What is the prevailing culture within the organization, and how does it manifest in day-to-day operations and decision-making? The prevailing culture within an organization is the shared values, beliefs, norms, and practices that shape the social and psychological environment of a business. This culture influences employee behavior, motivates management styles, and affects decision-making processes. What are those for Meta? What are the hidden things to notice and to worry about? For example: Cliques and Silos: Pay attention to the formation of exclusive groups or departments unwilling to share information. This can indicate a fragmented culture that hinders collaboration. Resistance to Change: If there is noticeable resistance to new ideas or changes in procedure, the culture may be rigid and resistant to innovation. Overwork and Burnout: A culture that consistently expects long hours and overwork may prioritize short-term gains over long-term employee well-being and sustainability. Turnover Rates: High employee turnover can be a red flag for issues within the organizational culture such as lack of growth opportunities, poor management, or a toxic work environment. Office Politics: Pay attention to how much politics influence decisions and progress. A culture heavily influenced by politics rather than merit can demotivate employees. Feedback Mechanisms: Lack of mechanisms for providing constructive feedback, or a culture where feedback is ignored, can indicate a culture not open to self-improvement or employee development. Diversity and Inclusion: Observe whether the organization actively supports diversity and inclusion, not just in policy but in practice, reflecting a culture of respect and equality.

This is a broad question, so I'll just focus on the Top 3 things I think makes Meta very unique within the tech industry: Open culture - This is probably what trips people up the most. Meta isn't a place where you can just lone wolf and not share information; this will almost certainly lead to your demise. Engineers are constantly communicating, especially in Workplace. Be humble and aggressively ask for support when you need it (but make sure to phrase the question well). Put yourself out there and build tons of relationships fast. Don't expect people to come to you - Go to them, add value to them, and make them want to fight for you and your survival. PSC driven - In my opinion, Meta has one of the best performance review systems in tech, easily in the Top 1%. It's very thorough and relatively fair, being closer to a meritocracy than any other company I've worked for. This leads to industry-leading promotion speeds for engineers. However, this also means that the culture at Meta revolves almost entirely around performance review, making the company quite competitive. I recommend this playlist to dive deeper: [\[Taro Top 10\] Navigating Performance Review](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/nsxcme1raqsA4IBy8cWq/) Metrics-first - If you don't have data supporting your argument, your argument will probably lose. As an E6, you are going to have to make cases and technical proposals constantly. Prioritize becoming familiar with Meta's incredibly deep analytics and A/B testing suite. Here's a good discussion about that: "I got feedback about experimenting, and I'm unsure how to process it." Lastly, I highly recommend this thread to understand more about Meta culture: "Is sprint planning and agile not a thing at Meta?"

Explain day-to-day operations and decision-making in Meta

Staff Software Engineer [E6] at Metaa month ago

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What is the prevailing culture within the organization, and how does it manifest in day-to-day operations and decision-making? The prevailing culture within an organization is the shared values, beliefs, norms, and practices that shape the social and psychological environment of a business. This culture influences employee behavior, motivates management styles, and affects decision-making processes. What are those for Meta?

What are the hidden things to notice and to worry about? For example:

Cliques and Silos: Pay attention to the formation of exclusive groups or departments unwilling to share information. This can indicate a fragmented culture that hinders collaboration.
Resistance to Change: If there is noticeable resistance to new ideas or changes in procedure, the culture may be rigid and resistant to innovation.
Overwork and Burnout: A culture that consistently expects long hours and overwork may prioritize short-term gains over long-term employee well-being and sustainability.
Turnover Rates: High employee turnover can be a red flag for issues within the organizational culture such as lack of growth opportunities, poor management, or a toxic work environment.
Office Politics: Pay attention to how much politics influence decisions and progress. A culture heavily influenced by politics rather than merit can demotivate employees.
Feedback Mechanisms: Lack of mechanisms for providing constructive feedback, or a culture where feedback is ignored, can indicate a culture not open to self-improvement or employee development.
Diversity and Inclusion: Observe whether the organization actively supports diversity and inclusion, not just in policy but in practice, reflecting a culture of respect and equality.

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Meta Platforms, Inc. is an American multinational technology conglomerate based in Menlo Park, California. The company owns 3 of top 4 social networks in the world: Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. More than 3.5 billion people use at least one of the company's core products every month.

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Discussion

(3 comments)

2
Alex Chiou
•Tech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course Hero
a month ago
This is a broad question, so I'll just focus on the Top 3 things I think makes Meta very unique within the tech industry:

Open culture - This is probably what trips people up the most. Meta isn't a place where you can just lone wolf and not share information; this will almost certainly lead to your demise. Engineers are constantly communicating, especially in Workplace. Be humble and aggressively ask for support when you need it (but make sure to phrase the question well). Put yourself out there and build tons of relationships fast. Don't expect people to come to you - Go to them, add value to them, and make them want to fight for you and your survival.

PSC driven - In my opinion, Meta has one of the best performance review systems in tech, easily in the Top 1%. It's very thorough and relatively fair, being closer to a meritocracy than any other company I've worked for. This leads to industry-leading promotion speeds for engineers. However, this also means that the culture at Meta revolves almost entirely around performance review, making the company quite competitive. I recommend this playlist to dive deeper: [Taro Top 10] Navigating Performance Review

Metrics-first - If you don't have data supporting your argument, your argument will probably lose. As an E6, you are going to have to make cases and technical proposals constantly. Prioritize becoming familiar with Meta's incredibly deep analytics and A/B testing suite. Here's a good discussion about that: "I got feedback about experimenting, and I'm unsure how to process it."

Lastly, I highly recommend this thread to understand more about Meta culture: "Is sprint planning and agile not a thing at Meta?"
2
Rahul Pandey
•Tech Lead/Manager at Meta, Pinterest, Kosei
a month ago
I am curious, what has been your perception of Meta before you joined, and what has been surprising?

Meta overall has a phenomenal engineering culture. I think the main drawback is likely in #3, about overwork. But there's lots of feedback, lots of collaboration, and the ability to learn and move quickly.
- 1
  Staff Software Engineer [E6] [OP]
  •Meta
  a month ago
  I have not joint yet, my bootcamp start in a few weeks. I am doing my due diligence for now.

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