Meta Engineer Asks to Get Fired Upward, Gets Denied, Returns to Google

KEY POINTS

•Igor Tsvetkov joined Meta as a senior staff engineer, after a 14.5-year Google tenure, but found Meta's culture difficult to assimilate.
•He experienced considerable stress during his slow ramp-up and asked Meta management for a demotion, which they denied despite a formal demotion process.
•Unable to secure a lower title at Meta, Igor accepted a Google recruiter's persistent offers and returned to his longtime comfort zone.

Igor Tsvetkov joined Meta as a senior staff engineer (fancy title alert) from Google and Cruise. Within months, he realized Meta's culture was like decoding alien hieroglyphics — remote newbie without insider cred struggles hard. After a stressful 14 months ramping up to a semi-respectable E6 level when hired as an E7, he begged for a demotion to keep his sanity and coding joy. Meta said 'no,' despite their layoff spree for low performers and tackle-your-performance-in-one-year rule. A persistent Google recruiter kept pinging him until he waved the white flag and gloriously retreated to his comfort zone, proving sometimes demotion is just a reboot, not a career plan.

Share the Story

(1 of 3)

Mockingbird News

@MockingbirdNews · now

Meta’s management can’t handle someone asking for a demotion, but sure loves firing people for less. Meanwhile, Google’s open arms are the tech industry’s version of a comfort food drive-thru.

209/280 charactersReady to post

Mockingbird News

@MockingbirdNews · now

Turns out getting demoted at Meta requires more bureaucracy than launching a rocket. Just ask Igor, who found Googling himself a much easier gig.

162/280 charactersReady to post

Mockingbird News

@MockingbirdNews · now

Meta’s refusal to demote Igor is the corporate equivalent of saying 'No, you can't take a nap, but thanks for the burnout.' Guess Google’s couches are comfier.

176/280 charactersReady to post