Career Advice About Meta

Background:

Our team inherited a set of products which are full of spaghetti code and bad design. We are currently building a high visibility and high impact project based on the backend of this system.

Although the main project UI goes on-track, some critical backend design flaws will hinder product performance and reliability within a couple of months - maybe close to or right after official product launch, which will turn our whole effort into a joke since we have executives' eyes on it.

My progress this year so far: (besides my roadmap item commitment)

• 1. Identified a system hotspot, finished analysis & design, and convinced our EM to rewrite this module (currently 95% finished by a junior engineer.)
• 2. Rewrote 1 foundation module to eliminate legacy design flaw (ended up with less code, less complexity, same performance, more system reliability.)
• 3. Design and rewrite another foundation backend module to address legacy design flaw & unblock development of the next milestone
• 4. Leading on technical design and discussion of a re-architecture for the overall backend end to end flow. (simplify design, improve performance)

NOTE:
- I tried to delegate 2 & 3, but no other engineers can do them after a few try since it's too tightly coupled with the rest of the system.
- our team lead is championing for all these work, which is how we are able to make room for them

Benefit of these work:

• accelerate other engineers' work in the system
• cut clean with the legacy system design flaw, improve product reliability and performance
• ensure our team's win on the high visibility project that built on top of this backend
• easier oncall for the short run or long run

My questions:

• In terms of performance review, my manager thinks this is better engineering work, while I think is closely tied to the success of our main project. What kind of evidence do I need to convince him? (My EM is not very technical)
• From his tone, I sense he thinks better engineering work in considered "lower priority contribution". Is this true? How do I communicate the importance of code/design quality with him?
• I'm trying to reach the staff level promo, does this initiative demonstrate any trait for the next level? (I'm not doing it for promo, but my EM's neglect on this makes me pretty frustrated because refactoring and rewrite is such tedious and painful work... I want to make it count)

Thank you!

I'm in the initial stages of a job hunt right now and recruiters seem to have the perception that I'm more qualified than I actually am (especially at non-FAANG companies). I'm E4 at Meta (mid-level) and not performing exceptionally well at this level, but recruiters are trying to push me for 'Senior' roles. Should I just go along or push back?

I know this is a bit of an unorthodox question since most people have problems with downleveling, not the other way around. I'm somewhat confident of passing the coding/systems design rounds for Senior/E5 positions at these companies, but I really want to avoid a situation where I join and immediately start getting overwhelmed by the actual job responsibilities.

Context: ~2.5 YoE

I have been reorged , and now I have a completely new org, team tech stack and domain to my previous role so I’m still settling in and feeling a bit uncomfortable.

I get the impression the space I have been assigned to didn’t go well last half, I see a few recently deactivated profiles and hear some mumurs

I’m feeling that need to start well but someone on the team came from a pretty unrelated project, migrated a lot of it to the infra my new org maintains but has asked me to join the on call for the old system that didn’t get migrated.

This was in the team meeting and I pushed back a bit saying this doesn’t feel connected enough to my role but he said it was good for the company and my manager seemed to support this.

Learning this entirely different system in addition to what my org doesn’t feel like a good use of my time and it’s good for the company line feels like a weak justification, there are a lot of on calls that are good for the company right?

Is this normal ? Should I push back again in my 1:1 with my manager? I’ve only just started reporting to him and he will be my skip once he hires an m1 for my team so don’t have a great read on him yet

Hey everyone, I’m right now exploring breaking into Big Tech and want to determine if is for me :).

Background:

• BS in CS (2022), 1.5yr SWE at Series B YC startup ($150M)

• Left Jan 2024 for break, explored GovTech/startup ideas

• Pivoted to Big Tech goal (Nov 2024)

• Completed 150+ Leetcode, 26 mock interviews on TryExponent

• Did 5 startup interviews Jan 2025 (rejected) - realized startups need different prep & chose Big Tech.

Along the way, I’ve tried creating interview prep groups but that failed.

Current state:

• Formation TIRA score: 525/1000 (could pass easiest tech interviews at JP Morgan Chase)

• Have referrals at Meta/Stripe/Google/Microsoft

• Got and failed Uber L4 first recruiter screen (7/18/24)

• Solo prep isn't working well& I’m clearly not at a level to pass any Big Tech interview.

My main priorities rn:

• Find a community. Interview prep alone is tough & feels inefficient.

• Have accountability to level up.

• Have real-world challenges (such as mocks interviews with real Big Tech engs)

• Know what to work on.

