Interview with Brenden Gilbert, former Facebook/Meta employee
Alex: Can you introduce yourself and describe your previous role with Facebook/Meta?
Brenden Gilbert: Hello! Thank you for having me here. My name is Brenden Gilbert. I was a product hardware engineer, which means I focused on a specific kind of server with heavy computing power from what is called a GPU. You know, if you are a gamer, you would want a top-of-the-line GPU card. We have something that is much more powerful, and it’s 8 times more powerful per server. When you put all these servers together, it’s called a kind of supercomputer. It can do deep analysis. That was my job. And a bonus is that the culture allowed me to do accessibility and inclusion work. I pushed for various products, to have better captioning, better accessibility for deaf users, and all from my point of view.
Alex: Nice. It's really cool to have someone like you on Facebook/Meta for all this time. But now, unfortunately, you were one of the 11,000 people that faced job cuts and layoffs from Facebook/Meta. You did announce that you were one of them. I’m sure it’s tough for you. How do you feel now? How are you handling this change?
Brenden: Of course, I was disappointed. And surprised. And I felt shocked, really. I didn’t think I’d end up on the list of those who were laid off because I was needed and my work was very important, but apparently not. It’s more of a business decision. It was nothing personal. So I get it. Because they have to take care of business first. At the same time, I am very experienced with 26 years in IT. I’ve seen layoffs before. I’m not too stressed out. I’m saying “Okay. I’ll be fine.”
Alex: For us in the Deaf community, it can feel like a loss. We had a deaf, signing representative on Facebook/Meta, and now that’s gone. One less representative there.
Brenden: Darn it!
Alex: Do you know of any other deaf, disabled, or any other underrepresented groups that seem to be laid off at a higher rate? Is it a pattern? Can you share?
Brenden: There’s no specific group. It was equally spread out. I’ve noticed that. But it just happened to hit me and another deaf employee. We both are gone. That means signing representatives are gone. I only knew of two, that’s it.
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Alex: Can you share your thoughts on the metaverse? They tried to start a thing with VR headsets and go into a different world.
Brenden: Oh, yes!
Alex: But it doesn’t seem to be taking off with the job cuts. So I’m wondering if it is still good? For deaf people? Are there benefits? I’m curious about your thoughts.
Brenden: In my work with the metaverse, with accessibility and inclusion, I made a hard push on MVR. You know, VR, virtual reality, that means you wear a headset and dive into a 360 world. With AR, it’s like you wear eyeglasses and you see something in the corner. Or it’s like when you play Pokemon Go, you will see things on your phone that aren’t really there. There are things between that world and the real world. That’s AR. And then you have mixed reality. That means you can wear a headset and still get through to the real world and touch things. You can control an office in another world. It’s a combination of both AR and VR. So on deaf representation, that’s the big question. Because with a VR headset, there’s a limited view with the cameras as it is going forwards. How can someone see my signs in the opposite direction? It’s difficult and they’re still figuring out that problem. There is a very powerful AI machine learning mechanism that allows almost a full ability to use sign language in a program called the workroom. You can sign with hand tracking. But of course, it can’t see “R.” The cameras can’t see the handshape and will misread it unless you twist your hand to the headset.
Alex: Ah, because of the cameras’ point of view.
Brenden: The headset can only look forwards, not backward. So we tried to teach and train it. We can use phones placed in front of us and try to get them to work together. But it is a lot of work and time-consuming. It takes time to figure out complications. Also, there’s the issue of captioning in headsets. It’s not all there. Because with VR and a 360 world, it is difficult to make it work for everyone. You know, if you want to look in a different direction, the features may not be able to follow. Different issues like that. Also, we tried to make sure that deaf people can communicate inside. That’s why it was important to have hand tracking so deaf people can communicate in virtual reality. If I am unable to sign there, then how can you understand me? And if you have to use a keyboard to push certain buttons, then that wouldn’t work out and be an annoyance. It could turn off people and we don’t want that. So we were figuring out the best way. It is a long-term thing, not something that's short-term. We will get there. I’ve seen things, but it takes time to get there.
Alex: Do you want to add more comments?
Brenden: My experience with Meta was wonderful and I did transform the company. So if I could do it, anyone else can in various companies. So don’t feel ashamed or as if you’re all alone. If there is a way, speak your voice! And help me and others change the world so we can have more equity and accessibility. Also, raise our ability to monetize ourselves and have an ecosystem. That’s it.