The REAL Reason I Quit My Job At Facebook (Meta)

[@TungTran-pp3tx]

The thing is everyone is replaceable. There will always be someone to take your place.

[@JudoboyAlex]

Going from E4 to E5 could got you over $300k easily, but you would rather create your own content and test the limit. Your journey reminds me of Clement. Good luck with your new journey Conner!

[@ConnerArdman]

Thank you!

[@mr.erikchun5863]

Only entitled little virgins with no responsibility think about ‘’growth’’ and ‘’meaning’’ from their jobs. Man up and work on a real challenge of having a woman spread her legs without having to give out your credit card number.

[@andymounthood]

In my case, I'm content with my current career and employer--but at the same time (1) I was getting complacent and (2) I have a competing desire to work remotely. Instead of changing jobs, my response a few months ago was to start learning more skills in my free time. This might eventually lead me to freelance work as a database developer or something, but it also immediately eliminated my complacency. I feel more energized at work and work harder, enjoy it more, and feel more grateful for my current job and employer.

[@jarby7305]

Discovered your channel a week ago - please keep making videos! I’m back in school for computer science and find your videos entertaining and instructive!

[@ConnerArdman]

Thanks! Glad you’re enjoying the videos, and best of luck with CS degree!

[@redacted__]

The constant hand movement drove me crazy throughout the video.

[@Mr.Prince_Tunmise]

😂😂😂

[@andersdahl5772]

I feel this. So much more fun working with skin in the game. Once you get some of that, it's hard to go back to FAANG let alone any normal job

[@ConnerArdman]

Absolutely 🙌 I loved my time at FAANG but it would definitely be hard to go back.

[@EmmanuelMotelin]

Being replaceable is no longer an excuse for leaving any job, that's in the nature of most if not all careers. If you gave it more time, you may have ended up with a leadership position but I think this was a reality check for you. You really have to be like Elon Musk to claim impact as defense nowadays in the corporate world but that`s just my opinion, I am sure you will be successful in your future endeavors! Good luck bud.

[@ConnerArdman]

This isn't to say that when I'm older and have more responsibilities that my priorities won't change (and I'm sure that it probably will), but at the moment the idea of spending my life trying to climb a corporate ladder to a leadership position just isn't particularly motivating, especially when there are other opportunities with the same or greater potential monetary upside. Yes most jobs are completely replaceable and this isn't inherently a bad thing, but there are plenty of "nonstandard" career paths that are far less replaceable. In my case, I joined AlgoExpert and created the FrontendExpert product. Had I not joined the company, of course they would have found someone else to do it, but the product would have ended up completely different. Maybe it even would have been better, but it would be an entirely different product. I guess it sort of depends on your definition of replaceable at that point, but to me this was a much more motivating opportunity and one that I knew I would always think about the "what ifs" if I didn't take it. It's been nearly a year now, and I can very confidently say this was the right decision 😊

[@TiagoSantos-fd4le]

I don't know if you agree but I feel that working in an industry that changes radically every 5 years makes all work replaceable eventually. You can indeed contribute to some growth but you can also be focusing on tech that might become obsolete/not hip (especially in the front end world) the year after. That's why the good companies also struggle with updating their projects to the newest versions or rebuild their apps in a totally new "thing" and that will make the "new guy" (like I am recently) maintain outdated code and think of leaving the very next minute. The amount of boilerplate code people wrote even 5 years ago compared to now, it's insane. Even knowing how a company operates from within (all the ins and outs) might not be sufficient to keep you as relevant and irreplaceable as you think you are, because tomorrow someone might decide that everything you worked on and poured your heart into does not fit their new "vision". Making an "impact" is extremely difficult to calculate and predict how long it's going to last, there's no easy metric. Even frameworks and libraries that have a lot of followers get roasted a few months later by the new ones that come after and possibly were inspired by them. It's an unrewarding, replaceable, energy draining space but we still love it and that's why we keep inside this hamster wheel learning and improving each day and that alone should make you feel like you've made an "impact" on yourself before you start wondering about "impacting" others. If you are serious about improving yourself (you are already doing it in your spare time) and you don't even see that possibility in your current company, then it's time to leave. It might be a very pessismistic view on things for some but to me it's this industy's reality.

[@ConnerArdman]

100% agree about focusing on making an impact on yourself before making an impact on others. As for the repeatability part, I think there are roles that are less replaceable, although probably not at big tech unless you are a VP/director/executive. That's not necessarily a terrible thing though. There's nothing inherently wrong with doing "replaceable" work if it is work you enjoy.

