5 ms·

Been at two FAANGs, a small startup and a mid sized company. I cannot overstate how little I care about being an enabler and a transformer of the business, or

Been at two FAANGs, a small startup and a mid sized company. I cannot overstate how little I care about being an enabler and a transformer of the business, or even care about the business. You see, as a business ( of one), I'm here to ensure my company (again me) is generating cash flow and profit for my stakeholders ( me + family + dog). Unless I own the company or have equity >10%, it never made sense why anyone would. That said, I enjoyed my time at the good large corps. Big and small, they all have their issues internally, but I'll take the boring and well compensated job over the interesting (almost never that interesting) and low pay one.

lapcat 3y ago
> Unless I own the company or have equity >10%, it never made sense why anyone would. This is key. I worked for a small company for 8 years, and in the end I realized that the owners still wanted me to be just a cog, and I would never be anything except a cog in their (small) machine. That's when I quit and started my own company. The gap between employees and owners is massive and almost always insuperable.
- mgaunard 3y ago
  A good company will reward key people with equity. Either you were not a key person or you badly picked the company you worked for.
  - lapcat 3y ago
    > Either you were not a key person or you badly picked the company you worked for. This is a really uninformed and insulting reply. You speculate without having any knowledge or details about the situation. First of all, I didn't join the company with the intention of staying 8 years or rising to management; I joined because they offered a big pay raise from my previous job. So no, I didn't badly pick the company I worked for. Second, I personally wasn't looking for equity, I was looking for power, the ability to make independent decisions. Third, a more general point: BigCo engineers get equity in the company, but they're still just cogs in the machine.
    - mgaunard 3y ago
      This is merely a logical conclusion of the previous statement that I made. Feeling insulted by logic really takes the cake for a computer scientist.
      - lapcat 3y ago
        No, you still don't have a clue what you're talking about.
mgaunard 3y ago
You will never achieve great things if you're not dedicated. Settling for a cushy job where you don't have to care and can focus on your family, yes, that's what FAANG is for. That's what I meant by retirement.
- harshalizee 3y ago
  I don't know what constitutes as 'great' and 'dedicated' in your books, but I'm pretty happy with how my career and life so far ended up at. I joined a FAANGM straight out of Uni, wrote code that currently runs even today on billions of devices worldwide, and services that processes requests also in billions. Then ended up at another FAANG with similar outcomes. Being at large corps in my early 20s was one of the best things that happened to me financially, setting me up for life by 30 to pursue anything I wanted - a lot of it was timing and luck, but some credit for my dedication wouldn't be asking too much. The startup, on the other hand, was bought out and the service eventually scrapped. I'm pretty sure that code doesn't even exist anymore or an archive somewhere never to be touched. Ironically, this is the place I've had to work the hardest. Today, I can at least get my foot in the door at most places purely based on past experiences. Whenever some company wants me to do a song and dance take-home interviews, I respectfully tell them to knock it off and they usually do. I'm definitely focused on family now, and I'd argue it is the greatest thing I'll ever achieve. I hope young, newly-minted engineers don't take your advice too seriously. You can definitely forge your path in multiple ways in your life. Not drinking the kool-aid is paramount to maintaining perspective of what really matters in life. Every decade or 5-year chunks of your life, has unique phases, choices/oppurtunities and experiences that are strictly for that part of your life. Your real job is to figure out which to pick and choose to minimize regrets. Paraphrasing another HN comment -- In a decade, the only people who will remember you worked late to go above and beyond to deliver, is your kids. And if you choose not to have kids, well there's your answer.
  - mgaunard 3y ago
    You don't work hard for your code to be used, but for the opportunity to learn how to build things. 3 years of experience at a startup are worth a lot more than at a big corporation. Personally I'd rather my kids are proud of having a father who believes in what he does, rather than one that just clocks in-and-out. I have a similar sentiment when looking for a partner too; I simply cannot date someone who's not driven by their job. That being said, to each their own. I know a lot of people who prefer focusing on hobbies and family than on their career. I suppose that for those, FAANG isn't such a bad compromise.

lapcat 3y ago

> Unless I own the company or have equity >10%, it never made sense why anyone would. This is key. I worked for a small company for 8 years, and in the end I realized that the owners still wanted me to be just a cog, and I would never be anything except a cog in their (small) machine. That's when I quit and started my own company. The gap between employees and owners is massive and almost always insuperable.

mgaunard 3y ago
A good company will reward key people with equity. Either you were not a key person or you badly picked the company you worked for.
- lapcat 3y ago
  > Either you were not a key person or you badly picked the company you worked for. This is a really uninformed and insulting reply. You speculate without having any knowledge or details about the situation. First of all, I didn't join the company with the intention of staying 8 years or rising to management; I joined because they offered a big pay raise from my previous job. So no, I didn't badly pick the company I worked for. Second, I personally wasn't looking for equity, I was looking for power, the ability to make independent decisions. Third, a more general point: BigCo engineers get equity in the company, but they're still just cogs in the machine.
  - mgaunard 3y ago
    This is merely a logical conclusion of the previous statement that I made. Feeling insulted by logic really takes the cake for a computer scientist.
    - lapcat 3y ago
      No, you still don't have a clue what you're talking about.

mgaunard 3y ago

You will never achieve great things if you're not dedicated. Settling for a cushy job where you don't have to care and can focus on your family, yes, that's what FAANG is for. That's what I meant by retirement.

harshalizee 3y ago
I don't know what constitutes as 'great' and 'dedicated' in your books, but I'm pretty happy with how my career and life so far ended up at. I joined a FAANGM straight out of Uni, wrote code that currently runs even today on billions of devices worldwide, and services that processes requests also in billions. Then ended up at another FAANG with similar outcomes. Being at large corps in my early 20s was one of the best things that happened to me financially, setting me up for life by 30 to pursue anything I wanted - a lot of it was timing and luck, but some credit for my dedication wouldn't be asking too much. The startup, on the other hand, was bought out and the service eventually scrapped. I'm pretty sure that code doesn't even exist anymore or an archive somewhere never to be touched. Ironically, this is the place I've had to work the hardest. Today, I can at least get my foot in the door at most places purely based on past experiences. Whenever some company wants me to do a song and dance take-home interviews, I respectfully tell them to knock it off and they usually do. I'm definitely focused on family now, and I'd argue it is the greatest thing I'll ever achieve. I hope young, newly-minted engineers don't take your advice too seriously. You can definitely forge your path in multiple ways in your life. Not drinking the kool-aid is paramount to maintaining perspective of what really matters in life. Every decade or 5-year chunks of your life, has unique phases, choices/oppurtunities and experiences that are strictly for that part of your life. Your real job is to figure out which to pick and choose to minimize regrets. Paraphrasing another HN comment -- In a decade, the only people who will remember you worked late to go above and beyond to deliver, is your kids. And if you choose not to have kids, well there's your answer.
- mgaunard 3y ago
  You don't work hard for your code to be used, but for the opportunity to learn how to build things. 3 years of experience at a startup are worth a lot more than at a big corporation. Personally I'd rather my kids are proud of having a father who believes in what he does, rather than one that just clocks in-and-out. I have a similar sentiment when looking for a partner too; I simply cannot date someone who's not driven by their job. That being said, to each their own. I know a lot of people who prefer focusing on hobbies and family than on their career. I suppose that for those, FAANG isn't such a bad compromise.