Google and Facebook are both advertising companies, doesn't seem that different to me.

"world changing"

To call Google an “advertising company” is disingenuous and I suspect you know that. Whilst Facebook has been obsessed with chasing eyeballs and advertising, Google has built Google maps, Gmail, Android, Translate, all kinds of search, GCP, the leading web browser, Chromebooks, self driving cars, the most advanced quantum computer, world leading AI research and a ton more.

There’s no comparison to Facebook.

their money comes from ads. Of all the things you mentioned -

Maps I'm pretty sure is a loss leader or used for data for ads

Gmail as well

Android is platform to hit you with ads

Chrome/Chromeboooks also

GCP is actually a viable business, albeit in a very competitive market

self driving cars, research, quantum computers, none of those make money.

There is a perfect comparison to Facebook, and for that matter, MTV and the New York Times. They all make money by selling ads.

> To call Google an “advertising company” is disingenuous

It probably depends on one’s perspective. Their Q3’22 financials show that $54b of their $69b revenue for the quarter is advertising income. It is also listed first in their financials.

https://abc.xyz/investor/static/pdf/2022Q3_alphabet_earnings...

facebook making a lot of money doesnt imply that they are making something great

> if they were going to do something awesome they probably wouldn't have been working there.

For the past 10+ years, in this forum, the advice is to stop trying to build something, go work at Faang

> For the past 10+ years, in this forum, the advice is to stop trying to build something, go work at Faang

I think the advice given, when requested, has much more nuance that takes into account the context provided in the request. Do you honestly think HN is just a bunch of FAANG fanboys?

> Do you honestly think HN is just a bunch of FAANG fanboys?

Based on what is being upvoted, and what is not being downvoted, yes

Getting laid off during a tech crash often leads to smart people deciding to finally follow the dreams they couldn't justify during the tech bull market. There's probably no shortage of people working at Facebook who have dreams of quitting to build some idea they have. But quitting a job paying 350k or whatever is just not in the cards.

> Do you think that great, world-changing, folks go to Facebook to sit on a big salary?

Yes, have you seen the salaries recently? an E6 can make nearly half a million a year in total compensation.

Also, I can think of many people who would be building amazing things outside FAANG but choose to go to FAANG to pay off college debts or to build wealth i.e. they come from poverty. Let's not even get into biases in how capital is distributed. Like, there's a hierarchy of basic needs for a person and their family before they can turn down life changing compensation to 'build something cool!'.

I spent the first 10 years of my career paying off student debt. The last 5 have been catching up on the retirement savings I missed out on over the first 10 years. As long as I don't have a major medical event maybe I can turn down a job and "build something cool" when I'm 50.

FWIW I’m currently working on a startup side project with someone at Meta. I don’t know that we’re going to “change the world” but I think we’re both awesome and I can see us building something awesome.

We both have jobs because we need to pay our bills.

I think there are better places to work that allow you (or cofounder) to pay your bills - even if your bills have to shrink a bit to fit.

Best of luck with the side project, hope it entices you/your cofounder to leave Facebook.

What is Google doing to change the world right now?

One example: advancing quantum computing.

Another example: AI research

I don't work at either, but aren't they both advertising companies with roughly same kinds of people working at them? Why do you think it would be different?

You may be thinking of the Google from 10+ years ago. I left all the way back in 2016 and the Alphabet transition had already turned it soulless. I've heard it certainly hasn't gotten better since.

Where can you go that is better?

I think that many great, world-changing, folks have a non-linear life path and may end up doing all kinds of things including working for evil corporations for money, or bussing tables at Denny's before they get to the actual great, world-changing stuff.

If you want to work on interesting massive-scale infra problems there are few better places than Meta.

From what I hear on the grapevine the people getting laid off today are the people who would have gone on wall street 20 years ago.

>now, if google lay off a lot of people... that would be different

The culture in google isn't any better. Smart people who want to do things haven't gone there since 2012.