This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with a 27-year-old software engineer at Oracle who previously worked at a FAANG company. The source's name and full employment history are known to Business Insider but are not named to protect their privacy. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
In March 2022, I interviewed with a FAANG company for a software engineering role.
I heard back from my final round within a few days and started about three weeks after signing the offer. I didn't stay at the FAANG company very long because the culture was not a fit for me.
I'm now at Oracle and don't plan on leaving. Here's how my work experiences at both companies compare.
The FAANG company seemed more focused on personality fit during the interview process
After an HR screen and a tech screen, I had a final round of four interviews back-to-back, each lasting 45 minutes. Three interviewers were senior engineers, and one was the hiring manager.
The personality questions were more detailed than the technical questions. They wanted to know if I demonstrated the company's leadership principles, so they asked questions like "Can you tell me about a time you affected change in a company?" and "Can you tell me about a time you went above and beyond for a customer?"
The technical questions were on standard LeetCode and system design. I was asked to whiteboard and design a service similar to Instagram and discuss how I'd engineer it to scale to a billion users.
The FAANG company sought candidates willing to work long hours
The interviewers didn't ask directly how long I was willing to work, but they asked: "Tell me about a time when you had to meet an aggressive deadline." The hiring manager also told me the team I'd be joining was fairly new and wanted to roll out the technology they were developing quickly.
I did notice a few more red flags. Everyone I interviewed with had joined within the past year and a half. Most folks I interviewed with at Oracle had been at the company for four to six years.
One of the senior engineers at the FAANG company said it's fast-paced and has a work-hard culture, so there's a lot of turnover. However, I'd also get to learn a lot and work on features that millions of customers would use, and I was looking forward to that experience.
My Oracle interview process took longer
I interviewed with Oracle in February 2024 and started in March.
The steps were the same, but the Oracle process focused more on technical ability than the FAANG company.
In the final round, I was interviewed by two senior engineers, the hiring manager, and a product manager. The senior engineers and my hiring manager also asked me standard LeetCode and system design questions. My hiring manager asked if I had data center experience, which I didn't. The product manager asked me to go deep into the technical stuff I previously worked on.
The offer negotiation process was pretty similar for both companies
Both times, I had competing offers and asked them to match compensation. They matched it by increasing the amount of vested stock they'd give me, and I got a 10% total compensation increase from both.
Oracle's RSU vesting is spread evenly across four years. At the FAANG company, the four-year stock vest schedule was 5% for year one, 15% for year two, 40% for year three, and 40% for year four.
After my first year at the FAANG company, I received a 3% raise on my base pay. I haven't received a raise at Oracle yet.
I found Oracle's onboarding process to be much more structured
The initial few weeks at both companies were spent getting access to code bases, familiarizing myself with the teams' work, and having a lot of 1:1 meetings.
At Oracle, everyone helped explain the organization's overall mission. The team had an onboarding document that I could follow that outlined expectations.
There was no structure or clear expectations in the first few weeks at the FAANG company. Management also didn't focus much on helping people get onboarded.
My FAANG coworkers seemed very focused on their level of seniority
Almost every single engineer I met in my first week at the FAANG company either asked me a question about how I could help them get a promotion or was very closed off and wouldn't communicate much. One midlevel engineer asked me in our first meeting whether I'd be open to being "mentored" by him so he could use me as a data point to support his coming promotion.
Another engineer I met with told me, "That is between me and my manager," when I asked him about his long-term career goals during our first meeting. I asked my skip-level manager a question about the team, and he told me my question was better suited for a lower-level manager, not him.
At Oracle, everyone was friendly and gave me information and advice on succeeding.
Oracle has a sense of teamwork and collaboration that the FAANG company did not have
In my experience, micromanagement is virtually nonexistent at Oracle. Management and executives allow engineers and other contributors to set their own deadlines and expectations. I felt trusted.
The culture at the FAANG company was one of the most intense I've been part of. My teammates and I regularly worked until late into the night, and there was lots of micromanagement, which is one of the reasons I left. It felt like there was a lack of trust in lower-level employees.
It affected both my mental and physical health. My sleep pattern was chaotic, and I skipped a lot of meals because of the constant stress and anxiety.
Since I left the FAANG company for Oracle, I haven't looked back
The final straw was when the FAANG company asked me to relocate to a different state with three-months notice. I told my manager I'd move but immediately started searching for external jobs.
I got my Oracle offer shortly after. When I finally gave my two weeks' notice at the FAANG company, I felt a huge weight lifted off my chest.
Changing companies improved my mental health, and my stress levels dropped dramatically. I plan to stay at Oracle long-term.
Want to share your Big Tech job experience? Email Lauryn Haas at lhaas@jkmperu.com.
