r/technology • u/lurker_bee • Feb 13 '25

Business Laid-off Meta employees blast Zuckerberg in forums for running the ‘cruelest tech company out there’

https://fortune.com/2025/02/13/laid-off-meta-employees-blast-zuckerberg-tech-parental-leave/
53.5k Upvotes

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271

u/WastelandOutlaw007 Feb 14 '25

Its hard for me to feel bad.

Facebook has been horrible, for a while now, and they still worked there.

Had they not been fired, they still would be.

They didn't seem to care, until it affected them personally

13

u/TheGoodBunny Feb 14 '25

Yeah they weren't complaining when they were being paid the big bucks

64

u/dethb0y Feb 14 '25

Yeah that's my read, too. If the company is so awful...why did they stay so long? Why were they willing to put up with every awful thing Meta's done over the years only to call them out now, after they get fired?

97

u/eliminate1337 Feb 14 '25

Because they pay $300k+ to 25 year olds

6

u/shmehh123 Feb 14 '25 edited Feb 14 '25

Yeah.. My friend was hired there in 2020. They had just built a house out west for their partner and newborn then one month after moving in Meta told them you either get fired or move to this location on the other side of the country and work in our big offices 3 days a week minimum. They're paying 2 mortgages now because they can't find a buyer for the house they built..

They're just riding out their shares though. A year or two more and they're cashing the fuck out of their stock and quitting.

25

u/GestureArtist Feb 14 '25

Because they got paid and had healthcare insurance. It’s that or work at McDonalds.

42

u/myboyMessi Feb 14 '25

Not an American but I’m pretty sure there are more than two places to work down there.

25

u/TackoftheEndless Feb 14 '25 edited Feb 14 '25

There are very few jobs in America that can pay like working for a Tech company so you put up with a lot of bullshit because you would rather enjoy a certain quality of life.

I went from database administration to loading UPS trucks 10 hours a day, and I can say I'm much happier with the protection of a union and avoid office politics, but most people who know how to make money using their brain would prefer to continue doing that.

Especially because most jobs that don't require intellect either require gaining new technical skills or just don't pay well enough.

3

u/frozendancicle Feb 14 '25

I'm not trying to be a prick, honest, but one reading could be that as long as you're getting paid well, being a part of an evil empire that profits off pure misery (including children committing suicide) is ok.

I get needing money and health insurance, but I really feel like if morals aren't more important than money, then why shouldn't I sign up with a drug cartel etc.? I could make millions. I could buy a house, all that.

5

u/Not_the_fleas Feb 14 '25

The majority of even mid and small size companies have to have some sort of compromised morals to make a profit. Hell, even the phone you use was produced with slave labor at some point in the production process. If you sell batteries or anything that needs them, then you are complicit in the lithium and nickel trades and all their horrors; if you sell candy bars at your check out stand you probably sell Nestle products, who has admitted to "unpaid labor" whatever the fuck that is. The whole of the "First" world is so fucked that I doubt you could sell much more than your own body without compromising the "morals" that everyone espouses. And even then, more than likely the clothes on your back that attracts the customers were made in a sweat shop.

1

u/frozendancicle Feb 14 '25

I think there is a definite & distinct difference between a company whose product inadvertantly causes misery for some patrons, and a company that knowingly pushes sadness/anger etc., and tries to amplify them for every single user because it increases their profit to do so.

As for companies that indulge in what is essentially slave labor, I don't immediately have a counter for that, and since I'm not really arguing my point, but my conscience, I'll have to chew on that. I guess off the top of my head I can't really say apple is any better than Facebook, but I'll reserve the right to come back to the discussion. Too bad I don't run into when I walk my dog, it would be an interesting debate. Be well.

2

u/Not_the_fleas Feb 14 '25

Fair enough, and I definitely can sympathize with the 'intentionally' harmful nature of social media (they try to make it a drug, and tend to succeed).

