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Comment by htrp | Hacker News Reader

> They invert the job/approval process.

Do any of the other FAANGs (MAGMAs??) do the same now?

Meta usually doesn't even bother finding you a team before hiring you, at least at L5 (senior) level... they hire based on a standardized interview process, you start with a 6 week bootcamp to get familiar with their systems, and then you have two weeks to find a team. There are a few cases where you're hired for a specific team and skip the 2 week team-matching period, but this is the general pattern.

So wait, you basically start on a 8 week contract? Is that how that works?

No, you start with a fulltime offer, it's just called "bootcamp". It's our way of doing all the HR stuff (paperwork, medical, legal, etc) + you taking some courses on areas you're interested in specific to fb + you exploring teams and finding one that you will work at.

And if you don't get a match in those two weeks?

It's not a strict two weeks, and the process is much more about being pursued than finding a team. For example, a typical bootcamper in NYC will hear from 40+ teams.

Is that still the case? I left earlier this year, but they had instituted a max on the number of reachouts a team/manager can make to minimize the "spray and pray" tactics and bootcamper overload.

Definitely still the case. There are so many teams looking for people, anyone with a pulse gets spammed.

Not a contract, in most cases, you're hired into the company rather than a specific team. To be clear it's not just two weeks to find a team, you spend the entire length of bootcamp (6-10 weeks) evaluating teams (you evaluating them, not the other way) to pick one. I preferred that much more to Google's approach, where passing the interview loop leads to the tedious team selection process - before an offer is extended.

And to answer a question from a neighboring comment, it's exceedingly rare for a match to not happen. There are way more teams with open headcount than candidates looking, so teams and managers go out of their way to woo the incoming folks. I don't know exactly what happens if one spends two months fruitlessly, presumably somebody from the bootcamp program would have a long conversation with them about their general fit at the company.

> you evaluating them, not the other way

Ehhhh...you say that, but it definitely goes both ways. It's not meant to, but hiring managers at Meta absolutely do evaluate the bootcampers who reach out to join, especially for more popular teams.

Sure, I believe it happens in pockets, though it's very clearly spelled out company policy that this process is not a second interview. But people are people and supply/demand rules apply here as well. It also more often took took the form of who a hiring manager might reach out to vs not. As a hiring manager, I and my peers engaged in good faith AFAIK with bootcampers that reached out directly. Given the many openings in our growing teams, doing otherwise would've been foolhardy.

Ah, this is much more reasonable. I interpreted it as another whittling of people where they would hire a pile House MD style and see which ones are actually desired.

Anecdotal, but my experience at Microsoft and Amazon is that you interview with the team who has open headcount, and (simplifying here) the manager you would be reporting to makes the decision on whether to offer you a specific position on a specific team.

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