Which company is better for product: Facebook or Google? 🤔
Assuming all else is equal, i.e. good manager, like your team, interesting product etc. Facebook positive differentiators: -astronomical DAU/MAU, so much reach -move quickly and launch fast, lots of opportunities to ship product -fun hacker culture, strong experimentation frameworks -strong vision -nicer offices Facebook negative differentiators: -poor privacy record -less varied customer types, mostly consumer + advertisers -worse work life balance -no direct ownership, not embedded in eng org -questionable long term relevance Google positive differentiators: -prestige unmatched for PM, known for difficult interview and high bar -better work life balance -leader of eng team, direct ownership and influence -insane moats in multiple businesses Google negative differentiators: -bureaucratic -boring — smart people doing menial tasks -slow moving, lack of innovation -lack of vision, many recent high-profile failures with horrifically bad product work -Seattle office in poor location (Kirkland lol) Positives for both: -relevance to average person on street -global reach -excellent pay -excellent benefits -high prestige Negatives for both: -spend your life getting people to look at/click ads more -Undiversified revenue streams How do you see it?
Great breakdown, and I agree with it 100%. I don’t think either is better or worse - they’re both the top 2, it’s more just which one you prefer (if you have the luxury of choosing between them). Facebook’s main motto is to ship fast, fail fast which highly values scrappiness. Google’s main motto is to think big and vastly differentiate which highly values out of the box thinkers. Do you have offers from both for PM? What level are you?
Correction* facebook no longer as prestigious/relevant to the average person following the data scandal
Facebook hands down, Google is far more eng driven. Both are great companies can’t go wrong Source: Spent 5 years at the big G
Neither? Go to a company that actually releases successful products. Google lost innovation many years ago and Facebook has a poor product track record. Working at either place will get you the stink of FAANG which can help job hunting later but if you have a proven track record of successful products that will serve you better.
😳 Kirkland (98033) is one of the most prestigious locations on the Eastside :)
Both places have close to zero responsibility and accountability with PMs, and are largely engineering driven. You end up being a glorified CX designer at best, or a project manager at worst. Amongst FANG, Amazon has the highest reputation for PMs and the product management process (read up on the working backwards process). There's other things to consider when joining Amazon though (WLB, etc).
"Glorified CX designer at best" -- chip on your shoulder?
Another downside of fb: It doesn't matter what project you'll work on, you'll be ultimately working on social network stuff, there's no escape. At Google we have a much more diverse set of things to work on.
Both companies have a bad reputation for PMs. We have interviewed and passed on every one. Google is somewhat worse where PMs have no authority and eng call the shots. Amazon has a good rep for PMs among the big companies. But generally smaller, faster growing companies are the place to be.
Google is an engineering company. PMs are note takers. It’s a joke to me it’s so prestigious. It shows you how much people misunderstand what PMs do.