Ask HN: Is Facebook still a good place for Software Engineers? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Is Facebook still a good place for Software Engineers?

49 pointsbaccheion17 comments

Why?

1. What's the culture like these days?

2. How does it differ from what's publicized?

3. Are they stagnating (or becoming slow-moving) internally?

4. Is it still possible to have a meaningful impact (contribute in a relevant way to a major project)?

5. In what ways would working at a startup be "better?"

6. Does it feel like a large bloated company, or still like a startup?

7. How much politics is now present internally?

8. What are examples of places that have a better culture, freedom, ability to make an impact, etc?

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I don't see how this question can be meaningfully answered as it's currently phrased. One person's "good place" is another's hellhole. Culture matters, and plenty of top tier companies and institutions have mutually incompatible cultures. Likewise, "startups" are not some homogeneous group. There can be an absolute mind boggling amount of variance between them.

To me, a much more addressable question would be something like "what is FB's culture like?" or "how much freedom do engineers get to pursue their interests?". Be specific, or expect shitty responses.

As of right now this question is sitting at 40 upvotes and literally not a single germane answer. There's clearly some interest here, but someone should clarify exactly what it is they want to know.

I've added questions to the description. Do they address the issues you have? Feedback is always welcome.

It helps, but I honestly still think the use of terms like "better" and "too large" are inherently vague.

Maybe it would be helpful to provide a contrast. Are you trying to pick between FB and Google? FB and Palantir? FB and a research lab? FB and Uber? FB and [insert startup here]?

I can't say anything about Facebook in particular, but why would a startup necessarily be better than a big company in terms of politics? Startups can be intensely political, particularly if there's drama between the founders or between the founders and the investors. In practice, what matters infinitely more than the size of the company is what your direct manager and the people on your team are like.

I agree with all the other answers here but I did think of oone thing does set Facebook apart from other large organizations and maybe makes it more "dev friendly".

Facebook (as far as I know from that movie) was founded, its code was originally originally written by, and it continues to be majority controlled and owned by (at least at some point in time) an actual programmer. That is something that is not really the case at many double digit $billion corporations and may give Facebook a marginal benefit as a "good place for Software Engineers" as long as those conditions remain in place.

Since you are changing the questions, I am going to copy them.

Q1. What's the culture like these days?

A1. Afaik (I've been here for only ~1.5 years), its exactly as it was before.

Q2. How does it differ from what's publicized?

A2. Not sure. What exactly is publicized? Do you guys know about the unicorns we get every so often?

Q3. Are they stagnating (or becoming slow-moving) internally?

A3. This is a definitely no. One of the teams I used to be part of, got reorganized since the project they were working on (after I left) didn't produce the results expected. All of this took less than 6 months.

Q4. Is it still possible to have a meaningful impact (contribute in a relevant way to a major project)?

A4. Yes.

Q5. In what ways would working at a startup be "better?"

A5. In NO way. Unless is my own startup.

Q6. Does it feel like a large bloated company, or still like a startup?

A6. The options aren't just "startup" and "large bloated company". There is at least one "large lean company", which is Facebook (at least for now).

Q7. How much politics is now present internally?

A7. As opposed to when?

Q8. What are examples of places that have a better culture, freedom, ability to make an impact, etc?

A8. My startup, that doesn't exist yet :P

One thing that kept me from applying to Facebook: No remote positions.

1. What is the culture like? 2. How much politics and bureaucracy is present in general?

1. Not sure what "culture" means in this context, since the first company that actually talked about such a thing was FB for me, but, we get lots of free stuff and generally higher ups don't really mess with what I am doing.

2. Not that much, since most management is ex devs: if you convince your immediate manager about something, there is a big chance for what you want to happen. Also, we use extensively groups and such (read Fb groups) and this makes it easier to convince people that you are right. Having the data to back you up helps too.

That question is almost meaningless 10000 employee organization with many many moving parts. Some teams will be the best you've ever worked with, some might be the worst.

A friend and ex-colleague of mine joined Facebook recently - I visited him after ~2 months and he really loves working there. His words: the culture is great, most of the "mundane" problems are already solved (communication, monitoring/alerting, tooling, etc.) so they can focus on real problems and the company is very strongly technology-led. We were working together in a mid-sized startup before with also amazing culture and cool guys around.

Now, your questions (I'll answer what I can):

1. open, transparent, very technologically led

3. he feels the opposite

4. yes, definitely, the way the company works enables this (teams come up with their own projects, agenda)

6. it definitely feels like a huge company but it's not bloated.

Bottom line: if you're thinking about joining, I'd recommend doing so, even if you won't want to stay there for many years it's going to be an awesome experience and learning plus you get to see from the inside how a huge but still engineering-driven company works.

As an engineer you need to stay where there is green. Big companies like facebook don't need you. They are the big oak trees and you're a little green leaf trying to sustain all that mass of branches and trunk beneath you desperate to soak up whatever energy you photosynthesize. Facebook may want you for lots of wrong reasons, but they don't need you. You want to work somewhere where you are absolutely necessary for the business. I'm not saying facebook is bad, but there are tons of up and coming companies where things are very green and they still need engineers. What are the downsides to working at a big company? You're going to get burned at some point because you're not really necessary and the value that some manager gets by burning you is greater than that of keeping you.

> You want to work somewhere where you are absolutely necessary for the business.

Eh. Some days I'm just out of it. I can promise you I can do the heroics tomorrow and solve the problems nobody else can solve, but today I just didn't get enough sleep (or whatever) and I'd like to go through my backlog of low-mental-energy tickets for a bit, thanks. If in a few years you decide you don't need me, that's fine; I never defined my identity in terms of you anyway, and I can go somewhere else.

I've done the thing of being absolutely critical for a startup. It leads to things like being on 6 AM debugging calls with a customer around the world, getting urgent calls when you're on vacation, etc. If you enjoy it, by all means, go for it. But it's not universal to enjoy it, and there are plenty of jobs where you can provide a ton of value between 9 and 5.

There are plants that thrive in the middle of open fields; there are plants that survive on the rainforest floor. What's good for one isn't necessarily good for the other.

1: I quit fb because the culture in the team I was on was toxic as fuck. Backbiting, backstabbing and oneupmanship. Ain't got no time for that. Fb does not need you and everyone makes it very known. 2: Dunno, dont read about FB since I gives no fucks about them. 3: The team I was on was stagnant as fuck. Lots of bragging but little showing. 4: Probably if you want to put the effort in to get noticed. 5: Cant say for sure, the question is largely subjective. 6: Definitely feels like a large bloated company to me. 7: Lots of politics. Blahhhh. 8: I work for a consulting company now. Much more freedom. Every project has huge impact and I make about 45% more than I made at FB with potential to accelerate my compensation by delivering sooner than deadlines.

TL:DR Fuck FB.

edit -- I worked at FB for two years.

Did they try to keep you on board when you announced you were quitting, or was it the case of "okay, see ya" because they don't need you? My current company makes it very easy to switch teams at the boundaries of a release if you can find a team you want and that wants you (and has headcount), which is a lot easier than actually searching for a new job while still getting you out of toxic teams/hierarchies. I'm not sure how common this is at other BigCos.

Everyone already works for Facebook. Every status update, every photo/video you upload, every like and every comment, you are working for Facebook.

So how does that feel? Does it feel good? If it does, you will probably enjoy working there, but "probably" is the keyword.

For me personally, i often find that the code and UX a company produces tells a great deal about their mindset and what type of culture they belong too.

But that's just me. I do judge a book by its cover. I have aesthetic standards :)

Yes.

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