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by QuarterReptile 1407 days ago
That would surprise me. I have attended targeted career fairs with both FAANGs and national labs recruiting, and the national labs give off way more 'work-life balance' vibes. Plus, as the largest bureaucracy in the history of the world, the federal government isn't a good place to get a high return on brain damage when you want to actually get something done.

Having said that, the national labs do seem like good places to go geek out in your own advanced intellectual cul-de-sac.
2 comments
r00fus 1407 days ago
> national labs give off way more 'work-life balance' vibes

Seriously - why does this not mean they're the best engineers (as opposed to the most prolific).

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tomuli38 1406 days ago
The implication that smart people don't desire the balance to be with their families every day is bizarre.
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typon 1406 days ago
Well from experience of being an undergrad and going to career fairs, this assessment is spot on. You don't realize this whole thing is bullshit until a few years into your career.
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QuarterReptile 1404 days ago
The implication that the best engineers are just the smartest people is, likewise, bizarre and doesn't track with what I've seen.
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QuarterReptile 1406 days ago
Because my frame of reference is being early or maybe early-mid career, where you can't possibly have the necessary experience to be 'best' without working significantly more than 40 hours weekly, and from my perspective most of getting there in the future follows that path too. I'm not discounting that some top engineers could exist outside of working a lot, but for most people the path to that distinction is a lot of work, and in most places that lot of work gets done outside of the hours when people are distracting you with meetings and small talk, which means not stopping at 40 hours weekly.

Having said all that, I don't discount the possibility of work life balance in the 60-80 hour range, but that's a whole separate skillset.

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phpisthebest 1407 days ago
FAANG's currently have a problem with ideological mono-culture. I dont know if recruitment has exactly suffered because of that, $$$$$ can allow for a lot of suppression of personal beliefs, but I do know a few people that have outright refused to work in those companies because of that, who are pretty excellent programmers
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