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And yet Facebook still manages to hire good engineers.

Nicksil 5y ago
>And yet Facebook still manages to hire good engineers. How do we know they aren't just average or mediocre software developers?
- tombert 5y ago
  They managed to recruit semi-famous computer scientists like Simon Marlow and Bryan O'Sullivan (well, buy his company and he stayed), both of whom could get jobs at basically any company. This doesn't mean that the average engineer is any good there, just that they do have exceptional ones too.
- bener 5y ago
  You'll find a lot of very insightful blog posts on HN written by talented engineers that work at FB or are ex FB.. It's quite common knowledge that a lot of brilliant engineers are hired by FB. I am by no means a fan of FB but it's a known fact that they hire many excellent engineers.
- spoonjim 5y ago
  They don't need to hire Dennis Ritchies, they need to hire people who are good enough to achieve their business objectives. Facebook's apps work, their site is performant, they are not drowning in storage costs, etc... they have the engineers they need. Their business problems are not due to engineering.
pm90 5y ago
They do so by compensating the incredibly well. I doubt Spotify can do that.
dannyr 5y ago
Can't find the article but Facebook appears to be not one of the top choices for fresh grads.
- filoleg 5y ago
  Found the updated list as of 2021[0]. Facebook is still in top 10, but the list in general seems extremely arbitrary. Amazon is in top 5 somehow? And Nintendo is in top 10, above FB? I can maaaaaybe see Amazon, but Nintendo makes zero sense to me on that list. CIA, FBI, and IBM ranked higher than Twitter? Also doesn't make much sense to me. 0. https://www.businessinsider.com/most-attractive-companies-for-us-computer-science-students-universum-2021-9 https://www.businessinsider.com/most-attractive-companies-fo...
gorjusborg 5y ago
For now. Also, 'good' engineers won't keep you at the top. Once the best start to flee, they my accumulate at other companies. Birds of a feather and all that.

>And yet Facebook still manages to hire good engineers. How do we know they aren't just average or mediocre software developers?

tombert 5y ago
They managed to recruit semi-famous computer scientists like Simon Marlow and Bryan O'Sullivan (well, buy his company and he stayed), both of whom could get jobs at basically any company. This doesn't mean that the average engineer is any good there, just that they do have exceptional ones too.
bener 5y ago
You'll find a lot of very insightful blog posts on HN written by talented engineers that work at FB or are ex FB.. It's quite common knowledge that a lot of brilliant engineers are hired by FB. I am by no means a fan of FB but it's a known fact that they hire many excellent engineers.
spoonjim 5y ago
They don't need to hire Dennis Ritchies, they need to hire people who are good enough to achieve their business objectives. Facebook's apps work, their site is performant, they are not drowning in storage costs, etc... they have the engineers they need. Their business problems are not due to engineering.

pm90 5y ago

They do so by compensating the incredibly well. I doubt Spotify can do that.

dannyr 5y ago

Can't find the article but Facebook appears to be not one of the top choices for fresh grads.

filoleg 5y ago
Found the updated list as of 2021[0]. Facebook is still in top 10, but the list in general seems extremely arbitrary. Amazon is in top 5 somehow? And Nintendo is in top 10, above FB? I can maaaaaybe see Amazon, but Nintendo makes zero sense to me on that list. CIA, FBI, and IBM ranked higher than Twitter? Also doesn't make much sense to me. 0. https://www.businessinsider.com/most-attractive-companies-for-us-computer-science-students-universum-2021-9 https://www.businessinsider.com/most-attractive-companies-fo...

gorjusborg 5y ago

For now. Also, 'good' engineers won't keep you at the top. Once the best start to flee, they my accumulate at other companies. Birds of a feather and all that.