Compensation is the biggest pro. Also, unlike other hire to fire companies (most tech companies at this point in 2024), you at least have a chance to prove yourself and are given a couple months to onboard. There are worse tech companies out there such as Amazon and Intuit, but Meta’s culture is still quite terrible. They try and justify the long hours and stress with how much you can make - Meta still pays more than any other major tech company, even in 2024, which is definitely a pro, but the culture is cutthroat and you can’t trust anyone. It would probably be easier to work two remote jobs at “less prestigious” tech or tech adjacent companies to make the same amount at Meta with more stability, better WLB, and less drama.
Pretty much the same as what one would experience at most tech companies in 2024. But some aspects are better or worse than others. Long hours. WLB is highly team dependent. Apparently Meta used to be a lot better in this regard, but now not so much. It is intense, but if you have startup experience, it is at least less intense than that. And again, it is more fair than a place like Amazon. Office politics are a thing at all tech companies, but a little more extreme at Meta. Blame and shame culture is big. People are snakes and are prepared to throw even the newest and most vulnerable employees under the bus to save their own skins. This makes things quite unfair, but as long as you’re proactive and document everything thoroughly, you’re at least given a chance to refute these attacks. A lot of gossip and backstabbing. This is separate from and still related to PSC culture, which everyone complains about. Management is terrible overall. Sometimes there is micromanagement. One of the few companies where it’s possible you’ll have a manager younger than you, even if you’re only 27-31ish. Often ICs seem to be held accountable for things that are way beyond their day-to-day scope - basically things that are ultimately the fault of leadership and management. Management frequently tries to pin things on their employees. Your manager is often trying to screw you, and if they can’t find a way, they are often trying to invent things you did wrong. This isn’t a dealbreaker because as long as you’re doing your job, it is easy to refute, but it creates a ton of work because you have to be extremely well-organized and have documented every interaction with your manager colleagues. I recommend studying employment law / consulting with an employment lawyer early on in your tenure at Meta, so you know what to look for. Because it is a massive tech company, you are there to please your manager and make them look good, so you need to do pretty much whatever they say. there’s a lot of internal conflict because it’s very authoritarian, also fairly draconian, and it’s bottoms up at the same time, every man for themselves. Do everything your manager says and it is somehow still all up to you as an individual employee to make the company successful. To top it all off, your colleagues suck too. People brag about work that YOU did as being THEIR work that THEY did if it is successful. If a project involving multiple people is so much as an hour late, then YOU are blamed, even if you had nothing to do with the lateness. The lateness itself isn’t really the problem because guess what? It’s not anything is broken. Except for when things do break and the whole app crashes for a day because everyone is forced to focus on office politics instead of their actual work. it’s not really about the value you create, so much as it is the PERCEIVED value you create and whether or not your manager likes you. Ergo, a lot of bootlicking charlatans make it to the top.
For those curious about whether people in fb fear getting PIPed and what is the cause for stress in our bi annual performance cycles (yes, we have one every half), I took screenshot of a survey we ran on blind asking precisely that (why does the performance make you stressed?). As with all blind po...Read more
FB has a reputation for bad WLB. Is management doing anything to address this?
How stressful is it to work as a SWE at Facebook? Is there constant pressure to deliver more? Can you push back?
I found my stress level high at Facebook (been here for less than 1 year). I think it is because of the focus on impact and moving fast culture vs good quality engineering work. I have never worked at Google before. I know this will probably depend on specific teams but will the work culture general...Read more
Got an offer from fb as EM. Thinking about the orgs with the best WLB (obviously fb is not for coasters, but in comparison there might be teams with some balance). Any advice or what I should stay away from?#workplace #wlb
I got to vent. Last week was layoff week and there's still so many fucking whiny b1tches in the company. Complaints about stress, WLB, etc... From those who survived the layoff. Seriously be FUCKING HAPPY YOU HAVE A JOB THAT PAYS AT THE 90TH PERCENTILE. Why didn't we fire these whiny b1tches? Stoc...Read more
How is the facebook hardware (chip design etc) team in general? Is it as stressful as the FB SWE teams?
Gave FB onsite last Wednesday. Today an hour ago FB recruiter has send email to discuss the Update...Fingers crossed, waiting for the call from the recruiter!!! What do you guys say? #tech
I hate the stress I'm having at FB and how everything is all about PSC and growth. At my level of income, I'm satisfied and would prefer more time to focus on my health and passion. Is Google definitely more stress free? I'm willing to take a hit at my career growth for more time to focus on my hea...Read more
Perhaps this was already discussed, but I hear a lot about how FB expects ICs to "deliver impact" and how you have to put in a lot of effort. How does working remotely affect this if at all? Do people find that communication with teammates is harder and takes more effort? Does anyone feel like thei...Read more
I’ll be joining FB as a Data Engineer E5 in December. How stressful is work in general? Any teams that are more relaxed with less stress? New tc 300k You 7 #data #dataanalytics #meta #facebook #dataengineer
Two notorious employers known for bad WLB. Who’s worse?
I joined FB from HFT and although my wlb has gotten much better at FB but my stress level is through the roof. I find FB a lot more stressful than any other companies I have worked. Are other FANG so much stressful? $500k TC.. 10 YOE, E5. I am in NYC
Tired of PSC (M1) and packet writing - such a waste of time. I feel done with Meta now. What are the good options for M1s / IC6s after Meta? Need better WLB, less stress and yet exciting work - not like Google where is no intresting work. In machine learning. TC: just hit 4 yr cliff so it is down t...Read more
Lots of blinders say Meta ads infra has bad WLB and stress. What’s the cause? Some ideas (I’ve never worked there): - Management pressure - Tooling and systems are unwieldy = high impedance to ship - “wasted” work when projects fail to move metrics = low impact, despite working hard - Operational c...Read more
Hello, I keep hearing about grueling stressful times at Facebook. But curious to know if this varies across front end engineers vs backend. I recently was contacted by a recruiter for a front end opportunity. Tc: 250k
Do you get stressed at work? FB seems to have high expectations from its employees.
https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/facebook-worker-anxiety-meta-stock-17541887.php How stressed are you? Edit: TC $280k and falling fast
Hi y’all, it’s been 2 weeks and I still haven’t heard back from my recruiter. I emailed them and asked for an update 5 days ago and still nothing. Does this mean I was rejected? They had let me know that it would take 1-2 weeks, tomorrow is 2 weeks. I have two offers pending that I’m not crazy about...Read more