record here to announce that there are countries that have labor laws that protect employees, which you can take an example from or move to.

Or just other companies. Not every company does this insane level of tracking. People at Meta put up with it for the salary. There are lots of insane things people pursuing FAANG comp seem okay with enduring. There are plenty of much more relaxed environments where you may only earn a couple hundred grand a year, which of course is just awful (/s).

Re: Meta workers can opt out of being tracked at work up to 30 min

#392

Post by siren2026 »

zeroonetwothree wrote: post #375
ryukoposting wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing I have observed so far in SV (haven't been here long) is that folks who work in big tech but aren't from the US don't fully understand the difference in costs depending where you live in the US. I have to wonder if that informs the decision to stay in SV no matter what the work is. Like, intellectually they know that it costs less to live in Beaverton Michigan than it costs to live in Palo Alto. But the mag…

Apart from housing the costs aren’t that much more. You pay the same to travel. You pay the same to buy stuff online. Food is maybe slightly more but it’s not that significant. Once you get past being able to afford housing it’s insanely lucrative. It’s harder for entry level people of course.

I have had that discussion multiple times with people. They all seem to think you absolutely need to live in a 5 bedroom 5m$ house in Palo Alto (because how else are you going to live?).

But if you rent a normal 2BR for 4000$ in the Bay area, and could potentially rent the same for 1500$ in a LCOL, that is a minimal saving compared to your income. Everything else stays mostly the same. An on top of that most companies will give you a paycut.

But for some reason people think you are going to be a king just by moving to LCOL. I think it is the opposite

Now, if you get bamboozled into buying a 5000 sqft house like the average american does, then yes, big savings in a LCOL.

Re: Meta workers can opt out of being tracked at work up to 30 min

#393

Post by Avicebron »

jlarocco wrote: post #347
caymanjim wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I know they can. I just can't believe it's normalized and that people simply accept it. Good on the EU for pushing back.

I'm surprised you can't believe it. Most companies large enough to have their own IT have monitoring and know what's going through their network. The larger the company, the more likely they're watching. I've personally never seen that information used against anybody unless they were looking at shady stuff (porn, hacking websites, etc.), but I'm sure they're monitoring. Even outsourced IT for small companies will of…

Why the scare quotes around security?

Re: Meta workers can opt out of being tracked at work up to 30 min

#394

Post by siren2026 »

ryukoposting wrote: post #324
LucidLynx wrote: post #22

I have a serious question to anyone working at Meta and reading this: HOW can you still work at this company!? Why don't you quit this very toxic company, and start working at another place or even on your own? I genuinely don't understand... Let just Meta die!

One thing I have observed so far in SV (haven't been here long) is that folks who work in big tech but aren't from the US don't fully understand the difference in costs depending where you live in the US. I have to wonder if that informs the decision to stay in SV no matter what the work is. Like, intellectually they know that it costs less to live in Beaverton Michigan than it costs to live in Palo Alto. But the mag…

But if you work in tech your rent barely makes a difference?

If you are a senior engineer and make 350k$/year (Meta is more like 500k$/year) and you pay 5000$/month for rent and could potentially pay 2500$/month instead in a MCOL, that's only 30k$/year of savings? Negligible compared to your income.

And on top of that most companies will cut your income for moving to a MCOL/LCOL by more than those savings.

If anything it is an argument to stay in SV!

Re: Meta workers can opt out of being tracked at work up to 30 min

#395

Post by FinanceFreddy »

schnitzelstoat wrote: post #174
macNchz wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is something that genuinely runs the gamut across different companies—plenty don't even know the serial numbers of company-owned machines, never mind which devices individuals have, while others do effectively have live feeds of every employee's screen available to managers at all times. In between you have many businesses that manage their devices but only insofar as to enforce some basic protection and reserve…

Yeah, many companies don't want the liability issues. Like what happens if I open my bank account on my work computer? You could argue I can expect someone to be watching but I have no warning that someone is? Here in the EU that would probably be an easy lawsuit.

