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A Meta employee gets real about the horror of working there

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Re: A Meta employee gets real about the horror of working there

#71

Post by lisper »

Esophagus4 wrote: post #67
happytoexplain wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meta's morality aside, it's so strange seeing bitterness about software salaries on HN - very crabs-in-a-pot. Especially considering that the vast, vast majority of software jobs don't enable a life of luxury due to differences in COL. Instead of insisting that more businesses should share enough profit to enable more people to live the Little American Dream (have a small home, small family, somewhere reasonably nice…

You’re making this about a lot more than my comment.

Check your interlocutor's user name and it will make more sense.

Re: A Meta employee gets real about the horror of working there

#72

Post by dccoolgai »

prinny_ wrote: post #58
dccoolgai wrote: post #17

Imagine trying to hire engineers in 2 years with all of these stories lingering. There was maybe a brief window where "everyone understood" there had to be a correction to the post-pandemic overhiring spree... but we're well past that now. These companies doing this kind of performative cruelty have started their inexorable destruction.

Is it expected to be hard? Meta currently employees a lot of people who are willing to be there for any number of reasons. If 2 years down the line Meta announces a hiring push offering the same or better compensation packages with the ones offering now I am sure people will flock to be there. I think we should put behind us any discourse about companies risking their hiring pool by being hostile to the society or th…

Like any market, they will not be the only ones in it. People remember how you treat them - especially in times like these. They will be paying premium prices for a demoralized workforce. They put themselves in a real tough position here.

Re: A Meta employee gets real about the horror of working there

#73

Post by treis »

cosmicgadget wrote: post #68
treis wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dunno I think AI is pretty cataclysmic for the ad supported web. For one, why go to any webpage instead of reading the LLM summary. For two, why look at an ad riddled page when an LLM can clean it up for you.

Currently ad-free LLMs.

They show them now but yeah they're another ad driven service in waiting. That's ultimately the end for Meta. When ad dollars go from websites to LLMs.

Re: A Meta employee gets real about the horror of working there

#74

Post by therealdrag0 »

tyre wrote: post #6

> the framing that we are using this to train AI to do everyone’s job and the sort of unapologetic, ‘we’re training your replacement, and we’re not paying you more for it’ approach is just another signal of how little Meta cares about the humans that it employs Look, I want everyone to be happy, but if you’re working at the addiction factory, I mean, let’s not kid ourselves about how much Meta cares about people.

It doesn’t even really have anything to do with that. Training people’s replacements is as old as time. It’s business. Why would they pay above market rate just for fun?

Re: A Meta employee gets real about the horror of working there

#75

Post by therealdrag0 »

taylodl wrote: post #12

Why do people continue to work at Meta? Especially when it's been clear to all for several years now that their plan to Change The World is to make the world a far worse place? Why do people want to be a part of that and remain a part of that?

Why does basically everyone use Meta products? Despite the outrage, perhaps there’s an underlying sense that it’s not that bad.

Re: A Meta employee gets real about the horror of working there

#76

Post by therealdrag0 »

dccoolgai wrote: post #72
prinny_ wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it expected to be hard? Meta currently employees a lot of people who are willing to be there for any number of reasons. If 2 years down the line Meta announces a hiring push offering the same or better compensation packages with the ones offering now I am sure people will flock to be there. I think we should put behind us any discourse about companies risking their hiring pool by being hostile to the society or th…

Like any market, they will not be the only ones in it. People remember how you treat them - especially in times like these. They will be paying premium prices for a demoralized workforce. They put themselves in a real tough position here.

Sure they’ll pay a premium like Amazon pays a premium. Paying a fraction more doesn’t really matter when your profit per employee is many times that.

Re: A Meta employee gets real about the horror of working there

#78

Post by ifyoubuildit »

I do wonder if either the interviewer or interviewee are aware how insane this must sound to people with regular jobs. They did mention something about feeling privileged, but it feels like they don't necessarily understand what that actually means.

Realistically, you hit the lottery and had (still have?) it better than most. I'm not at faang, but I do pretty well at a tech company myself, and I've never thought of any of it as permanent, and I arrange my life accordingly.

Re: A Meta employee gets real about the horror of working there

#79

Post by dccoolgai »

therealdrag0 wrote: post #76
dccoolgai wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like any market, they will not be the only ones in it. People remember how you treat them - especially in times like these. They will be paying premium prices for a demoralized workforce. They put themselves in a real tough position here.

Sure they’ll pay a premium like Amazon pays a premium. Paying a fraction more doesn’t really matter when your profit per employee is many times that.

You're describing the deal from three years ago: pay premium for premium talent that's willing to go above and beyond. I'm telling you about the new deal they have: premium prices for mediocre demoralized talent. They're dead in the water. "Things change" is a platitude that cuts both ways.

Re: A Meta employee gets real about the horror of working there

#80

Post by rurban »

notnullorvoid wrote: post #51
taylodl wrote: post #12

Why do people continue to work at Meta? Especially when it's been clear to all for several years now that their plan to Change The World is to make the world a far worse place? Why do people want to be a part of that and remain a part of that?

Same reason people work at any of these big companies, money and prestige. You can be a terrible engineer, but if you have a few years experience at Meta it's going to make people think you must be a great one.

Prestige for working at Meta? Certainly not!

It's like you are saying you worked at Microsoft, Oracle, HP or Cisco. Who wants to hire such people?

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