5 ms·

Zuckerberg warns staff will be ‘turning up the heat’ to weed out underperformers

34 points by antimora 4y ago

metadat 4y ago
Dupe: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31949893 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31949893 (Dominated frontpage for much of today PST)
sfmike 4y ago
Will surfing still be allowed?
- metadat 4y ago
  Only if it's one of Mark's $12,000 electric hydrofoil boards. What a douchebag. p.s. sorry Dang, couldn't resist ahh. :(
tus666 4y ago
> Zuckerberg said Meta will now only hire around 6,000 to 7,000 new engineers in 2022—a stark drop from its initial plan to hire more than 10,000. It's a drop, but it's not a stark drop.
- gloriaraven 4y ago
  a 30% to 40% drop YOY in a stock price, in a commodity price, in almost anything, would be considered a stark drop. Or a crash.
  - mb7733 4y ago
    A 30% drop in year over year growth is not the same as a 30% drop in value.
  - tfehring 4y ago
    It’s a 30% to 40% decrease in the growth though, not the level. Meta’s headcount will be growing from ~75k to ~81k this year, instead of growing to ~85k. The scenario you’re describing would be more like if Meta’s headcount were dropping from ~75k to ~50k. That would definitely be a stark drop, but that’s not what’s happening.
jti107 4y ago
why do you have to wait for a market downturn to weed out under performers. that tells me management isn't doing its job and isn't tracking metrics or perhaps the right metrics. random quarters where employees are let go for bullshit reasons, really kill morale and the top 10% of engineers start looking to go elsewhere as soon as the market improves. a facebook engineer can get another job pretty quickly as long as he's ok trading a bit of salary for stability.
- lumost 4y ago
  My suspicion is that it’s easier for a senior manager at a large firm to be viewed as weeding out underperformers compared to defending an underperforming division. Zuckerberg’s bets over the last 4-6 years haven’t paid off well. It’s unclear that FB has the right metrics to optimize, and it’s unclear that the whole meta amount to a single marketable product. It’s probably easier to gloss over this if he tosses it off as a people problem.
  - djmips 4y ago
    Sounds like Zuckerberg is underperforming. I guess he needs to be weeded out. You know Zuckerberg might decide this place isn’t for him, and that’s OK with me.
    - ergocoder 4y ago
      So, this is like you hire a house cleaner, and your house is still not clean. Then, you fire yourself from your own house? Yeah, not gonna happen. It's different for owners.
      - sobkas 4y ago
        More like you hire a cleaner and then doesn't allow them to clean in some meta places and then complain they are filthy. And then sometimes you swing by the dumpster and grab few things that look interesting only to dump them in the middle of the room call it meta and don't allow anyone to touch it. You are a hoarder and can go through as many cleaners as you want and it won't change how filthy your apartment is. To the point that places that are cleaned don't stay clean for to long, because of how much meta garbage you accumulated over the years.
midhhhthrow 4y ago
Translation: we will pit you against your peers in a cage match to the death. When you “turn up the heat”. Your just making more toxic work environment as people search for the sacrificial engineer Meanwhile, you don’t actually need to run faster to get away from the alligator, it’s much easier to trip up the guy next to you. And To all the FB recruiters: don’t be surprised if I don’t reply to your ever more desperate emails. And don’t go crying to Congress about H1B quotas when you can’t find anyone else to work for the awful conditions you’ve created
- ninesnines 4y ago
  Great interpretation. It sounds like the culture is going to become more toxic very quickly. I think most fb employees should consider their options - I’m sure most of them could job hop quickly without too much trouble. I would be running as far away as possible if this was the work ideology. Nothing kills creativity like purposefully creating a stressful environment with an already high achieving cohort.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
krnlpnc 4y ago
Himself included?
- nix23 4y ago
  I am still waiting that he gives 99% of his wealth for a good cause, was that just some AI-hiccup?
  - 7speter 4y ago
    He isnt still giving all of his money to research to figure out how he and his wife , sorry, I mean, all humankind, can live forever?
Areading314 4y ago
From the quotes here it seems like Mark's leadership is well aligned with the values of his business.
spoonjim 4y ago
This is where we will see how desirable Facebook still is as an employer. It used to be at the very top of the hierarchy, but it has become extremely uncool by 1) being defeated by TikTok at its core competency of building addictive apps 2) been dragged in the court of public opinion as an evil empire and 3) losing a large part of its market cap. In this recessionary environment people won't have AS many choices as before but I still think you will see a ton of regretted attrition as Zuck "turns up the heat."
black_13 4y ago
plaguepilled 4y ago
Zuckerberg's detachment from his own company is impressive. While he certainly will not run out of fresh talent looking for a pay rise, he will quickly weed out any established talent who have enough savings to refuse this sort of Faustian deal. This comes at a time when Meta is already entrenched in a myriad of workplace scandals, further lessening its position in the current social environment. Then again, Meta have been scoring misses for a while now so I guess the error is mine for expecting otherwise.
peanut_worm 4y ago
Zuckerberg says words to excite investors
March_f6 4y ago
Will never choose to have my free will refashioned in the image of Meta if only because of statements like this.