A lot is tolerated, until they want to get rid of you. But in the EU i'm pretty sure they can't use regular non-compliance stuff (general browsing, etc) in evidence. In DE you can't even identify an individual.

Re: Meta workers can opt out of being tracked at work up to 30 min

#396

Post by shimman »

ryandrake wrote: post #305
anticorporate wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I quit tech at 40. I still do cool things with technology, but now at a community-owned grocery co-op. I can't recommend leaving tech highly enough. My cortisol levels are so much lower than they used to be. I don't have to schedule my life around EMEA and APAC meetings outside of my normal hours. I only work more than 40 hours a week if I feel like it, which I sometimes do, because I actually enjoy my work now. I ma…

> I don't have to schedule my life around EMEA and APAC meetings outside of my normal hours. Oof, this one is a knife to the heart. One of the biggest drawbacks of BigTech (and many other industries) is the goddamn time zones and early / late meetings. It's subtle and creeps up on you. It starts out having to take an occasional late meeting to sync up with someone in India who isn't answering your E-mails... then it…

You realize as a worker you're allowed to demand better working conditions right?

Re: Meta workers can opt out of being tracked at work up to 30 min

#397

Post by Mattwmaster58 »

burner000333 wrote: post #377
everdrive wrote: post #17

I don't work for Meta, but how many more years do I need to work in tech? I'm in my 40s and my kids are young. I've already set up 529s for them, and am paying for some expensive home upgrades. Maybe when that is finished and I've built up a buffer I can switch industries for the last 5-10 years of my working life. Curious if anyone here has any similar plans.

I'm out in 2 years, late 30's and a decade in IT/Sec, run a security team now. Going into something like nursing - union gig, a relationship with AI and tracking I'm comfortable with, walking around money, a job I can show my kids that is about service vs. the inhumane aspects of tech, a career that scales despite technology of the next 20 years (or at least my best estimate of these risks). End of the day, writing o…

> but I've seen it happen to the last technically-inclined 500k+ job class that was untouchable by all accounts

And what job class was this?

Re: Meta workers can opt out of being tracked at work up to 30 min

#398

Post by sidcool »

LucidLynx wrote: post #22

I have a serious question to anyone working at Meta and reading this: HOW can you still work at this company!? Why don't you quit this very toxic company, and start working at another place or even on your own? I genuinely don't understand... Let just Meta die!

I think this is a unrealistic point of view. If Meta really were as draconian and toxic as many people make it seem, most smart people would have left. Market is tough right now, but then there were other times when jobs were booming. And people still joined Meta. Money is one big aspect.

I am not saying Meta is a paradise. I completely want Meta to face their reckoning for what they have done to the world, but painting it as like a prison camp is misplaced I feel.

Re: Meta workers can opt out of being tracked at work up to 30 min

#399

Post by [deleted] »

eikenberry wrote: post #382
patmcc wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you ever login to a sensitive account on a device you don't own and have root on? Like I trust my employer not to do anything shifty with my banking info, if I were to use it, but I'm not going to take that chance for a dozen reasons.

> Why would you ever login to a sensitive account on a device you don't own and have root on? You mean like the phones that everyone uses with banking apps?

[deleted]

Re: Meta workers can opt out of being tracked at work up to 30 min

#400

Post by siren2026 »

jjulius wrote: post #136
LucidLynx wrote: post #22

I have a serious question to anyone working at Meta and reading this: HOW can you still work at this company!? Why don't you quit this very toxic company, and start working at another place or even on your own? I genuinely don't understand... Let just Meta die!

The number of people in these comments who would be happy to be "paid well" to contribute to what's inarguably a huge net negative worldwide is exactly how the company got to this point. It's astonishing how many people value a ton of money over doing something good. Everyone who talks about setting values aside for cash is the problem. Gross.

One of my good friend "Metamate" argument is that "if he doesn't do it, another engineer will do it. Might as well take the money".

But at least they all seem to acknowledge it is a terrible company and they know they are working on something terrible (which is beyond me why you would accept to do that).

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