How is FB promoting people to E5 so fast?

Amazon
Spartucus

Go to company page Amazon

Spartucus
Oct 23, 2019 38 Comments

Recently, I've seen more and more profiles where a person reaches E5 in < 4 years. In Amazon, Google, Microsoft this is really rare but in the I've seen at least @10x such profiles as compared to the former ones. Today I saw a guy with just 2 yrs and 3mths as a senior. Anyone in fb can explain why fb promoted this rapidly? I'd this what Facebook means as 'move fast'?

I know I'm gonna get troll answers but genuinely curious

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TOP 38 Comments
  • Amazon / Eng
    prestige🧐

    Go to company page Amazon Eng

    prestige🧐
    Oct 23, 2019 0
  • Google
    mukduk

    Go to company page Google

    mukduk
    I met a guy who made 5 at Google in 3 years out of undergrad. I asked him what his secret was. He said it was working 80 hour weeks. He slept at his desk and worked weekends.
    Oct 23, 2019 3
  • Folks work hard and are evaluated on their work.
    Oct 23, 2019 3
    • Actually it's the opposite. Only people who work too much are the kids who are in a rush to get to 5 for some reason. After that they discover life is equally as fun and no one asked then to work that much but them lol.
      Oct 23, 2019
    • Yeah the people overworking themselves are often the more junior overachievers trying to get rapidly promoted
      Oct 24, 2019
  • Facebook / Eng
    delete[]

    Go to company page Facebook Eng

    delete[]
    Company culture: "Move fast" and "Focus on impacts"

    The company pays high and demands high. You win or leave (or fired). Company doesn't allow you to coast. The culture is closer that of Netflix.

    The system forces E3 engineers to be promoted to E5 in 2 + 3 years. A strong E3 new grad is usually promoted to E4 within a year. If they find a right spot, show independence, and deliver impacts, it usually takes 1-2 yrs to be E5 (Sr. SWE) from E4. Because of "move fast", this means more opportunities and more results. So, the rewards are also given rapidly. It's not easy for everyone, but many of them are doing good. The number of SWEs in FB is still ~10K (assuming 1/5 of the all FTE are SWEs), which is much smaller than Google. Facebook is still relatively lean. The company got doubled in 2-3 years. Google moves slowly (certainly better code quality though). So do promotions, but better WLB.

    You can't have all. FB is for fast growth and higher TC at the sacrifice of WLB. Google is for good WLB and very decent TC, but slow growth.
    Oct 23, 2019 6
    • Cisco
      koala 🐨

      Go to company page Cisco

      koala 🐨
      Does facebook have enough products for people to work on? From an outsider, the work doesnt sound too challenging besides ml/ai stuff. Im curious how available the opportunities are
      Oct 24, 2019
    • In some ways does FB E5 = AMZN E6. Where they differ is around leading projects. Most FB E5s struggle as technical lead, since theres a much greater focus on individual achievement. You would not be able to get to A L6 without having successfully lead a major org initiative (as with most things, thus may vary between orgs at either company, but the above is general case). I say this having worked at both.
      Oct 27, 2019
  • 4 whole years? That's really slow. I got to it in 1.5 years. And no, not trolling on Blind
    Oct 23, 2019 3