34 points by antimora 4y ago

Dupe: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31949893 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31949893 (Dominated frontpage for much of today PST)

sfmike 4y ago

Will surfing still be allowed?

metadat 4y ago
Only if it's one of Mark's $12,000 electric hydrofoil boards. What a douchebag. p.s. sorry Dang, couldn't resist ahh. :(

tus666 4y ago

> Zuckerberg said Meta will now only hire around 6,000 to 7,000 new engineers in 2022—a stark drop from its initial plan to hire more than 10,000. It's a drop, but it's not a stark drop.

gloriaraven 4y ago
a 30% to 40% drop YOY in a stock price, in a commodity price, in almost anything, would be considered a stark drop. Or a crash.
- mb7733 4y ago
  A 30% drop in year over year growth is not the same as a 30% drop in value.
- tfehring 4y ago
  It’s a 30% to 40% decrease in the growth though, not the level. Meta’s headcount will be growing from ~75k to ~81k this year, instead of growing to ~85k. The scenario you’re describing would be more like if Meta’s headcount were dropping from ~75k to ~50k. That would definitely be a stark drop, but that’s not what’s happening.

jti107 4y ago

why do you have to wait for a market downturn to weed out under performers. that tells me management isn't doing its job and isn't tracking metrics or perhaps the right metrics. random quarters where employees are let go for bullshit reasons, really kill morale and the top 10% of engineers start looking to go elsewhere as soon as the market improves. a facebook engineer can get another job pretty quickly as long as he's ok trading a bit of salary for stability.

lumost 4y ago
My suspicion is that it’s easier for a senior manager at a large firm to be viewed as weeding out underperformers compared to defending an underperforming division. Zuckerberg’s bets over the last 4-6 years haven’t paid off well. It’s unclear that FB has the right metrics to optimize, and it’s unclear that the whole meta amount to a single marketable product. It’s probably easier to gloss over this if he tosses it off as a people problem.
- djmips 4y ago
  Sounds like Zuckerberg is underperforming. I guess he needs to be weeded out. You know Zuckerberg might decide this place isn’t for him, and that’s OK with me.
  - ergocoder 4y ago
    So, this is like you hire a house cleaner, and your house is still not clean. Then, you fire yourself from your own house? Yeah, not gonna happen. It's different for owners.
    - sobkas 4y ago
      More like you hire a cleaner and then doesn't allow them to clean in some meta places and then complain they are filthy. And then sometimes you swing by the dumpster and grab few things that look interesting only to dump them in the middle of the room call it meta and don't allow anyone to touch it. You are a hoarder and can go through as many cleaners as you want and it won't change how filthy your apartment is. To the point that places that are cleaned don't stay clean for to long, because of how much meta garbage you accumulated over the years.

midhhhthrow 4y ago

Translation: we will pit you against your peers in a cage match to the death. When you “turn up the heat”. Your just making more toxic work environment as people search for the sacrificial engineer Meanwhile, you don’t actually need to run faster to get away from the alligator, it’s much easier to trip up the guy next to you. And To all the FB recruiters: don’t be surprised if I don’t reply to your ever more desperate emails. And don’t go crying to Congress about H1B quotas when you can’t find anyone else to work for the awful conditions you’ve created

ninesnines 4y ago
Great interpretation. It sounds like the culture is going to become more toxic very quickly. I think most fb employees should consider their options - I’m sure most of them could job hop quickly without too much trouble. I would be running as far away as possible if this was the work ideology. Nothing kills creativity like purposefully creating a stressful environment with an already high achieving cohort.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

krnlpnc 4y ago

Himself included?

nix23 4y ago
I am still waiting that he gives 99% of his wealth for a good cause, was that just some AI-hiccup?
- 7speter 4y ago
  He isnt still giving all of his money to research to figure out how he and his wife , sorry, I mean, all humankind, can live forever?

Areading314 4y ago

From the quotes here it seems like Mark's leadership is well aligned with the values of his business.

spoonjim 4y ago

This is where we will see how desirable Facebook still is as an employer. It used to be at the very top of the hierarchy, but it has become extremely uncool by 1) being defeated by TikTok at its core competency of building addictive apps 2) been dragged in the court of public opinion as an evil empire and 3) losing a large part of its market cap. In this recessionary environment people won't have AS many choices as before but I still think you will see a ton of regretted attrition as Zuck "turns up the heat."

black_13 4y ago

plaguepilled 4y ago

Zuckerberg's detachment from his own company is impressive. While he certainly will not run out of fresh talent looking for a pay rise, he will quickly weed out any established talent who have enough savings to refuse this sort of Faustian deal. This comes at a time when Meta is already entrenched in a myriad of workplace scandals, further lessening its position in the current social environment. Then again, Meta have been scoring misses for a while now so I guess the error is mine for expecting otherwise.

peanut_worm 4y ago

Zuckerberg says words to excite investors

March_f6 4y ago

Will never choose to have my free will refashioned in the image of Meta if only because of statements like this.