Can you believe that Facebook was founded 12 years ago? In 2004, Mark Zuckerberg and four of his fellow Harvard classmates launched thefacebook.com website – a social network for other Harvard students. In 2006, “just” Facebook opened its servers even to those who didn’t make it to the Ivy League and became a global phenomenon. Today, virtually everyone is on Facebook, even your grandma.

There are 3,5 billion internet users in the world and almost half of them have a Facebook account. That’s a fairly substantial base of facebookers and the number is still growing.

In the course of 10 years, Facebook has changed a lot. What started out as a chatting and photo-sharing network is now the most influential social medium.

Facebook also significantly shaped the job market. Many people have jobs thanks to Facebook. And we don’t mean only Facebook employees, but thousands of social media managers, online marketers, PPC specialists and many others for whom Facebook and other social media have become their daily bread.

Facebook is one of the top companies in the world to work for. It doesn’t come as a big surprise really. Who wouldn’t want to work for one of the most popular and most valuable brands in the world? What’s more, Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg is the highest rated CEO on Glassdoor. Facebook currently employs more than 10K people and has offices in more than 60 cities around the world.

Who wouldn’t want to work inside the new Menlo Park, CA headquarters among the brightest people in the industry?

What are the best things about working at Facebook?

1. Salary

Many reviews on Glassdoor highlighted the great salary people working for Facebook have. Some reviewers, who had previously worked at Google said Facebook pays its people even better.

2. Individuality

Working at Facebook is not about obeying what the team leader says. Facebook employees should think for themselves and bring their own ideas to the table. The company runs on similar principles as Facebook as a social medium. Facebook wants to keep its employees connected and open towards each other.

3. Free food, drinks and snacks

According to many positive reviews on Glassdoor, Facebook treats its employees really well. They can gorge on plenty of delicious meals and snacks all day long. Moreover, Facebook organizes various team-building events that the Facebookers love.

4. Open culture

At Facebook, they discuss every issue openly and with brutal honesty. Each employee gives and receives feedback, whether it’s good or bad. Employees often criticise their leaders.

5. Team spirit

The whole office works as one team. Facebook doesn’t like hierarchies – managers don’t behave as authorities, but rather as a part of the team.

6. Q&A Sessions with the CEO

Mark Zuckerberg is the top rated CEO on Glassdoor and the Facebookers simply love his regular Friday Q&A sessions in Menlo Park, the headquarters of Facebook. All the employees have a say in internal issues and can point it out to the CEO himself.

7. No fixed working hours

At Facebook, nobody really checks your working schedule, what matters is your output and your performance at work. No nine to five kind of thing. If you have plenty to do, you work until you’re done. On the other hand, if you’re done for the day, you can go home.

8. Family friendly

One of the best perks according to several employees is how family friendly Facebook is. Both fathers and mothers get 4 months of paid family holiday with the certainty you’ll get your job back after you’ve taken care of your little one.

Any drawbacks?

So far, working at Facebook sounds like an absolute dream come true. There were, however, a couple of negative things the Facebook employees pointed on Glassdoor:

Many Facebook employees weren’t satisfied with their work/life balance. Despite many perks, there’s a high unpredictability of workload. This often obliges Facebookers to work really long hours, few days in a row. Especially software engineers have a tough time during an on-call duty. As Keith Adams, a former Facebook software engineer, says:

“For those weeks I don’t leave town on the weekend; make especially sure not to have ‘one too many’ at any social gatherings I attend; and most importantly, carry and immediately respond to a charged phone where I can be reached 24/7, including leaving the ringer on the nightstand as I sleep.”