[@davadh]

Great advice overall! You're fortunately though, you've made it. Most people would kill go get a 200K job, stay there for 15 years and retire. It's all good to move around when you are young and still ambitious, things might change when you're older. Keep it up!

[@ConnerArdman]

Thanks, and 100% agree. I'm super fortunate to be in a position to be able to take some "risks" early in my career, and I'm sure there will come a day where my priorities begin to shift with age 😊

[@ApeWithPants]

You actually can't stay at that level at fb. Its either get promoted or get fired.

[@maslow8131]

Before Layoffs I also felt that I was hitting a growth decline at the company

[@hojaeyun6747]

Damn, your vid actually makes more sense. After hearing your response in favor of your decision. It's your choice. But yes working in big tech jobs, it really does make you question alot and it makes you question your job. But honestly I think you did a wise choice. Good luck on your journey my friend 😊

[@ConnerArdman]

Thank you! 😊

[@muriukialex]

I would really like to work for a MAANG company. I wish you success on your next path Conner

[@ConnerArdman]

Thanks! And good luck on that journey, you got it 💪

[@gabrielpedroza1346]

Awesome video and great in-depth explanation of it. I've never thought about it from that perspective, as a current student. I've started coding about a year and a half ago and I've loved it ever since. Before then, I felt lost and almost anxious because I never really had a clear destination of what I've wanted to do when I truly grow up. I feel slightly eerie that I might have the same outcome when working in these big tech companies because the money was never the true reason of why I became a front end engineer. Is it worth it to sort of rough through the thought of possibly not pushing as hard as I should (speaking as a full time position, not internship since internships are a short period and it's more of learning experience). Is there another path than just applying for big tech companies and slightly sacrifices the pay but improves the mental aspect of becoming better and better? It doesn't seem like my options are abundant because I am a sophomore with no actual work experience

[@ConnerArdman]

This is a really good question. I don’t want to give the impression that you won’t learn in big tech. In fact, I probably learned more in my first 12 week internship than all 4 years of school, at least in terms of practical knowledge. And when I left Facebook, I was still learning every day, just not as fast. I think there are a few reasonable routes if learning more consistently is really more important than maximizing compensation (and there is nothing wrong with optimizing your choices for compensation instead). The first is to stay in big tech companies for a long time which will also keep stable high compensation. I think the trick here is just to switch teams fairly frequently or find other new ways to diversify your experience. I’ve met some engineers who switch teams every 12-18 months, and there’s nothing wrong with doing that. Others find teams with consistently changing problems, and that can also be a good way to diversify your experience. On the other hand, a lot of people tend to join startups after a few years at big tech. This comes with a bit less stability, but it’s probably the best way to optimize for learning as you’ll generally have more responsibility at smaller companies. TL:DR: Great question, but I wouldn’t worry about it too much this early on. In any field you’ll inevitably hit a point where you start improving at a slower rate, and if that is important to you there will always be ways to find small changes to introduce new challenges.

[@gabrielpedroza1346]

@@ConnerArdman Awesome, this was helpful in so many ways. I'm definitely going to implement what you've said to my thought process on the future and overall just focus more in the present like projects, studying, interviewing practice, etc. Thank you so much for guiding me in the parts where it matters; I'm forever in debt and grateful for your help and knowledge❤

[@jackmiddleton2080]

It is a derivative of Scarface. First you get the skills, then you get the money, and then you get the meaning.

[@sciuresci1403]

Link in the description just says "unsupported browser". I'm on mobile Chrome. Opera is fine though. I get that it's a lot of work supporting all browsers. Are you guys hiring by any chance ? Lol

[@tmoneyy5697]

Man if I was making over 200k a year at my job I would never leave. But kudos to you for doing your thing!

[@alexni3524]

Have you tried transferring from a full-stack product team to an infra team or vice versa?

[@ConnerArdman]

Not really, I mostly focus on frontend work so I tend to avoid infrastructure teams. I know plenty of people who have though. Most of the big tech companies tend to be pretty open to software engineers moving teams assuming there's headcount.

[@PromptStreamer]

We had all heard the fake ones - now finally we get the real reason.

[@ConnerArdman]

😂

[@john_21544]

The frontend expert course is amazing by the way. you did an amazing job explaining everything!

[@ConnerArdman]

Thank you! Glad to hear you're enjoying it 😃

[@craiggazimbi]

Keep up the cool content mate🤝🏾

[@zainbaloch4850]

What r u going to do in far future BTW? any startup etc????

[@ConnerArdman]

At the moment my focus is just on FrontendExpert and now KZbin. Eventually I’ll probably try a startup, but it won’t be anytime soon.

