Rant: Big Tech (FAANG) Employees/AMs are a menace

What are the biggest disadvantages of working in FAANG acc to you? According to me: 1. Company leadership says A (which is something I most of the time agreed with), but I kept seeing middle management do B. 2. More and more processes and red tape. I did not like the direction the company was developing (I was in a sensitive org, so we had a lot of lawyers etc to begin with, but it got overbearing) 3. Promotions are extremely formulaic and at times I felt like an ape trying to tick 10 check boxes in a half.

Why: I know that with all the job layoffs happening, it's kinda stupid to quit but I just can't. After almost a decade in the startup scene I'm taking a break, probably for good. From AI to B2C to ed-tech and more I have worked with startups at every stage of growth and across sectors. Almost in every one of these w/o exception, I have experienced burnout, mindless pressure, and being underpaid because I'm not from an IIT or IIM. Context: I love technology, I have been a sci-fi nerd since school and I threw myself into the stories of startups changing the world. But because of family finances and the overall culture of startups I haven't taken a break in about 10 years and it's starting to show. I don't have savings to last me more than 3-4 months but at this rate I'll end up checking out of society. Unsolicited advice: 1) Most startups and the VCs that back them know they're going to fail but don't internalise their failure as yours. 2) Always, always take care of your mental + physical health. Doesn't matter if you're intern and you're expected to slog 12-15 hours in the name of learning. 3) I missed moments with my ageing mom and dad, school friends and just time to read and relax because I was afraid of missing out on "networking" and "office night outs". Fuck all that, it is and it will always be family and frit first. Finally, Fuck all you hustle bro CEOs, they have done more to damage the mentor health of a generation more than any politician. I feel stupid and useless because you can't help posturing and creating panic in the name of disruption. Hope AI takes your jobs too. PS: See you on the other side.

Come at me, I'm not scared. There is a reason why FAANG engineers are top-rated VS some random startup engineer. Here are the reasons why I think that Indian Startup culture is pure cringe: 1. The random use of the following emojis- 🚀💰📈📊💡 2. Fake enthusiasm for every little thing - "Wow! 25M people ordered condoms WOWOW!!!🚀" 3. Claim that you are a verb("company name"): "I am a (Zoman, Flipster, Swiggster or whatever)" but no one really knows about it outside of your company. 4. The HR is a proper softie in the name of Employee wellbeing but will end up being a sadist the moment layoffs happen. 5. Think hard if you really want to work in a place that is your LinkedIn feed on Steroids.

The current startup tech employees and founders are filled with so much junkies who do not care about the product at all. The culture is set when the startup is founded,when the first set of employees arrive. These folks are some of the most driven and talented and that's fine, it's how it should be. But the problem begins when these folks do not find their own hiring strategy and copy the hiring strategy of other companies. Instead of analysing what works best for them they justify their hiring means by saying this is what other have done. The result is you get a bunch of leetcode warriors who are always wanting to jump ships when given opportunity, never forming deep knowledge about their industry and their product. I work in one of the legacy tech companies, sure we do not hire the best people but we nurture them and that earns loyalty and long careers in our company. Even the employees have a very 360 degree view wrt product. We always deeply care about our product. Tbh I love seeing the stupidity of the market and it makes me happy that more confident that these people are wrong and always will be. Even the Indian startups are unoriginal and copied from the west then how do you expect the hiring to be unique. We are all living in the circus where jokers are supporting each other in making the circus bigger.

Disclaimer this is not a rant or this has nothing to put in bad way someones hard work. With so many ppl making tutorials and selling courses online, I had my few observations. I welcome ppl to join on this discussion with their point of views as well. The most important things is you need a solid company name on your resume, doesn’t matter what work you might have done there. Everyone knows the meatiest work in google is done at west coast office(just an example). This gives you the starting point, I would not disagree to the fact that these guys put on the hard work to crack the interviews, but that doesn’t mean you start selling a dream to everyone. It will be like what harshad mehta did to his clients during the days. If a person is working in some unknown company and even though the person teaches really well, I bet there will be hardly any takers for his/her course. Teaching is an art as per me, not everyone can be a great teacher. There are some good ones out there but majority of them don’t fall under above category. I would say they are social media influencers with a bit of tech knowledge. We have already lost a generation with rot learning and now with the rise of these ppl, the day is not far way when a person aceing the interview knows jack shit when given an actual problem to solve at workplace.

Came across a twitter post where a user says its impossible for tier 3 college folks to crack FAANG with freshers/low experience. How is the work culture at FAANG ??? Do you all get to work on the world changing products there ? FAANG folks plz answer. Exception is amazon. Would like to know the rest all companies work culture.

I was interning at Microsoft and got the PPO as well. But I chose to join a remote startup and resigned from Microsoft, for various reasons including Pay, Learning, Product, Tech stack, etc. And everyone I talked with since then has asked the same thing, "bro why did you leave Microsoft?", "bro Microsoft is such a big brand", blah blah. When are we going to realize that working for a FAANG /MAANG /FAANGMULA /LODALASAN company is not the ultimate goal of everyone's life ?

The money looks good because inflatable CTC, duh. There are tons of companies that will match(and exceed the pay) and won't make you jump through a million loops. Also, what is with the fact that they continue to ask the stupidest brain teasers that has nothing to do with what i am supposed to do. Let's admit it. Even if we got through the interview process, I have done no innovative work in my time here. Anyone willing to echo this?

Just an open ended question on why are layoffs happening on such a scale. I personally feel the skill to salary ratio has fucked up so much lately that the companies are having to fire people who are essentially useless to them. More of liabilities than just assets! What do you think?