i worked at Meta for 3.5 years before leaving last year. mid-level team, infrastructure adjacent. here's what i'd actually tell someone asking about WLB and culture right now, not the LinkedIn version.
The honest version:
WLB depends almost entirely on your org and manager. I've seen people on the same floor with wildly different realities. Infra teams that support production can get paged at bad hours. Product teams that own a steady mature product basically work 9-6. No one answer covers everyone.
The internal culture shifted noticeably after 2022. The layoffs changed something. There's more anxiety about performance ratings. The "Metamates" era landed awkwardly and a lot of people still cringe at it. The "move fast" DNA is real but now it coexists with a lot more process than it did 5 years ago.
Performance reviews: the semi-annual review cycle is genuinely stressful. Your rating determines your RSU refresh. Being rated "Meets Expectations" for two cycles in a row makes people nervous. The culture pressures you to aim for "Exceeds" even if you're doing good work. Whether that stress is worth the comp is the question only you can answer.
Remote vs in-office: officially hybrid now. Enforcement varies by org. Some managers are strict, some aren't. If this matters to you, ask specifically about the manager's expectations during your panel interviews. Don't just ask "what's the policy," ask "how many days per week does your team actually come in."
What I genuinely liked: the scale of problems is real. The internal tooling is incredible. Your peers are generally sharp and trying hard. The RSU structure means you're genuinely incentivized to care about stock price.
What burned me out: the always-on expectation in my org. The performance calibration anxiety. Watching friends get caught in RIFs despite strong performance.
I don't regret going. I do think people should go in with clear eyes about what they're trading off.