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Wow, when did we all lose our souls? So many pro "FAANG" comments. Working at a big tech company totally sucks. Its soul sucking. Personally speaking, I made a

Wow, when did we all lose our souls? So many pro "FAANG" comments. Working at a big tech company totally sucks. Its soul sucking. Personally speaking, I made about 300k at a FANG adjacent company - and I hated every moment of it. I quit to make less money at a startup. And I'd do it again. Today, especially today, what is there to be proud of in working for a FANNG company? Google is working with the Pentagon on war technologies and new ways to abuse their users privacy with Internet spyware and spam; Facebook is a master of fake news and Donald Trump; Amazon is an anticompetitive monopoly. If its only about money, check out mikekij's comment: > "If you are a smart, quantitative person looking to maximize your income, you should go into investment banking, not software engineering. Partners at an investment bank can make $5M a year. You won't make that as an engineer at Google." Hacker news is the place to be positive about startups, the future, and technology.

benatkin 8y ago
It can feel like these startups aren't all that independent from those companies. Most are hosted by Google or Amazon and many depend upon Google or Apple to approve their mobile apps for distribution. Some get acquired by them.
- justinzollars 8y ago
  Good point. These are big monopolies and its pretty tough to avoid them.
roguecoder 8y ago
It's easier to be positive if you don't feel exploited, underpaid and disposable. It's important to push startups to do better, so they deserve our positivity and can create that better future.
justinzollars 8y ago
I'd like to update this response. Even though I'm positive about the quality of work benefits startups have over FANNG companies - its still important to negotiate a fair equity deal for yourself. Equity is one of the factors that really should differentiate working at a startup vs an established player. So fight hard for it, and never settle for a bad deal.

benatkin 8y ago

It can feel like these startups aren't all that independent from those companies. Most are hosted by Google or Amazon and many depend upon Google or Apple to approve their mobile apps for distribution. Some get acquired by them.

justinzollars 8y ago
Good point. These are big monopolies and its pretty tough to avoid them.

roguecoder 8y ago

It's easier to be positive if you don't feel exploited, underpaid and disposable. It's important to push startups to do better, so they deserve our positivity and can create that better future.

justinzollars 8y ago

I'd like to update this response. Even though I'm positive about the quality of work benefits startups have over FANNG companies - its still important to negotiate a fair equity deal for yourself. Equity is one of the factors that really should differentiate working at a startup vs an established player. So fight hard for it, and never settle for a bad deal.