Pros
Benefits They tend to offer reasonable benefits packages. They will likely offer you everything you are looking for in terms of benefits and more. You will likely be taken care of in that way. Networking The layout and structure of the Meta buildings is set up in a way that you have the opportunity to run into just about anyone who works there. There are social events happening very often that give you the opportunity to meet people who you may not have ever worked with in your tenure and make meaningful connections. ERGs/Clubs I strongly encourage getting involved with these internal organizations. Your success at this company will have a lot to do with who knows you and is therefore advocating for you during employee evaluations. These organizations will keep you sane and give you an outlet while providing some balance with your work.
Cons
Not true autonomy I joined the company thinking that I was being hired to bring my unique talents to the table and it returns out that was not true. In my experience, the company wants more people like they already have that worked there. This bothered me a lot as I found it difficult to assimilate to the ways of thinking and reaching our organizational goals without trying something different which the organization was not willing to hear. Little to NO work Life Balance The company provides more amenities than any employee can use at any time. This is great if you have the time to use them. Most people eat, workout, play sports, play games, socialize, attend events, and network AT ALL WORK. And even when they are at home or on vacation they are still working to prove that they are dedicated to the company. There are many spoken rules to the access they have to you at this company, meaning that you will be at their disposal at any point they need you. If you are not, you will be punished. Not overtly, but certainly covertly. The company standards do not allow you to maintain healthy boundaries for yourself and I don’t think it is their intent to do that either. Difficult Internal Mobility When I was hired, I was led to believe that internal mobility was easy. You can look up jobs available internally and talk to the folks hiring. Obviously, there is no guarantee that you will get the job that you want but you may have a slight advantage. Here, the company operates like many small companies within the same walls. There is no advantage. In fact, it may feel like you are under the microscope even more so coming from within the company. It is a weird and honestly icky feeling. I found this out when I wanted to do the same role in an adjacent department. Don’t Always Practice Values The company’s values have changed a bit to fit more of what the company wants from employees. Unfortunately, these values are weaponized from employee to employee. This makes the work environment hostile. If you say something to your manager, skip level manager, or coworker that they don’t agree with or don’t want to hear, the company’s values may be used as a response to dismiss, demean, and invalidate your perspective in the conversation. This made it nearly impossible to make changes where they desperately needed to be made in my work.
