Second week at Meta Help

Hi everyone,

I just wrapped up my first week as a Software Engineering Intern at Meta, and wow — it really moves fast. Monday was off, so had 4 days.

What I’ve Done So Far:

• Met my manager and had 6+ 1:1s with teammates and XFNs.
• Learned about:
  • The org’s mission and how success is measured.
  • My team’s active projects and what impact looks like.
  • Got context on my own project, understood some of the challenges, and identified POCs for different milestones.

Where I Need Insight:

As I go into my second week, my goal is to gain deep understanding quickly so I can land impactful diffs fast. I want to operate from a top-down perspective — understand the “why” of the project before diving into the “how.”

Questions I’m Asking Myself:

• Do I understand the full scope and intended impact of my project?
• What’s the success criteria? What does a “win” look like?
• What milestones am I missing that could slow me down later (e.g., data structure design, performance constraints, visual clarity, integration points)?
• Where do I see potential pitfalls or ambiguity?
• There are some documentations that I have a really hard time understanding because I think of how I am going to apply it and if I don’t find a way it does not render a meaning. Like what is an ent, etc.?

Questions I’m Thinking of Asking My Manager / Team:

• Can we walk through the high-level architecture of the codebase?
• How do people usually ramp up quickly on this team?
• Can we break down my project into 1–2 week milestone chunks with deliverables?
• What does the software platform that I am building my project on do?

What I Want to Know From You:

• What do you do in your second week to accelerate?
• How do you balance learning with execution when the ramp-up time is short?
• What’s your favorite way to get a mental model of a new codebase?
• How do you build trust with your manager and teammates early on?
• What questions would you ask yourself for clarity of what you should do?
• What questions would you ask your manager and team to hit a bulls eye with the information that will be useful for executing deliverables for your project?

Any insights or battle-tested advice would be greatly appreciated!

Also to add, what are some things I can think about and also work on everyday, to execute and collaborate better. For analogy, if I want to run fast, I run my best everyday. I also think about ways I can improve my running.