Ask HN: Is it currently a bad time to join Meta? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Is it currently a bad time to join Meta?

4 pointsNalNezumi4 comments

Hi HN folks,

Many years ago I asked for career advice here on HN[1] as a junior, and I got many good advice, many that later proved to be profound/true.

I recently finished the technical interview processes at Meta, and to my surprise, I passed it (although with IC4 role, one level below the job posting). The position is in Europe & more towards their VR/AR stuff.

I'm very glad that I passed it, but my current concern about it is how reliable this job offer is. I guess I'm a bit worried given the trend at FAANG/Meta of "layoff waves", the seeming introduction/refocus on stack-ranking and identifying under-performers, (according to a friend working there), and recent statements from the CEO on a podcast[2] seeming to want to do a Klarna 2.0 (replacing workers with AI). I work(ed) in AI so I'm not buying into the hype of AI coding being able to take the kind of jobs I do yet (R&D, Robotics, AI) but if higher-up believes in it, it doesn't matter what I believe.

I've been very lucky in that I also right now have another job offer in a Defense company. Less paid (since it's local, and higher taxes) but the team/manager seemed very nice and it seems like a pretty stable team.

My biggest concern is I guess that I'll go for the FAANG job, and then end up being caught by a job offer being rescinded or some lay-off wave just hitting when I join, after relocating. (usually firing follows FIFO so).

I wanted to see if someone had some insight about FAANG/Meta hiring practices & how things looks like at the moment.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30115078

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYXeQbTuVl0

Meta's Reality Labs arm operates at a loss currently. Meta have yet to bring to market a product or service, from ideation to launch, that has garnered any degree of positive reception or reach.

Yes, there's the Oculus line (now Meta Quest), but this was an acquired company and not indicative of Meta's own VR/AR initiatives. That they have continued to produce competitive products since the acquisition is a positive sign.

The dream for Meta appears to be to resurrect the golden era of social media in VR. To recreate the success of Facebook in a deeper interactive environment. They have the resources and the hardware but they are struggling to get people into their software. Horizon Worlds has launched fiarly quietly, struggled to maintain users, and been plagued by issues and controversy. If they can get it to succeed then they can monopolise a space where your every action can be turned into monetised ad data for companies to buy into and target. That's the goal.

As VR gets better, and VR environments improve, it feels logical that there will be a large social space online where people will spend large amounts of time. Whether that's Meta's Horizon Worlds or a competing space, or an open source solution, remains to be seen.

I'd use your personal intuition to gauge whether you think Meta are in this for the long haul (they've certainly committed hard to the goal) or whether they're realising they can't force the outcome they want by throwing money at it.

Defence work is always stable. If you can put aside your moral concerns (if you have them).

> The position is in Europe & more towards their VR/AR stuff. I'm very glad that I passed it, but my current concern about it is how reliable this job offer is.

Their VR/AR stuff is... not doing great, to say the least.

https://i.imgur.com/mwSGJ4w.png

Joining that division does seem like boarding an already sinking ship.

Thank you for the reply!

Just for clarification, is the chart for their VR/AR (Reality Labs) Revenue/Cost or all of Meta or a subset? I would imagine that R&D such as this, there's an understanding that it won't be revenue-making for a foreseeable time. (although that long red for 4 years is ofc concerning)

Those are the numbers for Reality Labs specifically.

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