Is Meta destroying its engineering organization? • Hacker News Board

Re: Is Meta destroying its engineering organization?

#621

Post by gr_norm » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 5:31 AM UTC

ActorNightly wrote: post #618

gr_norm wrote: post #382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone with kids could tell you that this is an ethically vacant position to hold. Particularly given the social network effects of not being on these platforms and the addiction engineering that goes into keeping you on them, especially at an age when you're prone to feeling insecure about your place in the world. The effects are pronounced in children, but still hold for adults. Anyway, I think I've said all I poss…

Gotcha so basically what you are saying is that its not the parents responsibility to raise their kids, the society should be structured so that everything that the kid has access to be under tight legal control, from tv shows, to prodcuts they see in stores, to celebrities being legally required to speak and act a certain way, and so on. TLDR, if you can do that much mental gymastics, you can probably do the same to…

I wouldn't normally reply again, but please try and take my arguments in the good faith and appeal to the heart and humanity that they were given. I think you're quite capable of reading what I've written and responding to it coherently; consequently, I also think you must be aware that you haven't done this in the heat of the disagreement. It's only if we're charitable, not cynical, about this stuff that the world may improve. Thanks. :)

Re: Is Meta destroying its engineering organization?

#622

Post by rgavuliak » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 8:44 AM UTC

Schlagbohrer wrote: post #577

rgavuliak wrote: post #552

Well paid engineers compare their experience to a labour death camp just confirms how out of touch they are.

Hyperbole is fun though. So is complaining.

There's a difference between a hyperbole and being tone deaf.

Re: Is Meta destroying its engineering organization?

#623

Post by vovavili » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 8:55 AM UTC

stackskipton wrote: post #601

vovavili wrote: post #567

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not sure how any of this follows.

They became big enough because they were free and had massive cash behind them to destroy all competition (Mapquest, Garmin and others) Now they are this big, they have become quasi public record for many other organizations who rely on this data. Since they want to keep costs low, if their data is wrong, it can have significant impacts on your life and getting someone to correct it is almost impossible.

And that's why you want to start paying for GMaps?

Re: Is Meta destroying its engineering organization?

#624

Post by malcolmsmith560 » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 9:19 AM UTC

PaulHoule wrote: post #380

gitonup wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If I had a choice between React (Facebook) and Kubernetes (Google) I would pick the former anyday. Can you elaborate on why these are at all comparable techs to use as a developer? React seems to be the frontrunner in FE, but what do you see the BE equivalent to be?

They aren't directly competitive (you wouldn't pick one or the other as product) but they are the premier open source projects of the two companies in terms of industry impact and they both reflect the engineering culture. (e.g. I am picking one as an exemplar for other software... like I want to make something like React instead of make something like Kube) With just a little bit of hyperbole: The culture of Google…

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Re: Is Meta destroying its engineering organization?

#625

Post by jbs789 » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 9:48 AM UTC

toobulkeh wrote: post #620

jbs789 wrote: post #521

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the company is going down in flames I’d say that’s a loss in productivity.

Not necessarily, as productivity is usually measuring output, not outcomes. Even then, outcomes at companies require external factors, like markets and competitors, and often don’t majorly depend on the company’s efforts.

Agree not “necessarily”

Re: Is Meta destroying its engineering organization?

#626

Post by junior44660 » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 10:02 AM UTC

crystal_revenge wrote: post #278

throw-the-towel wrote: post #257

I think the gloating in this thread is very misguided. Meta is evil, sure, but that's not the point. The point is that this kind of AI psychosis might be the new normal for our industry, or at least one of the new normals. My last workplace absolutely did a jump in toxicity when the CEO got obsessed with AI, instituted token leaderboards, told us all to drop all non-AI work for a time, etc. We were no Meta.

> AI psychosis might be the new normal for our industry I've been fortunate enough to have worked on multiple AI intensive engineering teams (both on the product and research side) where considerable effort was spent reasoning through how AI was changing things and we were consistently evolving our practices. But they've all been orgs with 50 people less. AI psychosis seems to effect very large tech orgs in a differe…

The examples you give aren't exactly inspiring.

Re: Is Meta destroying its engineering organization?

#627

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 10:07 AM UTC

ralph84 wrote: post #465

majormajor wrote: post #399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even simpler, I think Meta—like many other companies before it, but most relevantly Twitter as an example of one that blew up its org recently—was likely massively over-hired and over-complexifying things, with too many toes in too many ponds. The look-at-this-crazy-revenue-faucet period resulted in a LOT of constant hiring for a solid decade. That's not the way towards an efficient org. So even if they fuck over 70%…

The over-hiring was a deliberate strategy to keep talent comfortable on the sidelines instead of working for startups that could potentially grow into competitors. Any talent that escaped containment was quickly acqui-hired to get them back in the paddock.

[deleted]

Re: Is Meta destroying its engineering organization?

#628

Post by bossyTeacher » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 12:21 PM UTC

98codes wrote: post #88

jazzpush2 wrote: post #69

This sounds bad to say, but it's difficult to feel bad for any meta engineers who lost their jobs. You undoubtedly had other options, yet you chose to work for one of the most well-documented do-bad-for-the-world organizations on the planet. Former employees will deflect and make the comparison to United Fruit workers, despite the obvious difference in employee-optionality and influence. You made your bed. I hope you…

I've held a short list of organizations I wouldn't ever work for, for a long while. Meta is on that list, but so are most of the big tech companies you see in the various anagrams. It's getting to the point where selling my soul to the highest bidder is going to be absolutely required for any big tech job going forward.

You don't become a Big Tech company by being ethical. It's like trying to become a world champion boxer by refusing to punch. Not happening.

The reality is that most of these self described rational and super intelligent devs who see themselves as good people refuse to accept that joining big tech and joining an ethical company are mutually exclusive by definition. Hence all the companies saying "We make the world a better place by doing x". Everyone knows it's not true. But it helps swallow the fantasy and selling your ethics for a big fat pay check every month.

Re: Is Meta destroying its engineering organization?

#629

Post by bossyTeacher » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 12:23 PM UTC

fabian2k wrote: post #4

> 30-50% of engineers on core teams have been forcefully reassigned to data labeling and RLHF, upsetting folks even more. This really doesn't sound believable to me, but who knows with all the craziness going on. Software developers in the US are seriously expensive, using them for data labeling would be a waste of resources. And the percentage sounds very high, unless "core teams" is only a small subset of the total…

> using them for data labeling would be a waste of resources

Is work such as changing the styling of a button on the Instagram app any more useful than that?

Mining work was unglamorous and dangerous but was needed. Labeling work is the mining of the AI era.

Re: Is Meta destroying its engineering organization?

#630

Post by willXare » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 1:06 PM UTC

throw-the-towel wrote: post #257

I think the gloating in this thread is very misguided. Meta is evil, sure, but that's not the point. The point is that this kind of AI psychosis might be the new normal for our industry, or at least one of the new normals. My last workplace absolutely did a jump in toxicity when the CEO got obsessed with AI, instituted token leaderboards, told us all to drop all non-AI work for a time, etc. We were no Meta.

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