Thought to share my experience as it could be interesting to those in working in security. I've been working in cyber for a while and worked at both recently. I understand things vary by team. Yes, I'm at Google and could be a bit biased ;) TLDR; I can see how Google gained their reputation of being a good place to work. Although we all hated the recent events (layoffs). Onboarding: At Meta, there was Bootcamp. I enjoyed it. There was quite a big focus on code. Code, fix code, code code code... as if writing code is everything the world needs right now lol. But it was a fun part. It was cool you get to choose your team during the time (if not pre-allocated). Also it's mostly solo. At Google, there was GTI (for a lot of tech joiners). I liked GTI's experience a lot better. While we got to learn about Google's infra and developing code, but there was a significant focus also on things like user experience, accessibility....etc so you get a feel of how it's like building a complete product with Google's tooling. We also worked in teams to build a product and applying the learnings. It was overwhelming getting comfortable with G's tooling. Culture/Tech: I'll get to point there. I hated it at Meta. It was like a swamp of toxicity. Everyone seemed to hold a checklist titled "MY IMPACT" and ticking them boxes. I built this tool = IMPACT. I helped you with something? you gotta send me a "Thanks" to add to my Impact. Remember that tool we built last year? lets junk it and build a new one = YeeeY Impact. And I hated those workplace postings. Every few days we were expected to post an essay on how awesome I thought I was/better than others the past few days and delivered impact. Managers/leadership, at least in my team seemed incompetent. Some past SWE's or other ICs who just happened to have worked there for a few years and became managers before developing the skills needed to manage/lead. At Google, it seems our managers did earn their place. Impressive track record and mostly seem to be good leaders/sources to learn from. The engineers also didn't seem too stressed out about proving themselves. They seem genuinely smart and supportive and not constantly on the edge screaming "look at me, I'm so awesome. Look!" lol. In terms of tech/Engineering, I think Google is way ahead in terms of maturity in infra/tooling, capabilities and processes, plus navigating and finding info is easy. Many times at Meta things seemed a bit of a mess and like they were spit-glued to each other. And I thought documentation was bad. WLB: Google wins hands down. Not much to say here. Perks/Other cool stuff: Maybe at some Meta locations the food was very delicious :D Other than that, I think Google's benefits/perks are awesome. Not sure if many other places can complete. In terms of office facilities, it's pretty easy to disconnect, forget I'm at work, for a short mid-day break (Gym/Massage/Cafes..) and then get back on track. I can also see lots of activities and learning opportunities that make the environment a lot more friendly and fun. Anyway, watch our "Hacking Google" series on Youtube. It's awesome :P TC: 350K YOE: 6 #security
Good post. Thanks for sharing
You’re welcome.
Workplace is so cringe. Literally having to brag in a public forum.
Yup, exactly.
Somehow Meta has been fighting different crisis, from Snap to TikTok etc, and Meta engineers have consistent pressure to deliver. Never worked in Google, seems both company and engineers are more cooler. However let us see what will happen in a few more years
No man, invalid comparison. Google is the thing of past after Bard got defeated (even before launch) by chatGPT. That 100B drop in valuation proves it. They need to learn a lot from Satya (about marketing 💩 as 🪙) if they ever hope to make a comeback. Join Microsoft first. Try your best to get into the bing team as that's the best, off late the most innovative and the most popular search engine. Then post a comparison between Meta and Microsoft like a boss Note: it was supposed to be a sarcastic comment
Here’s your award for posting the dumbest comment on the thread 🏆
Amazon was defeated by making zero profits last year - Bard
Working in "cyber".... Ugh.
Nothing exciting, evidenced as positioning the industry as "cyber". Cringe...
@ytbread I recently did a mix. Many of my recent roles (at a high level) involved building processes/tools to ensure we check for security vulnerabilities in new products and how to respond if a vulnerability is identified and work through fixing it.
how does the security engineer role differ between companies? At Meta I actually enjoy getting to write a lot of code, but I agree on the toxic impact culture. I was at Google previously but as a SWE, but in general I feel that Google has a higher quality engineering culture and there's more emphasis on properly designed systems and not just ship hacky stuff.
Meta sounds like Amazon. Op are there any SecEng (Infra) roles in Canada ? I know the TAG team is based in MTL. But anything else ?
Do referrals get a better chance at interviews at Google?
World Conflicts
10h
405
Is "From the River to the Sea" So Wrong?
World Conflicts
10h
354
Why I Find Free Palestine Inspiring
World Conflicts
11h
458
Israeli precision-guided munition likely killed group of children playing foosball in Gaza, weapons experts say
Tech Industry
7h
5825
Seriously? Apple is DYING...These possible IPad updates are so boring *Yawn*
India
13h
557
'Hindutva': The Radical Hindu Ideology That Seeks to 'Push Christianity Out of India’
Curious, how hard is it for a SWE who has done ops security related stuff to actually get in as a security engineer? Are you expected to have done stuff like CISSP etc.
You're not expected to have done stuff like CISSP. Even those who've been in security for long aren't expected to have CISSP. It depends on which area in security you wanna get into. For app-sec for example, I think you have an advantage and many of the SWE skills are transferable. It shouldn't be hard, given you have the interest and willingness to learn some security fundamentals (like those in OWASP top 10).