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Comment by listenallyall | Hacker News Reader

> you have the reason misconstrued

I don't believe my post suggested any reasons.

> it guarantees a reliable floor competency

I disagree. FAANG experience only demonstrates that, at one point, somebody believed you could do the job. There are dead-weight employees at FAANGs (and everywhere of course) who don't really have much competency (or perhaps one very specific competency that's only valuable in that specific role at that specific company, and virtually nothing else). There are also people who were once terrific, but have burned out, turned focus towards their family, were amazing at some obsolete tool/language, etc, started (or stopped) using drugs regularly, etc

I do agree that recruiters are not looking for rockstars but just anyone to fill a spot.

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Why do you view focusing on one's family as a negative? You can still do excellent work and focus on your family.

If by that you mean "won't be willing to be exploited by working 70hr weeks and weekends" then that's a whole different conversation.

People that have a family but don’t focus on it will never be exceptional employees.

They will tell themselves sweet little lies all day about how their need for external validation and appearance of being busy / important is actually in service of their family.

They lack the ability to reflect, put something more important above them when there is no validation, and won’t take honest ownership either.

Counteranecdote: Euler

> There are dead-weight employees at FAANGs (and everywhere of course) who don't really have much competency (or perhaps one very specific competency that's only valuable in that specific role at that specific company, and virtually nothing else).

Sure, but if they were able to fool everyone enough to remain employed for a while (and didn’t depart on bad terms), then they’re likely to be able to do the same again, which means everyone (who is relevant to the hiring decision) wins.

Not really. I, as the hiring manager, have a lot of interest in someone who is productive and can help out (among other qualities obviously).

And in fact I have become very critical about people coming from FAANG when hiring into a smaller company. The problem is that they are often overestimate their abilities, aren't easily able to adjust from a big corp into a more dynamic, fast environment being hands-on and - which is the worst - don't see the problem with themselves but with their employer.

That being said, there are certainly brilliant people at FAANG. But most of those don't apply at smaller companies anyways. Leaving me with candidates that aren't a good fit, despite having a great resumee.

you can be terrific and have a focused family life.

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