Taro Logo

Brand, product, and people

Non-engineer
Current Employee
Has worked at Meta for 2 years
March 30, 2013
4.0
RecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEO
Pros
  • Huge Brand

Arguably the biggest brand name in the tech world to work for. You realize this when people discover that you work for Facebook – at airports, clubs, parties, etc.

  • Mark Zuckerberg

He is a real genius, and weekly Q&A's with him provide a great opportunity for you to learn from his personality and way of thinking.

  • Transparency

Every employee knows what is coming out. It is incredible that there are too few leaks.

  • Focus

Zuck has been able to keep the organization very tightly focused on its goals. Be it through designing the offices in a certain way, posters, T-shirts, the way of celebration, weekly Q&As, internal groups, etc., everyone seems to be focused on organizational goals.

Cons
  • Politics in international HQs

It's quite natural, but Irish seem to favor Irish because they realize that they are going to work together longer term compared to international employees. This leads to favoritism, which reflects in (unfair) performance reviews and promotions.

  • Arrogance

Facebook is always in the news and a glamorous brand to be associated with. Some employees don't seem to handle this well and come across as very arrogant.

  • Culture of instant glorification

There is a culture of moving fast, which is not well understood by all. Oftentimes, projects are celebrated at their inception and brushed under the carpet if the results don't match the initial promise. Also, very often, you see people trying to grab credit for something they had no contribution in, but are in a good position to take credit. There are many such opportunities at Facebook since the product is great, the brand is well known, and Facebook is still growing at a tremendous rate. So, sometimes it's frustrating to see people benefiting just by pretending to contribute.

Advice to Management

Try to balance the culture of instant glorification. This is leading to an environment where people are concerned only about short-term projects because that's what reflects in their performance review. Oftentimes, these projects are very expensive, but the cost is brushed under the carpet and the results are presented in an over-glorified manner. While this is obvious, managers have no choice but to praise it in public because it's good for their results as well.

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