Cleared the E6 loop. Waiting for team match. Based in USPP and not interested in relocation. I like my team at G and the work has been chill. Rarely worked more than 40h a week and in most cases I can get by with probably 35h. Mostly set my own work and work at my own pace but it's getting frustratingly hard and tedious to get approvals for anything significant. Promo is next to impossible because of scope and impact. Also see the writing on the wall that most HC will be in LCOL (skip of skip "very excited" about opportunities in LCOL after Jan layoff). I also feel that my team exists in a bubble that won't last for too long with the current trend. I like it that Meta pays for performance, compared to the clusterfuck that is GRAD here (stack ranking + communism, worst of both worlds). And I'm fine with working hard (9h a day OK). But I have a family so I don't want to work nights and weekends. I also hear horror stories of external E6 getting axed because they can't keep up with the PSC game. Not that I am afraid that I won't perform, but it seems to me that a lot of it is outside one's control and backstabbing and scope stealing is the name of the game there. I've been here long enough to remember the old Google but I'm afraid it's gone for good. If Google will just become a lesser paid version of Meta maybe I should just go there directly for a higher TC? Based on Blind DP I think my offer will be around 650 + sign on, but the stock uptick is going to screw up my RSUs for sure. Talked to an E6 friend there and their refresher is around 270 for E6 EE. AE is not uncommon at E6+, so if I can survive at E6 I think my TC should be around 750+ recurring, not accounting for any stock price fluctuation. But they are also super stressed and work 60h a week. They got AE last year but this year they got reorged and their D is cleansing the org and pressured their manager to threaten them with PIP... I guess the golden years of SWE is behind us. The question is do I stay at G and milk the good old days until it's gone, or go to Meta and join the hunger game? TC 450 #Meta #Google
G much better prestige
E6 is very team dependent. Listen for a bit, find allies, find the bs problems no one wants to touch (osquery looking at you) and fix them / make a plan to get there and execute on it and you’ll do great
That sounds a bit idealistic... How much headwind is there from leadership and processes? Here is it pretty much impossible to move anything that is remotely sensitive (unless you are working in GenAI I guess) because of the bureaucracy (they also laid off people doing the reviews so the queue gets even longer, lol). Also, is 60h a week a must to just survive, on average...?
@op, that's not idealistic, it's literally the expectations of the E6. Way more expectations to pave your own way and define your own work at Meta. That's actually what makes it hard for new hires at a higher level. You'll be given minimal grace period and expected to hit the ground running.
>communism lol
Don't you agree? 80% in the same bucket doesn't really instill any desire to work hard. Manager already said comp is not as bad as it can be as it is not decreasing... Also said promo is the only way to significantly change comp, and at the same time promo is (*(*&#$# hard.
When did you give your interviews? I heard that meta stopped hiring since jan
A few weeks ago. I was not in a hurry.
How was the interview experience? I have one coming up in a week! Slightly afraid of 2 LC in 30 mins & having 2-3 such rounds :(
Coding and design are pretty standard. Only got Meta tagged LC mediums. I think they look for how you think. If you just regurgitate LC perfect answers and cannot come up with a logical explanation or deal with twists you are probably not going to do well. I did struggle with the initial behavioral round (which I didn't expect). They asked for a follow up and I prepped for it. Got approval after the follow up.
Btw my 2 cents , go to M. I agree with you, Once you have a FAANG on resume that too with >5y there.. no real added prestige and shit. Also G seems to be imploding
LoL I guess it was an anomaly back in the 2010s. Now it's just another faceless corporation headed by bean counters that know nothing back cost cutting.
M then G again. 750 vs 450? 2 years is literally 2.8years. danged taxes!
I doubt I'll be able to get back to G again. May be able to pass the interview, but no one is hiring in HCOL. We haven't been able to backfill our HC from 3 years ago.
Hunger games. In this economy, it’s better to be in hunger games than milking
To clear up some E6 misconceptions you might have: - Very few E6 get an exceeds rating, just meeting expectations is a very high bar. Multiple EE at 6 is promo signal for 7 (don’t need greatly exceeds) that’s how hard it is - Getting AE is still rare and getting more rare and reserved for people your senior director or higher know well and want to retain for some specific reason - You are expected to figure out things on your own, find problems to solve for yourself and others, and be able to provide data that backs up why it was impactful. This leads to a lot of bs work where instead of focusing on the problems and solutions you have to focus on playing the politics of Meta to make sure your management chain understands what’s going on and that your peers believe you. All other E6s are competing for this too, which is one place all the scope fighting comes in. You’ll be doing a lot of work your manager at G probably does for you now and you’ll probably think your Meta manager doesn’t do much (possibly true). Lots of stress from this. Source: recent Meta E6 who is very happy to have left that stressful misery factory for a more normal staff engineering job where PSC games don’t exist.
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ML loop?
No, infra. According to my friend not much is hiring at Meta except for ML roles, so maybe I'll never get a team match :D The recruiter also warned that it is going to be slow.
Plenty of infra teams! I’m sure you’ll find a quick match. Congrats!! 🎉