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Technically adept people aren't the target market for their advertising platforms but yet they are staffed by ... technically adept people. It confounds me how

Technically adept people aren't the target market for their advertising platforms but yet they are staffed by ... technically adept people. It confounds me how anyone would want to work there. The money must be really good.

WXLCKNO 3y ago
Pretty sure the money/benefits/ option grants are all ridiculous and world class.
justapassenger 3y ago
Technically adept people also buy things, have family and friends they connect with, want to look at photos, argue on the internet, etc. Your (and your friends) experience may not be representative of everyone.
- oldbbsnickname 3y ago
  Technically-adept people are a tiny minority of society, and also a tiny fraction of UHNWIs.
mden 3y ago
Money and tech. Their dev experience is imo better than Google. I wouldn't be surprised if it's the best out of all large tech companies.
- wferrell 3y ago
  What makes the dev experience so good? And why is it better than google's? I ask genuinely. I've seen/used Google's... thought it was good.
catlover76 3y ago
The money and benefits are good, the prestige is high, and they do technically cool things.
- oldbbsnickname 3y ago
  Not always. IC7-9 can make ~$800k-$1.2m TC solving tough, uninteresting problems with massive impact. Most ~IC8's come across as total assholes, which might be a requirement in some tech cultures.
  - MikeTheRocker 3y ago
    Curious what your sample size is on evaluating IC8s. In my experience the small handful I’ve known have been very pleasant people.
    - oldbbsnickname 3y ago
      Must be a different fiefdom. There are pockets that are still techbro. (I wished I hadn't picked said fiefdom.)
      - catlover76 3y ago
        I have heard Facebook can differ pretty wildly depending on team. 2/3 of the people I know who have worked there hated it and consider it a toxic company, but one had a pretty good time. All 3 of them would have been ok with a place/team that some people might describe as "tech bro" though--we are talking much worse than whatever you mean by that lol
        oldbbsnickname 3y ago
        You heard correctly. Technical teams: There are some pressure-cooker teams where there are micromangers obsessed with counting diff revisions and maximum project impact, a smattering of individuals who are overconfident big fish in small ponds. Most technical teams are normal and helpful. Some are even loosey-goosey and casual. There are a few teams who have no customer service skills or professionalism at all, but those aren't many. Nontechnical teams: I've observed multiple IRL collections of people who literally go to work to socialize... and do so loudly and not in a conference room. Maybe they do work, but I didn't see any sign of it. Slacking-tolerant areas must have a reporting structure that doesn't have a lot of hard accountability, may not have to produce quantitive impact, and are able to hide in a megacorp when there is sufficient complexity and opacity. One other thing that ticked me off about IRL Metamates: most volunteers for a home building nonprofit left without coordinating with the site manager, leaving them understaffed for the work and cleanup tasks. It really shows the personal ethics of people who pose for photos for their personal brand but then don't care enough to actually do the work.
eilnvlrn 3y ago
> It confounds me how anyone would want to work there. The money must be really good. Why does HN always do this, comment up from their moral high horse? Someone works in big tech then they must be a sell out doing it for the money. Also, if big tech is off limits then by that logic I assume so are big banks, big pharma, big oil etc etc. Almost feels like only start ups qualify as employment opportunities then perhaps, but even they most likely are using frameworks/tech by big tech (is that ok or is that selling out too). Where does one work then? Is it that hard to fathom that people have different moral codes and care about different stuff. Such comments almost feel like sour-grapes.
- SpaceManNabs 3y ago
  > Almost feels like only start ups qualify as employment opportunities Always good to remember that we are on HN; a lot of entrepreneurs are somewhat frustrated that they have to compete with Big "wtv" for talent.
  - pb7 3y ago
    Good, let them be frustrated. These are the same people that will make their employees work nights and weekends for a median salary and equity that isn’t worth the paper it’s written on for years only to go under or cash out in an event that only benefits the founders and VCs. Big tech is a blessing in a market that would further take advantage of tech talent if they could.
- colinsane 3y ago
  > Why does HN always do this, comment up from their moral high horse? i think a lot of us were introduced to tech as an extremely liberating thing. the dreams were obvious if you spent time building things as a kid: complete creative direction over your built environment, digital _and_ physical. and then you reach working age and realize that very, very few people _employed_ in tech share those dreams. the people working to actually make tech liberating are largely the people _not_ being paid to do it (maybe a carveout for grant work there), and a large part of paid tech work is explicitly counter to those liberating ideas: taking a general purpose technology and restricting what the user can do with it (Apple), surveilling the user everywhere (Google, Facebook). > Where does one work then? Is it that hard to fathom that people have different moral codes and care about different stuff. not hard to fathom. at the same time, if i told you "my moral code leads me to discredit the idea that anyone can have a private property right to unused shelter" and lived out of your garage while you're out of town, would you really not take issue with that? is "we have different moral codes" really a get-out-of-jail free card? i see the future you're manifesting (via the work your comment suggests that you do) as one which makes my own future more difficult to realize. that puts us in conflict. my future would apparently be better without you in it, but maybe you're offsetting things elsewhere, and i'm not _that_ self-centered anyway. so what would you have me do? i think the most reasonable thing to do is to let it be known to you that this is the case.
spookie 3y ago
It doesn't need to be about money. Think about research. They do a lot of it. And honestly? They seem quite more open about it.
peanuty1 3y ago
They pay as well as any company in Silicon Valley and better than most.

