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Do FAANG and other top tech companies ever hire M1 from outside?

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Senior Engineering Manager at Taro Community6 months ago

I am a Sr Engineering manager with 10 yrs of engineering management in Tier 2 type of companies. I am thinking to switch now and want to work for more tech geared companies. Do they ever hire M1 from outside?

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(6 comments)
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    Tech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course Hero
    6 months ago

    I have seen managers hired externally into FAANG and FAANG-adjacent companies, but it's pretty rare as it's very risky (and a lot of those EMs struggle immensely during the interview). At Meta, most engineering managers were raised up internally (i.e. they grew to E6 and then switched over) and the externally hired engineering managers came from other top-tier companies like Uber, Square, Airbnb, etc.

    This is also one of the worst markets to interview in as an engineering manager (EM). A lot of companies are slashing EM headcount - Meta in particular forced a bunch of M1s to switch to E6. If you are trying to jump from lower-tier companies to higher-tier ones, it will only be harder.

    Anyways, you never know until you try so I recommend applying and seeing what happens. If nobody will even give you an interview, maybe you can try getting in as a Staff Engineer/Tech Lead.

    The majority of the EM interview is behavioral and fairly similar to what a behavioral round for a Staff+ engineer would look like. Check these out: [Taro Top 10] Behavioral Interviews

    I don't know about other companies, but I'm fairly sure Meta gives M1 candidates a DSA interview as well. Check this out to help there: [Masterclass] How To Ace Your Big Tech Interview - Data Structures And Algorithms

    Best of luck!

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    Senior Engineering Manager [OP]
    Taro Community
    6 months ago

    Agreed . I have figured another that is Its extremely tough to break in as a female engineering manager as well. A lot of time they don’t believe that a woman have the rigor and toughness to be a front line application manager 😞. I will see what I can do . thanks for your note.

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    Thoughtful Tarodactyl
    Taro Community
    6 months ago

    Can you explain what M1 is?

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      Engineer @ Robinhood
      6 months ago

      M1 = line manager (a manager that engineers directly report to)

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      Senior Engineering Manager [OP]
      Taro Community
      6 months ago

      line manager =first level manager

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      Tech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course Hero
      6 months ago

      M1 is the standard level for engineering managers at Big Tech. It is equivalent to Staff (L6). M1s should have between 8 and 15 engineers reporting to them.