Pros
From the start, Facebook has been amazing.
Bootcamp was a great experience; not too many companies let a new grad spend 6-8 weeks searching for a good team fit. They let you pick a team, which essentially means you get to pick your tech stack (Backend; Front-end; Mobile; Infrastructure), the org you work for (Messenger, Facebook, Oculus, Instagram, etc.). More importantly, you get to pick your manager + team mates, where as in other large companies, it's the other way around; you are assigned to a product & org & manager whether you like it or not. This is way different compared to Google's opaque 'host matching' process and Microsoft where they just randomly place you in a division like Azure or Office.
The company values really shine through every day. Before Facebook I thought the concept of company values was kind of corny and B.S. Now that I'm at FB I can at least say that here the company values are actually values held by top management + majority of the workforce and not just marketing / HR speak.
Everyday I really feel like we are moving fast and shipping a lot of product very quickly. We A/B test lots of features, analyze the data, and swiftly decide what to ship to the public. I never feel stuck; I always feel like I'm either implementing an A/B test or analyzing data so we can ship more features. There are not long product cycles with lots of prognostication from product leadership; we build, measure, then learn. Thats it.
I feel everyday that we have an open culture. At Facebook, we use Workplace, a tool thats kind of like Facebook but for corporations, made by you guessed it... Facebook. Within Workplace, just like normal FB, there are a ton of groups. I'm in a bunch of groups and basically get visibility on decision making + product updates + news from every part of our org. I feel like I'm in the loop and just learn so much about FB / product by reading my Workplace newsfeed. For example, today I read a research report about internet users in India, learned some stuff about dynamic ads, and saw one of the senior leaders announce a new partnership deal. All of that info isn't directly relevant to my day-to-day job, but because its all there and open to anyone, I learn so much and have so much clarity into FB's product vision & company objectives. Mark or Shreyl do Q & A's every Friday. Between hearing top leadership speak, and reading updates from every part of the company on Workplace, I feel that FB is a very open and transparent place to work.
There are many other pros and cultural values that I like but let me get to a major pro to end this review. Food!
Here's just a sample from today! I ate these 3 meals today at the company cafe 2 mins walk away from my desk.
Breakfast:
Soft Boiled Egg + Been + Cheese + Salsa Tostada. Organic Blueberries & Blackberries. Hemp & Pumpkin seeds.
Lunch:
Vegetarian Pho with Sous Vide Eggs, Tofu, Steamed Cabbage, Green Onions, Cilantro, & Bean Sprouts in it. Added Sriracha and Chili Oil to spicen it up.
Thai Iced Tea Bobba (Bubble) Tea.
Dinner (today was Jamaican themed):
Sweet Potato & Corn Casserole, Collared Greens, Fried Plantains, & Quinoa.
I also got a slice of cheese pizza :)
Dessert: Mango Cheesecake made with Graham Cracker Crust.
By the way, the menu rotates, and at the HQ, there are a ton of cafes to choose from so way more options for food are there.
Cons
Work life balance is tough. Can have some busy weeks due to the "move fast" culture. Plus you have a lot of ownership which brings with it some stress.
The offices are crowded due to how fast we are growing. They are building a few new huge buildings but until those finish things are quite cramped, and the work place can get loud.
Also not enough space in the gyms because of the general overcrowding on campus.