WXLCKNO 3y ago

Pretty sure the money/benefits/ option grants are all ridiculous and world class.

justapassenger 3y ago

Technically adept people also buy things, have family and friends they connect with, want to look at photos, argue on the internet, etc. Your (and your friends) experience may not be representative of everyone.

oldbbsnickname 3y ago
Technically-adept people are a tiny minority of society, and also a tiny fraction of UHNWIs.

mden 3y ago

Money and tech. Their dev experience is imo better than Google. I wouldn't be surprised if it's the best out of all large tech companies.

wferrell 3y ago
What makes the dev experience so good? And why is it better than google's? I ask genuinely. I've seen/used Google's... thought it was good.

catlover76 3y ago

The money and benefits are good, the prestige is high, and they do technically cool things.

oldbbsnickname 3y ago
Not always. IC7-9 can make ~$800k-$1.2m TC solving tough, uninteresting problems with massive impact. Most ~IC8's come across as total assholes, which might be a requirement in some tech cultures.
- MikeTheRocker 3y ago
  Curious what your sample size is on evaluating IC8s. In my experience the small handful I’ve known have been very pleasant people.
  - oldbbsnickname 3y ago
    Must be a different fiefdom. There are pockets that are still techbro. (I wished I hadn't picked said fiefdom.)
    - catlover76 3y ago
      I have heard Facebook can differ pretty wildly depending on team. 2/3 of the people I know who have worked there hated it and consider it a toxic company, but one had a pretty good time. All 3 of them would have been ok with a place/team that some people might describe as "tech bro" though--we are talking much worse than whatever you mean by that lol
      - oldbbsnickname 3y ago
        You heard correctly. Technical teams: There are some pressure-cooker teams where there are micromangers obsessed with counting diff revisions and maximum project impact, a smattering of individuals who are overconfident big fish in small ponds. Most technical teams are normal and helpful. Some are even loosey-goosey and casual. There are a few teams who have no customer service skills or professionalism at all, but those aren't many. Nontechnical teams: I've observed multiple IRL collections of people who literally go to work to socialize... and do so loudly and not in a conference room. Maybe they do work, but I didn't see any sign of it. Slacking-tolerant areas must have a reporting structure that doesn't have a lot of hard accountability, may not have to produce quantitive impact, and are able to hide in a megacorp when there is sufficient complexity and opacity. One other thing that ticked me off about IRL Metamates: most volunteers for a home building nonprofit left without coordinating with the site manager, leaving them understaffed for the work and cleanup tasks. It really shows the personal ethics of people who pose for photos for their personal brand but then don't care enough to actually do the work.

eilnvlrn 3y ago

> It confounds me how anyone would want to work there. The money must be really good. Why does HN always do this, comment up from their moral high horse? Someone works in big tech then they must be a sell out doing it for the money. Also, if big tech is off limits then by that logic I assume so are big banks, big pharma, big oil etc etc. Almost feels like only start ups qualify as employment opportunities then perhaps, but even they most likely are using frameworks/tech by big tech (is that ok or is that selling out too). Where does one work then? Is it that hard to fathom that people have different moral codes and care about different stuff. Such comments almost feel like sour-grapes.

SpaceManNabs 3y ago
> Almost feels like only start ups qualify as employment opportunities Always good to remember that we are on HN; a lot of entrepreneurs are somewhat frustrated that they have to compete with Big "wtv" for talent.
- pb7 3y ago
  Good, let them be frustrated. These are the same people that will make their employees work nights and weekends for a median salary and equity that isn’t worth the paper it’s written on for years only to go under or cash out in an event that only benefits the founders and VCs. Big tech is a blessing in a market that would further take advantage of tech talent if they could.
colinsane 3y ago
> Why does HN always do this, comment up from their moral high horse? i think a lot of us were introduced to tech as an extremely liberating thing. the dreams were obvious if you spent time building things as a kid: complete creative direction over your built environment, digital _and_ physical. and then you reach working age and realize that very, very few people _employed_ in tech share those dreams. the people working to actually make tech liberating are largely the people _not_ being paid to do it (maybe a carveout for grant work there), and a large part of paid tech work is explicitly counter to those liberating ideas: taking a general purpose technology and restricting what the user can do with it (Apple), surveilling the user everywhere (Google, Facebook). > Where does one work then? Is it that hard to fathom that people have different moral codes and care about different stuff. not hard to fathom. at the same time, if i told you "my moral code leads me to discredit the idea that anyone can have a private property right to unused shelter" and lived out of your garage while you're out of town, would you really not take issue with that? is "we have different moral codes" really a get-out-of-jail free card? i see the future you're manifesting (via the work your comment suggests that you do) as one which makes my own future more difficult to realize. that puts us in conflict. my future would apparently be better without you in it, but maybe you're offsetting things elsewhere, and i'm not _that_ self-centered anyway. so what would you have me do? i think the most reasonable thing to do is to let it be known to you that this is the case.

spookie 3y ago

It doesn't need to be about money. Think about research. They do a lot of it. And honestly? They seem quite more open about it.

peanuty1 3y ago

They pay as well as any company in Silicon Valley and better than most.