Should I FB..?
Thinking about applying to Facebook Data Engineer role. I'm a Data Engineer at Bloomberg for 10 years now, but been looking to get into the Software Engineering side (nontraditional background, majored in Finance in college). Well-versed in OOP in a few languages, data modeling, and of course scripting and pretty much every flavor of SQL. No Hadoop though, but fast learner in any case. I'm at 125k per year all in at BB right now. Could I be making more at FB? If so, how much more? The other thing is, I'm not a leftist. Libertarian so can find common ground with anyone, but worried about culture at FB. Are they in the "diversity of everything except thought" camp? Thanks for your input...
Yes, a lot, no.
Thanks for the response! I can appreciate the conciseness but would welcome details if you care to elaborate... :)
1. How much more? Considering 10 years experience not equal to a CS grad with similar experience. Trying to evaluate if it would be worth the increase in cost of living. 2. Would applying as a DE pigeonhole me as such? Should I wait until I'm ready to apply as SWE (Master's degree and such)? 3. Unconscious bias training and all that? Thanks again!
You can definitely make much more at FB, but you could also be making much more pretty much anywhere in NYC (where I assume you are). Definitely should look around.
Thank you. I'm near NYC but not working in the city, and wouldn't really want to... Appreciate the advice!
Are you on a BB BI team? I’d be surprised if it only paid $125k after 10 years!
Not on BI team but have worked on BI projects. I occupy a weird space in Global Data where managers keep telling me I'm paid well "for Global Data" because I do ETL, queries & reports, applications, services, dashboards, etc but that is not the normal role in GD.
Oh GD is a scam. At minimum transfer to BI Eng in Princeton. New grad offer there is $131k
If you've never been a SWE before, I wouldn't recommend starting off the experiment with FB. The bar is very high and low performers get managed out aggressively. Stick to your strengths, start as a Data Engineer. Stay for a while, see what the life of a SWE looks like, and maybe then attempt a switch. If you get hired as a Data Engineer at E4, your base pay will be around 150k. At E5, around 170k. Add a sign-on bonus and an RSU grant that vests over 4 years to that. I think FB is one of the few places where you will find the freedom for "diversity of thought". The open culture certainly plays its role in enabling it.
Very helpful, thanks so much!
Is RSU refresher and initial grant usually smaller than SWE? Also if the experience is relevant, how many years at large big tech like Microsoft will be good enough to make E5?
If you've never worked in silicon valley you'll quickly find out that the "sjw warrior hell-bent liberals infesting your mind" is just a meme. Made popular by people from countries with over 90% identical people inflating their own ideas of who should be doing what and the small percent who actually believe there is some sort of "white genocide". There is probably more diversity at Bloomberg then here but way more diversity of thought here then Bloomberg. Just food for thought.
Excellent. And you're probably right on that last point. Thank you!
Also do they screen your Facebook profile when/before you apply? It's creepy but guess I can't blame em...