Perks Beyond Comprehension and an Opportunity to Change the World
Pros
If the reviews here sound like employees are really drinking the Kool-Aid...it's because many of them are. The people at this company genuinely believe they're changing the world by connecting it, and that mission and set of values permeate everything they do. -Unbelievable benefits and compensation. Seriously, some of their benefits are mind-blowing. Gym benefits, free (really good) food everywhere, amazing healthcare and family planning and daycare benefits (including a "baby bonus"), access to incredible company events and speakers, generous vacation time that they're constantly encouraging you to actually use, the latest phones and computers for work use, on-site doctor and dentist that are actually good...the list goes on and on. - Strong company culture and values. I've never been at a company that lives and breathes a mission so completely. Am constantly in meetings where coworkers are asking, "Is this the right decision for the people who use Facebook?". Even the way they treat their contingent workers (who receive better benefits than most of the tech sector's contingent employees do) makes this evident; there are internal communication groups where full-time employees are constantly asking what more we could be doing for contingent workers to show our appreciation for their work. Both internally and externally, the "#shiplove" mantra is strong here. -Work/life balance. You'll see some mixed reviews on this point, but I've been here a year (non-engineering role) and I've never had the level of work/life balance I've had here. I work a very consistent 9-5, and it's rare when I have to fire up my laptop at home at night or over the weekends. -Facilities. It's Facebook! The campus is gorgeous, and they allow visitors. Hosting out-of-town friends and family for lunch or dinner is a great perk. -Efficient and fast. Fewer politics than many other companies of this size. A lot of the day-to-day communication and work gets done on the Facebook platform, which is hugely efficient and easy to use system. -The future! These guys have their hands in a lot of cookie jars, and are working on some really amazing stuff. Whether you're working on things like bringing internet access to the third world, virtual reality products, artificial intelligence that will serve peoples' needs, or all of the innovative things that go on inside the regular ol' Facebook app that serves over a billion people a day, chances are you're working on something really cool. -Women's leadership. I've also never been at a company that really understands women's needs as much as Facebook does (I think we owe this to the leadership of Sheryl Sandberg, Lori Goler and Maxine Williams). They encourage an ongoing dialogue about women's issues in the workplace, have mothers' rooms all around campus, encourage us all to take a "Managing Bias" course (which is really eye-opening, on many levels) and even host a yearly Women's Leadership Day, which is truly empowering. They bring in amazing speakers for this event and out of everything I've experienced in my first year here, this was probably the event that stayed with me the most.
Cons
-Entitlement. After you've worked here for a while, it's easy to get entitled. I'd say 95% of employees keep their feet on the ground and appreciative and gracious about the benefits they receive, but the entitlement plus the company's culture of open feedback ("feedback is a gift") occasionally breeds inane complaints in internal communication groups. -That commute. If you live in SF, you'll have to hike down to Menlo Park, and depending upon where you're coming from and how bad traffic is that day, it could be as bad as 2 hours each day. The good news: that's rare, and company-provided transportation options (shuttles with WiFi) make this as easy as possible. You do get used to it, and your time on the shuttle is your own. Sure, you can do work, but you can also nap, watch Netflix, or read.
