I thought I’d take a few minutes to jot down how my first week at Facebook went in a pretty light and loose tone. I’d be doing my future self a huge disservice if I didn’t capture these raw feelings that are still floating around.

My first 5min as an official Facebook employee, (still super surreal to say that) was greeted with a smile from a red-shirted Orientation staffer who said, “Welcome to Facebook!”

There was modern, happy pop electronic music blasting as I was whisked to a courtyard where they were serving continental breakfast with bagels, scones and coffee. I grabbed a small plate and met my first Facebook friend, Prasanth, Data Engineer from North Carolina State who said, “what’s up!” Prasanth was going to be one of probably 50 people I’d meet that same week and I felt bad for the mini introvert in me that was about to go into hibernation. Shortly after I entered into Building 15 where a massive crowd of n00bs (the default name for new hires) probably 300 of us? sat together awaiting the day to start.

Already in this room alone was 3x the amount of people that was at Otto, the last startup I joined and 15x the amount of people at RockIT, my employer before then. I went on to learn that Facebook’s recruiting team alone had over 2,100 people and 26,000+ as an org.

Jeepers.

Facing ahead was a propped up stage with two big projector screens. There were other red-shirters around with headsets and microphones doing sound checks and staying ready in case there were any production issues. Fred, the main Red-shirter hopped on stage to pump up the crowd, share some jokes and got things started for the week.

I won’t go into too much detail into the next few days but as I promised, I’ll share some things that I felt.

I felt welcomed. 

I was greeted with genuine smiles throughout my week there from the receptionist, the shuttle drivers, the folks in the cafe, the security guards, the speakers and of course my team.

“Welcome to Facebook.”

“Welcome to the Facebook Family.”

“Congratulations, we’re thrilled to have you here.” 

For a company so big that can make an individual feel so special was truly incredible.

I felt overwhelmed. 

After spending the last 2 something weeks on funemployment, doing nothing but reading, visiting Hawaii, surfing, cooking, and lovingly annoying Noelle it was definitely a mini slap back to reality having a jam packed 7am-10pm week.

Hour by hour there was trainings, speakers, panels, lunches, happy hours and of course more trainings all packed in. And squeezed in-between every activity were opportunities to meet new people which usually centered around the same 3 questions of, “how are you,” “where you from,” “what are you going to be working on?” Repeat. Repeat Repeat.

On the other side of the hour-to-hour schedule was this earth shattering realization that I was at Facebook, walking along a mind blowing campus that offered a bajillion amenities and forcing my brain to digest all the information that was given to us throughout the day.

There was no time to even take a breath to process. And if you know me, I’m someone who needs to hide in a corner and just think before I can re-emerge back to society and function.

Thankfully it’s a long day weekend so I’m sloowwwwllyyyy decompressing now.

I felt inspired. 

…and I still am and can safely say I will continue to be for a while. I’ve never been around a company that focuses so much on their mission. In fact, the only other place that I have ever seen this happen is at Vive Church where Ps Adam and the rest of the leadership team makes it an ingrained habit to communicate our mission statement to the team.

The first day alone we heard Facebook’s mission statement at least 4-5 times. By lunch time I had most of it memorized and by the end of the week, I was hooked and just in awe seeing the output of the mission in the products that have been built and all the people that Facebook serves.

Along with the mission, they instilled in us the company values and explained why it was absolutely critical to everything they did. I’m usually a pretty level headed and rational person so I was a little (ok probably more then a little bit) skeptical about this whole thing. Values, blah blah blah, just a bunch of heart felt words that stirs up some emotions that will probably be forgotten about that same week. Let’s cut the BS and get rolling here!

Wrong.

It all starts there. Who are we? Why are we doing what we’re doing? I’ve talked about purpose and identity in past posts, the two essential pillars to living a purpose driven life and it’s an absolute joy knowing that Facebook gets that, preaches that and most importantly, lives that.

I guess what’s been weird about all this is how the traditional molds that defines what a company should look like, (stiff, rigid, do your work, clock in clock out, you’re just an employee etc.) has just been shattered by this whole other things that focuses on deep, emotional, heart-to-heart stuff (we’re family, we’re building community, build social value, one team, etc.).

Again, all amazing things but please excuse me as I pick up the rest of my brain that’s been shattered all over.

The other thing I’ll say here is how much it reminded me of SPOP. (Shoutout to anyone from UC Irvine that’s reading who knows what SPOP is!) SPOP = Student Parent Orientation Program was a 1.5 day and overnight event where incoming freshman would go through a similar program of trainings, talks, and activities to bridge that transition in college. Along their mini journey were SPOP Staffers who led a mini group of SPOPers throughout the weekend.

What made SPOP so unique and so special was how vulnerable everyone got with each other in such a short amount of time. It was uncomfortable at first to hear how open some folks were about their lives but then to also reciprocate that was a whole another experience. Strangers from all different backgrounds, bonded only by this collegiate commonality were going real deep about things they feared, things they’ve experienced and overcome and things they were excited about.

At the time, I had wondered how strangers who barely knew and trusted each other could share more about their lives then one might ever would with their parents and close friends.

This week I pondered the same things and felt inspired knowing that Facebook encourages a community built on being open and allowing that vulnerability be the very thing that bonds people together.

I felt unproductive 

This was by far the longest onboarding process I’ve ever experienced. The longest to date was at RockIT where they at least spend the first few days showing me the system, tools and I was on my way adding some kind of value to the company. Otto was pure madness. By my second day I was in meetings and on the phone by my third. So imagine going from, everything is on FIRE to getting advice from tenured folks to slow things down, enjoy the 30 day onboarding process and soak in this honeymoon period – it’s nuts.

I felt thankful.

It’s so easy to feel entitled here in the Valley. In some ways I’m thankful I got a full blown introduction to all the surface level stuff with free food, fancy buildings, all that when I was briefly at Google, Linkedin, Uber and the social visits I had done at Facebook over the years.

What’s the #1 antidote to entitlement? (clue: it’s not by comparing) – Gratitude.

It’s called a honeymoon phase for a reason. Our brain catches up to our current reality of ooh’s and aww’s and makes that our life’s new reality. I recall having to tell myself that this isn’t normal.

You get to be here.

Yes there’s a bunch of other really companies out there but you made a decision to join here and it is absolutely fantastic. Don’t ever take things for granted and though the sticker shock will eventually fade, that is no excuse to be ever ever ever ungrateful.

Overall, just an unforgettable week that I look forward to reflecting back on during the good and the tough times moving forward.

See you next time.

AL