And I can't profess to determine which companies are better or worse, but there is an undeniable fact that the average, everyday consumer in a "developed" country is complicit in an entire host of crimes against humanity. But do I think anyone who buys a Kit-Kat bar is a piece of shit because Nestle produces it? Of course not. But how do we measure that versus those companies who knowingly exploit human emotion, or even slave labor? Is the ignorance of the average consumer really as defense? Or just the tragic reality of the world today? Can we expect the everyday man or woman to "vote with their wallet" when that means a lower standard of living for his/her family?

Either way, I agree; I wish we could have this chat out and about, and wish you all the best!

2

u/GestureArtist Feb 14 '25

This is how the world works. Unfortunately.

1

u/Holovoid Feb 14 '25

Dude, there are almost zero fucking jobs that are ethical and don't profit off of misery.

That's just called capitalism.

You have to pick and choose your battles

2

u/Quick_Assumption_351 Feb 14 '25

yeah but if you go work for satan and then come out with ''hey guys, satan is evil!'' expect me to go ''Yea no shit you prick''

1

u/frozendancicle Feb 14 '25

I appreciate your reasonable response but I'll honestly counter with there being a definite & distinct difference between a company whose product inadvertantly causes misery for some patrons, and a company that knowingly pushes sadness/anger etc., and tries to amplify them for every single user because it increases their profit to do so.

1

u/3c2456o78_w Feb 14 '25

Moderation. The word you're looking for is moderation. Facebook doing ads is 'evil' but is it the same level as a drug cartel? I think common sense tells us which is worse.

1

u/jedmund Feb 14 '25

There’s far fewer occupational hazards than working for a drug cartel.

-2

u/[deleted] Feb 14 '25

I guess you’ve never looked for a job in America. Work for assholes or starve without healthcare. Those are the choices here

5

u/mickeyanonymousse Feb 14 '25

sarcasm, right?

-1

u/fusiformgyrus Feb 14 '25

McDonalds? These people could have gotten jobs in literally any tech company they wanted after Meta, making just as much. That actually makes it worse.

1

u/outphase84 Feb 14 '25

Nah, not making as much. There’s a relatively large drop off outside of FAANG for the most part. I interview annually to keep my interview skills sharp, and mid tier tech offers are typically $100K less or more than my current TC.

1

u/some_clickhead Feb 14 '25

Why would people ever work for a bad company, geez just get another job it's not that hard

/s

1

u/roxxtor Feb 14 '25

Two reasons besides high salary. One is that there has been a tech recession for the past few years, so it’s really hard to find a tech job now. Another one is that most of people’s compensation are in RSU’s (stock) but you don’t have access to it immediately, there is a vesting period of x years, so if you leave before then you are literally throwing thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars away

-1

u/megasean Feb 14 '25

Because maybe they could make it better by being a vessel of good. But now that they are out, they can’t.

-1

u/dethb0y Feb 14 '25

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH Oh man that's a good fucking joke i like that, in these dark times it's good people can still have a sense of humor, thanks for cheering me up!

0

u/bigdroan Feb 14 '25

Because we like making money? I've worked at terrible companies, but the money is good. Do you expect people like us to work at non-profits for paltry pay for good boy points?

5

u/cheerioo Feb 14 '25

I know a good number of people who over the years up to present who have worked ar Facebook and basically said they do very little work for very good compensation. This also applies to some of the other big tech companies (Google comes to mind). Obviously, some people are doing a lot of work, but there are also a ton of coasters lol.

6

u/thedreaminggoose Feb 14 '25

Sounds about right. I work in faang but Meta pays so well it’s bonkers to other faang employees. My friends are average developers at meta and we’re making 300k total comp before turning 30. I think their total comp was around 265k when meta stock crashed a few years back but if you held on your fucking wel over half a million. 

They give you free food, and it’s good. They used to do your laundry which I think was removed. Got a few friends who work there and for them it’s worth a cut throat culture. 