[@zainbaloch4850]

@@ConnerArdman Good wishes for you 😄

[@lex8699]

love this man, learning from the goat

[@pineappleus3031]

Ngl, Conner moves looks kinda robotic..

[@ConnerArdman]

It takes some time after leaving Facebook to return to your human form, but I'm working on it and improving ;)

[@pineappleus3031]

@@ConnerArdman Keep on!

[@ajinkyajoshi1244]

Nice Video Conner !!! Did You Joined FaceBook as a Front-End Developer ? My Dream is Also To Work At FaceBook Only , Now Actually Meta 😄 And Also Really Enjoying Front-End Expert 😊

[@ConnerArdman]

Thanks, and glad to hear you're enjoying FrontendExpert! 😄 I actually didn't originally join Facebook as a frontend engineer, I just went through the normal software engineer track and chose to focus on frontend work over time. This was mostly because I was originally hired in 2018 as an intern and didn't know at the time that I was going to end up focusing on the frontend. If I ever went back, I would definitely just apply as a frontend engineer or UI engineer though.

[@ajinkyajoshi1244]

Great 👍

[@suns1457]

lol I would take no impact for 200k+. Talk about privilege. wow

[@ConnerArdman]

To clarify what I said in the video, because I realize I was pretty vague in the income section of it, I didn't take a pay cut to leave Facebook. With the new job, my income became more attached to my own results, but I was fairly confident I would be able to at least match my Facebook income. I loved working at Facebook, and I had no intentions of leaving (I 100% agree with you, I wouldn't have left just for the reason of impact either). However, when a really exciting opportunity came up that didn't require giving up the financial stability, I had to consider it. I was fortunate enough to be deciding between two amazing places to work, so naturally the cons of each job to compare were going to be smaller things.

[@benjaminjeschke]

I bought everything on AlgoExpert now, but I would like to see an crypto smart contract expert too :-)

[@greg_takacs]

"Work at the same place for the majority of your career" Dude, you're like 22.... I worked longer than you've been alive and I had a total of 3 jobs... This is the typical TikTol mentality with the 15 second attention span. You chose to abandon being a small fish in a big pond to be a big fish in your own pond and try to sell people on the very job you loathed and quit. The irony is not lost on me, my friend... Only people getting this are ones who want to lay flat or the ones who will neer be satisfied not matter what, always chasing that new high of a new job.... These folks seldom amount to anything or have the impact they often seek or preach about. Just my $0.02

[@ConnerArdman]

FWIW I'm 24 😅, but I definitely could have worded that sentence a lot better. To clarify that thought a bit more, it wasn't meant to imply that I have had some super long career and spent it all at Facebook. It also wasn't necessarily meant to imply that if someone did do that it would automatically be a bad thing. In my case, I did my first internship at Facebook as a sophomore in college in 2018. While I only spent ~13 months as a full-time engineer there, it had been a few years since I was first hired. Of course this still isn't some huge amount of time and I am sure there would have been plenty to learn there had I stayed another 20 years, but it was enough time to gauge what the experience of working at Facebook is like and the progression I could expect over the coming years. When I really thought about that experience and where I felt it would take me, it just didn't align with where I wanted to be in the future. And like I said in the video, it wasn't a job that I loathed and quit. I genuinely loved working at Facebook, and I could even see myself potentially going back one day. That said, big tech is always going to be there, and for now I can confidently say that leaving was the right decision for me personally. It might not be the best decision long term for my career (TBD lol), but so far it's been incredibly rewarding and I've been consistently happy and motivated 😊

[@DevDiscipline]

subscribed my man

[@georgeageorgopoulos]

Friend you look like a Leader! working for facebook isnt for you

[@davidwang5128]

tl;dr i want to a business

[@mileicampeonmundial]

cuz the stock market

[@ConnerArdman]

Lol I actually left the week of the all-time high stock price, but seeing it drop after definitely didn’t make me regret leaving 😅

[@ApeWithPants]

@@ConnerArdman lol. Hope you cashed out your RSUs at the top.

[@zainbaloch4850]

First comment ❤ From Pakistan

[@linouzz1732]

o0

[@Leonard-1983]

Your bank account will be zero :)

[@wadenolan1]

The hands are super distracting. 👋🖖👉👏

[@Leonard-1983]

Your fecking crazy! You should have grab as much money from them as possible.

[@ConnerArdman]

I don't think it's all that crazy. I wouldn't have left without a good plan. I definitely gave up some great benefits, but I was pretty confident I could sustain if not increase my income. It's been over a year now, and so far I don't regret it at all 😊