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I thought Instagram had like 11 people? Whatsapp had like 47 right? If you add Facebook and Messenger like 200 should do it.

version_five 5y ago
This is an interesting point. The fact that they need 10k people to work on this makes them more like a government putting on a make work project than a company doing R&D. They'd be better off funding 1000 10-person startups working in VR, or just buying or copying one when / if it gets traction. Related, I can see some appeal of getting to work at a small group doing development in a new area. It's got to be much harder to attract talent who know they are joining as a cog in a 10,000 person centrally planned effort
- astlouis44 5y ago
  What's most wild about this is that they're doing this big of a hiring push for a new offering, in just one region of the world. It's obvious Facebook sees the metaverse as the next big platform, and they want to own it the way Apple and Google own mobile today.
  - randycupertino 5y ago
    > It's obvious Facebook sees the metaverse as the next big platform I could see it- with business conferences and business travel, remote work etc. But I'd rather this go to Skype for business or zoom or linkedin etc or basically anyone else than Facebook.
  - version_five 5y ago
    Now that I think about if, maybe this is just about buying some goodwill in europe by creating jobs?
    - astlouis44 5y ago
      Seems like a likely reason why they’re doing this, wasn’t the whistleblower supposed to testify in Europe? Convenient timing. They’re likely trying to bribe the EU here with the promise of jobs.
      - disgruntledphd2 5y ago
        Nah, it's probably that now that they are allowing remote for almost all jobs, they now have a much bigger space for recruitment (lots of people in Europe don't want to move to London or Dublin).
  - sjg007 5y ago
    Roblox could win this, they just need to double down.
    - astlouis44 5y ago
      They easily could, they just need to ship Roblox VR on the Oculus Quest and the upcoming Apple headset.
      - sjg007 5y ago
        I'm not sure FB will let them ship that.. there might be enough demand though to force them. But it will drive Oculus demand thru the roof.. I'd buy at least 3.
- danboarder 5y ago
  Well in the 90s when the web was new, centralized players like AOL and Compuserve were where the users found an on-ramp to the Internet. I think of Facebook as the AOL of today's web, and they want to be the AOL of tomorrow's VR/AR mixed media metaverse. But hopefully the masses of users will grow past this next "AOL" and find their way to the VR/XR decentralized Web. This is yet to be determined...
  - jimmySixDOF 5y ago
    Yah that has been my thinking on this too. The Metaverse is in its dialup modem stage of the comparison and things can still take a number of directions not all of which favor Facebook by a long shot. They are the ones investing heavily today (FBRL is already 10K people [1]) and that brings legitimacy to all of XR as more than just a gaming niche subculture. But, as any comment thread on this topic clearly shows, FB has sustained reputational damage that is not easy to overcome without some internal soul searching business model pivot. If they plan thier Metaverse as an Adtech engine extension of their existing business, then they can be AOL/Netscape - big names at the outset but not built to last long in the new space. Given the choice, people want some Digital Dignity/Data Sovereignty and other players will find a way to make it happen if FB won't. [1] https://uploadvr.com/facebook-employees-2021/ https://uploadvr.com/facebook-employees-2021/
nimbius 5y ago
A better question: could you find ten thousand qualified people in 2021 who really want to go through 4 rounds of interviews with a company that's quantitatively proven to promote human misery?
- lmilcin 5y ago
  Of course they will. A lot of people will gladly accept FAANG salary and then bend backwards to rationalize it. Or they just simply don't care. Four rounds of interviews is not a problem if you are good at what you are doing and only need to visit 2-3 companies to get the offer you want. It only becomes a problem if you need to visit a lot of companies and I suspect that is where a lot of complaints come from.
  - flyingchipmann 5y ago
    The reason to interview a lot of companies at once is because of the competing offers. The candidate would have a huge raise by doing so. Certain companies would give out minimum offers most of the time unless they see the competing offers now, like Google/Microsoft.
    - lmilcin 5y ago
      Never had this happen to me and also they don't need more than one competing offer. Why would you need ten offers? If you complain that companies waste your time then what is shopping for offers if not massive waste? There are ways to check what you can earn at most large companies. Just find the company you want to work for and focus getting as good impression as you can. It is likely going to yield better results than trying to optimize your effort to be as low as possible because you need to run so many concurrent processes. Remember, one good offer is better than ten worse.
      - flyingchipmann 5y ago
        Yes, one competing offer is enough. Applying for more is just upping the chances. The competition is fierce and luck is also very important. It's good to have backup plans.