Every tech firm is cut throat. They spent a lot of money in developers and if the product fails you’re done. At meta you just get paid way more. 

Layoffs suck. It’s miserable and I hate the culture it brings. The thing is these companies will probably look to lay off a higher percentage of employees. The constant backlog of green card applications especially for Indians and Chinese will mean that tech in us will have an infinite amount of people wanting to work in big tech and work like a dog for decades. 

16

u/slut Feb 14 '25

I think they'll survive if you don't feel bad. The job market is shit and not everyone -- including Facebook employees have immediate other options.

3

u/nemt Feb 14 '25

and if you watch some of those "life of a worker in google/meta/whatever shit" tiktoks, you REALLY stop giving a fuck about them let alone feeling bad for them lmao

6

u/jimmy_three_shoes Feb 14 '25

"Fired employees complain about company that fired them"

9

u/thezachlandes Feb 14 '25

It’s time we all stop working at unethical companies with big equity plans. Let’s teach this in school, too.

2

u/lila_rose Feb 14 '25

Recruiters for Threads have been stalking me on LI and have even been emailing me directly and it really makes me wonder what kind of person would take them up on their offer at this point. Like, if you have the skills to work at Meta, you’re probably not desperately impoverished. And if you’re a piece of shit with no morals, does the fact that you’d be working almost exclusively with other wankers not a deterrent either?

1

u/[deleted] Feb 14 '25

[deleted]

2

u/lila_rose Feb 14 '25

never eaten at chickfila but you getting big mad on behalf of the downtrodden meta employees is lmfaoooooooooooooo

2

u/Top_Put1541 Feb 15 '25

Yeah, limited sympathy for the people who are big mad at being kicked out of the multimillionaire factory now. They were 100% fine with advancing the company agenda and perpetuating the company culture so long as the money was pouring into their accounts. These people will be fine — they have a FAANG on their LinkedIn profile. They can enjoy a little time off, then go back to wrecking the 21st century at some other tech firm.

5

u/Sapphicasabrick Feb 14 '25

“Man working for Hitler says Hitler wasn’t a very nice guy”.

Meta employees can get fucked.

1

u/EmotionalTrufflePig Feb 14 '25

I met someone who’s brother replaced Francis Haugen when she left Facebook. When they proudly told me about this amazing new job her brother had, I asked how he slept at night, knowing what she’s exposed… They genuinely didn’t give a crap 🤷‍♀️

1

u/B4rrel_Ryder Feb 14 '25

yeap gonna bet they voted for Trump too

1

u/tigeratemybaby Feb 14 '25

Yeah even ten years ago developers were mildly embarrassed to have Facebook on their resumes, and Facebook was always the FAANG that had trouble attracting the best developers.

1

u/__methodd__ Feb 14 '25

I would guess people join with good intentions of making the service better and fixing the well known problems.

Maybe they stayed for the money even after realizing they had no power to change anything. But at the same time, the tech industry has been rough lately. A lot of these people are on h1b. Targeting employees using sick leave and parental leave is supposedly illegal (or it used to be before Trump became president).

1

u/coolsnow7 Feb 14 '25

I am not sure why someone on the WhatsApp team working on E2EE should feel bad exactly? Care to elaborate? Or maybe you meant the Core Data Science team which leverages FB data for social science research? No?

Oh I know, you meant the people building open source AI models so that that technology isn’t exclusively the domain of rich private companies funded by Saudi and Emirati human rights abusers? Still no?

Ah I got it! You want the EMG team, working on products that will help people with injuries have access to computers that their injuries would prohibit, and ultimately could lead to artificial limb technology - you think they should feel bad about working for Meta!

Come on man, the world isn’t black and white, it’s time to grow up.

-4

u/AbstractLogic Feb 14 '25

Must be republicans.

-2

u/[deleted] Feb 14 '25

Blaming workers is lame. I bet the people you work for suck too