Meta reviews

I've felt like I've been able to maintain a pretty good work life/balance (especially after the first year), but I feel like I had to work hard to make that happen. Being around many people who feel compelled to put most of their waking weekday hours into coding can be intimidating, even when you feel confident in the job you're doing and even when pressure to put in a ton of hours is rarely explicit. Engineers can definitely work reasonable hours, especially older ones with families, but you have to bring your own self-confidence to trust that you're kicking butt even if you're not putting in a ton of hours (especially during the summers when interns ratchet up the intensity around the office) Things are done very fast, which also means things can be hectic and sometimes chaotic (though this feels less and less true as the years go by), but I'd expect some culture shock for anyone coming from software companies where stability and consensus are top-priorities. Code quality has felt really good for the past 2 or so years, though this definitely didn't feel true when I started.

Working at Meta as a woman is miserable. Leadership has made it clear that they do not value women in tech, with Mark Zuckerberg himself pushing for more “masculine energy” because he believes “feminine energy” has hurt the company. What that even means in a workplace setting is unclear, but the message is obvious—women are being undermined, ignored, and pushed out. Harassment has increased, and reporting it is pointless. If you bring up concerns, your comments will be deleted, and you might even get a warning. Then there’s the constant layoffs. Nobody is safe, no matter how strong your performance is. Leadership reassures teams that they’re stable, only to slash entire departments weeks later. Morale is in free fall because no one feels secure in their job. And even if you do keep your position, the workplace has become miserable. Employee benefits are being cut left and right, required office time is increasing for no reason, and even the food—which used to be a small perk—has become awful. The company is penny-pinching everywhere except in executive bonuses. And if you think it’s bad for women, it’s even worse for LGBTQ+ employees. The so-called “inclusive culture” Meta once bragged about is dead. LGBTQ+ employees are being excluded, dismissed, and pushed out, and leadership simply does not care. It’s a hostile, oppressive, and performative environment where only people who align with leadership’s vision of “culture” get ahead.