version_five 5y ago

This is an interesting point. The fact that they need 10k people to work on this makes them more like a government putting on a make work project than a company doing R&D. They'd be better off funding 1000 10-person startups working in VR, or just buying or copying one when / if it gets traction. Related, I can see some appeal of getting to work at a small group doing development in a new area. It's got to be much harder to attract talent who know they are joining as a cog in a 10,000 person centrally planned effort

astlouis44 5y ago
What's most wild about this is that they're doing this big of a hiring push for a new offering, in just one region of the world. It's obvious Facebook sees the metaverse as the next big platform, and they want to own it the way Apple and Google own mobile today.
- randycupertino 5y ago
  > It's obvious Facebook sees the metaverse as the next big platform I could see it- with business conferences and business travel, remote work etc. But I'd rather this go to Skype for business or zoom or linkedin etc or basically anyone else than Facebook.
- version_five 5y ago
  Now that I think about if, maybe this is just about buying some goodwill in europe by creating jobs?
  - astlouis44 5y ago
    Seems like a likely reason why they’re doing this, wasn’t the whistleblower supposed to testify in Europe? Convenient timing. They’re likely trying to bribe the EU here with the promise of jobs.
    - disgruntledphd2 5y ago
      Nah, it's probably that now that they are allowing remote for almost all jobs, they now have a much bigger space for recruitment (lots of people in Europe don't want to move to London or Dublin).
- sjg007 5y ago
  Roblox could win this, they just need to double down.
  - astlouis44 5y ago
    They easily could, they just need to ship Roblox VR on the Oculus Quest and the upcoming Apple headset.
    - sjg007 5y ago
      I'm not sure FB will let them ship that.. there might be enough demand though to force them. But it will drive Oculus demand thru the roof.. I'd buy at least 3.
danboarder 5y ago
Well in the 90s when the web was new, centralized players like AOL and Compuserve were where the users found an on-ramp to the Internet. I think of Facebook as the AOL of today's web, and they want to be the AOL of tomorrow's VR/AR mixed media metaverse. But hopefully the masses of users will grow past this next "AOL" and find their way to the VR/XR decentralized Web. This is yet to be determined...
- jimmySixDOF 5y ago
  Yah that has been my thinking on this too. The Metaverse is in its dialup modem stage of the comparison and things can still take a number of directions not all of which favor Facebook by a long shot. They are the ones investing heavily today (FBRL is already 10K people [1]) and that brings legitimacy to all of XR as more than just a gaming niche subculture. But, as any comment thread on this topic clearly shows, FB has sustained reputational damage that is not easy to overcome without some internal soul searching business model pivot. If they plan thier Metaverse as an Adtech engine extension of their existing business, then they can be AOL/Netscape - big names at the outset but not built to last long in the new space. Given the choice, people want some Digital Dignity/Data Sovereignty and other players will find a way to make it happen if FB won't. [1] https://uploadvr.com/facebook-employees-2021/ https://uploadvr.com/facebook-employees-2021/

nimbius 5y ago

A better question: could you find ten thousand qualified people in 2021 who really want to go through 4 rounds of interviews with a company that's quantitatively proven to promote human misery?

lmilcin 5y ago
Of course they will. A lot of people will gladly accept FAANG salary and then bend backwards to rationalize it. Or they just simply don't care. Four rounds of interviews is not a problem if you are good at what you are doing and only need to visit 2-3 companies to get the offer you want. It only becomes a problem if you need to visit a lot of companies and I suspect that is where a lot of complaints come from.
- flyingchipmann 5y ago
  The reason to interview a lot of companies at once is because of the competing offers. The candidate would have a huge raise by doing so. Certain companies would give out minimum offers most of the time unless they see the competing offers now, like Google/Microsoft.
  - lmilcin 5y ago
    Never had this happen to me and also they don't need more than one competing offer. Why would you need ten offers? If you complain that companies waste your time then what is shopping for offers if not massive waste? There are ways to check what you can earn at most large companies. Just find the company you want to work for and focus getting as good impression as you can. It is likely going to yield better results than trying to optimize your effort to be as low as possible because you need to run so many concurrent processes. Remember, one good offer is better than ten worse.
    - flyingchipmann 5y ago
      Yes, one competing offer is enough. Applying for more is just upping the chances. The competition is fierce and luck is also very important. It's good to have backup plans.