Apr 15, 2019 - Lead Data Specialistin Menlo Park, CA
Recommend
CEO Approval
Business Outlook
Pros
* Unbeatable perks
* Excellent coworkers who will go out of their way to help you
* Culture of open communication and authenticity that values differing opinions
* Great opportunities to travel abroad for work
* Lots of work events and social activities
* The decaf coffee actually tastes good - seriously, I miss Facebook coffee so much
Cons
* Your job satisfaction (and your salary) can change greatly depending on where you are in the company. My technical title was substituted with a non-technical "specialist" equivalent that paid less, resulting in a 20% bump in my salary when left, despite downgrading from a "lead" level position at Facebook to a "senior" level position at my current job.
* Management is often promoted based on seniority rather than competence.
* "Most fast" mentality leads to duplicated work, lack of documentation, and general confusion. Senior ICs are expected to spend much of their time project managing to make up for the failure in organization. I often found during requirements gathering for a project that part or all of it had already been done elsewhere and everyone had simply forgotten about it.
* The culture of open communication makes it seem like employee feedback is valued and encouraged, but actions are rarely taken on that feedback.
The above issues weren't as bad when I first joined, but my last year there was a nightmare filled with so much toxic stress and bad politics that I regularly broke down crying when I got home from work. On the other hand, I have friends elsewhere at Facebook who do the same job and love every minute of it. It all comes down who your managers and directors are. Personally, you couldn't pay me to go back.
I’m still a bit new, but I have very good impressions so far. I have 10 years exp at 5+ other companies (although no other tech companies) and this is the best by a good margin.
First off, everyone is nice here! Yes, folks are ambitious, but there is a shockingly small percentage of jerks here… not sure exactly how they are weeded out, but I’m grateful for it!
Lots of small benefits and well-run systems give the overwhelming feeling that this company just generally has its sh*t together. Shuttles, good food, good internal chat and groups system, not too many meetings or emails (much better than other companies!), great tech stack and automation, etc etc.
Pretty good transparency and communication with leadership (e.g., weekly CEO/CTO Q&As). They are open to feedback and change when needed, without too much unnecessary reorg-ing and pivoting. Good examples recently are moving to annual performance reviews after years of complaints with 6-month cycle, decoupling Oculus and FB accounts, and killing facial recognition.
Comp is fantastic, and relatively standardized within levels. Engineers don’t have different titles between levels, we’re all just software engineers. This was weird at first, but is a really cool feature that discourages dumb hierarchies.
Work life balance is totally reasonable in my experience, but might be different on other teams.
Mark is great, I don’t really understand why folks dislike him externally.
Cons
Some risk with new company direction. The metaverse shift is gutsy. It seems like a reasonable move, but if it doesn’t pan out, Meta might not be the same tech giant in 10-15 years.
Like any big company, it has its share of internal koolaid/propaganda (but criticism/feedback is still welcomed and discussed openly)
The (largely overblown) negative media coverage can lead to some family and friends judging you a bit for where you work, if you care about that sort of thing.
141 people found this review helpful
Meta Response
Employer Representative
Thank you for choosing to grow your career here! It's an amazing feeling to work in an environment with such friendly faces. We're glad to hear you're enjoying the experience.
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Employee Review
It all depends on where you work
Apr 15, 2019 - Lead Data Specialist in Menlo Park, CAPros
* Unbeatable perks * Excellent coworkers who will go out of their way to help you * Culture of open communication and authenticity that values differing opinions * Great opportunities to travel abroad for work * Lots of work events and social activities * The decaf coffee actually tastes good - seriously, I miss Facebook coffee so much
Cons
* Your job satisfaction (and your salary) can change greatly depending on where you are in the company. My technical title was substituted with a non-technical "specialist" equivalent that paid less, resulting in a 20% bump in my salary when left, despite downgrading from a "lead" level position at Facebook to a "senior" level position at my current job. * Management is often promoted based on seniority rather than competence. * "Most fast" mentality leads to duplicated work, lack of documentation, and general confusion. Senior ICs are expected to spend much of their time project managing to make up for the failure in organization. I often found during requirements gathering for a project that part or all of it had already been done elsewhere and everyone had simply forgotten about it. * The culture of open communication makes it seem like employee feedback is valued and encouraged, but actions are rarely taken on that feedback. The above issues weren't as bad when I first joined, but my last year there was a nightmare filled with so much toxic stress and bad politics that I regularly broke down crying when I got home from work. On the other hand, I have friends elsewhere at Facebook who do the same job and love every minute of it. It all comes down who your managers and directors are. Personally, you couldn't pay me to go back.
Other Employee Reviews
Great company culture!
Jul 3, 2022 - Anonymous InternPros
Everyone is so willing to help and there's literally everything u may need, all provided for free
Cons
May feel like u are replaceable
Best employer so far
Nov 9, 2021 - Software Engineer in Seattle, WAPros
I’m still a bit new, but I have very good impressions so far. I have 10 years exp at 5+ other companies (although no other tech companies) and this is the best by a good margin. First off, everyone is nice here! Yes, folks are ambitious, but there is a shockingly small percentage of jerks here… not sure exactly how they are weeded out, but I’m grateful for it! Lots of small benefits and well-run systems give the overwhelming feeling that this company just generally has its sh*t together. Shuttles, good food, good internal chat and groups system, not too many meetings or emails (much better than other companies!), great tech stack and automation, etc etc. Pretty good transparency and communication with leadership (e.g., weekly CEO/CTO Q&As). They are open to feedback and change when needed, without too much unnecessary reorg-ing and pivoting. Good examples recently are moving to annual performance reviews after years of complaints with 6-month cycle, decoupling Oculus and FB accounts, and killing facial recognition. Comp is fantastic, and relatively standardized within levels. Engineers don’t have different titles between levels, we’re all just software engineers. This was weird at first, but is a really cool feature that discourages dumb hierarchies. Work life balance is totally reasonable in my experience, but might be different on other teams. Mark is great, I don’t really understand why folks dislike him externally.
Cons
Some risk with new company direction. The metaverse shift is gutsy. It seems like a reasonable move, but if it doesn’t pan out, Meta might not be the same tech giant in 10-15 years. Like any big company, it has its share of internal koolaid/propaganda (but criticism/feedback is still welcomed and discussed openly) The (largely overblown) negative media coverage can lead to some family and friends judging you a bit for where you work, if you care about that sort of thing.
Meta Response
Employer Representative
Thank you for choosing to grow your career here! It's an amazing feeling to work in an environment with such friendly faces. We're glad to hear you're enjoying the experience.
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