FB folks: Downleveled from E5 to E4, WLB expectations?

New
f63dz2fp

New

f63dz2fp
Nov 23, 2020 21 Comments

I interviewed for E5 (SWE) and was told they wanted to extend an offer, but at E4 instead of E5 (the recruiter was pushing hard for E5 but HC bumped me down apparently). Because of the level change, it will officially have to wait until January when there's headcount. I have 6 YOE (non-FAANG), and am married with kids. I am trying to decide what to do, and have a few questions:

1. I value my current 40ish-hour/week schedule and WLB with my family. I've been told I pick up new things quickly and am good to work with. As long as I am proactive and "play the game", is it reasonable to keep roughly the same WLB as I have now? Would that be different as an E5?
2. Is it likely that my offer will be at the high end of the E4 range since I originally interviewed for E5?
3. The recruiter told me that since I was a very strong candidate and just barely got moved down to E4, I would likely be promoted within 1 year, so it wouldn't make much sense to wait a year and re-interview. Is this doable? Obviously the 4-year RSU grant would be higher if I did that, but just thinking career-wise. Bird in the hand vs two in the bush, and all that.

The most important thing to me is not TC, but being able to work on interesting problems and enjoy my day-to-day, while keeping a good WLB. I'm currently working with a lot of legacy code and fighting fires caused by decisions made years ago, in a fairly disorganized smaller company. Facebook seems like it would be a much better technical environment to work in.

The other factor here is that the move will be a large pay cut to base salary from my current situation, even though once RSUs start vesting it'll make up for it by the end of the year. The base alone will still meet my living expenses of course, but I'll have to put off some other expenses we had planned. I want to make sure that taking a (temporary) pay cut for (likely) more stress will be worth it. I also can't guarantee that I'll be able to come back to my current company if FB doesn't work out, and all things considered I am very comfortable here.

TC: 175
YOE: 6

#engineering #swe #facebook #wlb

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TOP 21 Comments
  • The likely being promoted within a year is a lie. I was hired as E4 and told exactly the same. It’s possible but unlikely, there will be plenty of other E4s in line for promotion. That being said, expectations at the E4 level are pretty low. I was pulling 20-30 hour weeks and still getting MA and even a EE. Once wfh hit I would only give about 2 hours per day and I was fine.

    It really depends on your team, but E5+ should be handling most of the ambiguous workload which means it’s pretty easy to just sit back and code as an E4.

    Refreshers are nice. Even if you aren’t promoted, your income will consistently go up around 30K+ per year until the cliff.

    In addition, FB Infra is insane. Most annoying problems are solved. Most tedious things are automated. Makes development easy.
    Nov 23, 2020 4
    • Lyft
      pGgQ77

      Go to company page Lyft

      pGgQ77
      I didn't make the 2yr cut. It depends on your team and manager. Also, I have a friend who left preemptively because they didn't think they'd make it.

      Also, don't ever listen to the recruiter's promises. They're bullshit.
      Dec 9, 2020
    • Interesting. Your description of E4 relative to E5 does not match my experience. As an E4, I think I am put more in the position of what you describe as an E5, though maybe manager was trying to put me on early E5 path. However, I think managers have discretion on how to define degree of responsibilities for different levels in their team's context.

      Also, I find FB infra quite annoying. Always breaking something or making me get updates. Just want them to leave my stuff alone!
      Apr 4, 2021
  • Google
    dhobi'sdog

    Go to company page Google

    dhobi'sdog
    For point#2 No .. they have a max cap for E4 and you will need competing offers to get the max amount.

    For point#3 No. This is a recruiter technique of lying to most candidates to get them to accept the offer.
    No one would care about what a recruiter told you about promotion and it's probably not going to happen in a year
    Nov 23, 2020 0
  • Excellent post. I wish every post was as good.
    Sorry, don’t have the information to help you but all the best!
    Nov 23, 2020 0
  • Oracle
    r671807

    Go to company page Oracle

    r671807
    Thank you for this excellent post. I am in the same boat as yours. Exactly same situation with just one difference, I am yet to have kids.

    My recruiter told me I was down-leveled to E4 due to behavioral. He also indicated that I don’t have project leading experience, which also means I was not in a lead/staff position prior in non-fang companies. That’s the reason for down-leveling. Following. (PS: I know I can follow using bell icon, but wanted to thank the OP for summarizing nicely my situation as well along with in this post)
    Nov 23, 2020 0
  • Salesforce
    🌺aloha

    Go to company page Salesforce

    PRE
    Cisco
    🌺aloha
    Never ever take a down level if you feel this way. I took a down level because I didn’t have the exact same role previously/ switched during COVID and I guess didn’t quite meet the next level and now I work 80-90 hours a week trying to prove myself. It’s unsustainable and I don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep this up.
    Nov 23, 2020 0