Work life balance at FAANG
I come to work at 10:30. Its a 5 min walk. I leave at 5:30 and have a 1-1.5 hour lunch and 30 min coffee break each day. No one calls me. I don't have to work weekends or check email. No one gives me shit about stuff not getting done at work and there are no deadlines. Im a level 1 and get paid ~140k TC (not factoring sign on/relo which was one time 15k) in Bellevue (Seattle for non locals). However, I'm not learning very much and I'd like to move on at some point for skill growth. How does wlb compare at FB/MS/Google/etc? Would you trade the pay/career growth for wlb? I've heard a lot of negative things about Amazon and thus the vesting percentages 5/15/40/40 (?) because they know people don't stay long.
Heard from my friends at Amazon, its atleast 3x faster than here.
The Amazon environment is very fast paced. One of the biggest challenges when developers start isn’t so much the working hours or anything like that, but their innate bias for action and ability to deliver results fast. Industry hires who come in from a culture where there is no urgency to deliver have a super tough time adjusting their mindset and as a result often end up working late hours because they feel like they’re getting left behind. However if you do manage to change your mindset, become more proactive in collaborating with others when you’re stuck, force yourself to make a decision and move forward with your work when there is ambiguity, and come to value getting things done via your own internal sense of urgency, the wlb is definitely there (as with anywhere, you gotta find a good team).
Yeah that’s just how it is :(. I have a feeling though if you’re working on the product side the release schedules are way stricter, oncall duty is more demanding (which can lead to working significant hours) than if you’re working on infra/backend heavy stuff so that’s something to consider.
Do you know the wlb of PE and wlb of infra team?
I had days like that at Adobe. That had been a reason why I stayed there for a long time (plus sabbatical, great ESPP, stock went up 1000% since I joined, and amazing maternity/paternity leave in the valley). Ultimately, I made a decision to jump. I work in one of the FAANG now and I learn new things everyday. Work is busy, things pile up but I make a lot of efforts to communicate (my mgrs, peers, stakeholders etc) where I am at. I do not have an imposter syndrome. 5 years ago, I would have burned many hours to try to be great at everything. So I started at 9, left 5:30, ocassionaly responded email via phone after my kids went to bed, and I am much happier compared to my Adobe days. I love working with smart and driven people and not enjoying being obsolete. Of course, if you think about retirement in a few years then stay where you are at.
You are living in heaven. Don’t move.
You are at the beginning of your career. Right now is not the time to chill . Get out of there.
Save the chill jobs for when you’re older. You’ll make the most money now as an engineer. Once you’re 45 it might not be so easy to get hired at faang
Agreed.
FB - pretty bad overall though there are good teams. I would expect 55-60 hours
Where are the good teams?
You could have a similar experience or be working insane hours at FB depending on your team and your level.
Most companies are like that though. I have friends at Amazon who couldnt make it 2 years due to work hours and another that's said he does a standard 9-5 with minimal weekend support. Sad thing is both were paid about the same.