| I think what you're experiencing in group projects at school is similar to the work world, probably more amplified because any school project has a lot lower risk than at a job where one could get fired. I think large companies, including FAANG, have more parts of the org where slacking off is tolerated (not suggesting your coworkers are but there can be a sense of "how does this help anything?" at larger companies). I would suggest seeing if you can intern at a startup or smaller scale company if possible. It will help give you some comparisons to your other internships. Internal tools are usually guilty of shoddy/lazy work because, well they are internal. Nobody sands the 2x4s that make up the insides of a house's walls. The companies money spent on engineers is usually spent better elsewhere. This is a key for job hunting in the software world - you want to be working on a product (brings in profit) vs. being in a cost center. You'll be treated better, paid better and probably be around people that are also more passionate about the work. I went to a state school for CS where it was a new department having been under math a few years before. This was before google existed, or maybe it was in a garage at that point. Money didn't occur to me, I just liked computers, was always tinkering to get games working and picked CS. I've seen a fair number of people pursue CS/software because of the money. With that being the motivating factor, they don't last long or they progress into careers tangential to programming like PM, business analyst, etc. and are successful. What you're seeing is just a part of life in the working world. Keep in mind that people may have things going on outside of work that consume a lot of their energy (kids, divorce, deaths in family, etc.) and it will affect their work. |