Spoke with recruiter and offers:

• AI-generated DSA exercises

• Weekly small group interviews (5 people) with industry eng

• Weekly 1:1 mocks with staff eng

• Job recommendations

• Daily manager check-ins

Cost: $5k upfront + up to $15k ISA

Worth it or not:

• Alex said: “So is one of the better interview bootcamps out there. They have results, and the founders are legit. However, their results have definitely dwindled in this market, especially among junior engineers.”
• My current thinking is to do the 7 day free trial and just see how it goes.

Questions:

1. Given the 2025 market, is generally worth it? How about given my situation?
2. Is the cost ($20k total possible) concerning?
3. What Big Tech level should I target? I received a L4 recruiter interview at Uber (7/18/24) and failed the recruiter call so that makes me a bit confused.

I just got my first project, and I have no idea where to start from and I have 2 weeks to complete the project. I have code pointers. How do I understand the codebase better to even start my project? I need the best actionable advice I can get right now

Hey everyone,

I'm new to Meta, and while I’ve enjoyed the onboarding experience and the sheer scale of the work here, I’ve found myself navigating through this incentive-induced rivalry culture.

On one hand, the competitive atmosphere can be motivating, but I also sense it might lead to employees chasing artificial metrics or competing for scope in ways that don’t always align with the bigger picture. Everyone talks about this, and I’ve caught myself wondering if I’m slipping into this mindset and whether it’s making me feel jaded.

There had been a few instance where a coworker would ship something that is half working, claim impact and then move off to a different thing, where I am left to fix and get it actually working.

Have any of you felt this way before? It feels less like I'm playing regular chess and more like I'm trying to navigate 5D chess—or maybe even alien chess! If so, how did you approach it without losing sight of the impact you truly want to make?

Looking for some candid advice or strategies to stay grounded and authentic while thriving in this environment!

I have been with my current team (a platform team) for about almost 3 years now, and I believe I have build good relationships with others in the org. I am thinking about projects that can get me to E6.

So far, the projects that I come up with, feels underwhelming after talking to more senior IC. The IC either think there the ROI is not high enough, or the project is too much of BE. For other ideas, it feels like that I would have scope collision with other ICs. I sometimes feels too tired to churn through more ideas. I am not sure if this is normal, or if I would be able to succeed in my current team to get to E6. How would you decide it is time to change teams?

I've grown to be more of a "tech lead"-style E5, which leads to a lot of time spent roadmapping and talking to people instead of actually executing on the project and being more hands-on. My team is heavier on the E3/E4 side, so I'm able to delegate a lot of the coding work away. I was wondering if this was normal for Meta and whether this is an okay way to operate as an E5?

My brother is very worried about getting a return offer at Meta - he'll be interning there this summer. He reviewed the videos on , but is still confused on who he would assign to review diffs/vouch for his performance other than his EM.

As an E5, I will have 1:1 meetings with E4s on the team to lead/mentor them. However, I find myself running out of time in the meetings sometimes - What can I do to make effective use of all the time?

Hi, I recently got an offer for mid-level Software Engineer role from Meta, London. While I'm really excited about the opportunity, due to some personal reason, it's not possible for me to move to London and I'm preferring to work either remotely or any location from India.

Is it possible to convince my hiring manager for working remotely?

Would really appreciate some pointers on this.

I've shared feedback before with engineers more junior than me, and they didn't seem to take it well. They started avoiding our meetings afterwards - I feel like they thought their PSC was at risk. How can I prevent this situation from happening in the future when sharing feedback with E3s/E4s?

Hi, I have a Meta new grad interview coming up and I got LC premium for the first time. I wanted to ask what filters you recommend using.

I am thinking of this - Filter the list by past 30 days, sort by frequency and then do the top 30 from there.

What do you think? You can also filter by past 3 months, 6 months, all time. Thanks!

How to build your reputation in new area?

How to use better story telling?

How to better align on the organizational goals?

I came into Meta with ~1.5 years of startup experience. I'm very good at Leetcode-type problems, so I was able to land an E4 offer. However, my prior experience mainly consisted of raw coding (E3-scope), meaning that I didn't have much experience developing E4 behaviors coming into Meta. This has led to me struggling on my current team where my manager let me know that I'm currently trending around MM. My team and manager have compounded this by being quite ambitious - I've gotten a lot of E4 EE+ scope with things like complex 0 to 1 projects (my manager is trying to get me to E5 ASAP). This is all hard to handle and has been a huge source of stress for me, so I'm currently considering other options.

Here's what's on the table:

• Stay on my current team and stick it out, trying to recover to MA by the next PSC.
• Switch to another team within Meta that's slower-paced.
• Job hop to Google as an L3. I was able to land an offer with them during my job search, and I kept that line open. I'm exploring team matching with them now.
• Go through some additional interview rounds with Google to get in as an L4.

Which of these is best for my career?

I spoke to my manager about putting a promo packet up this half for an E5 promotion. I didn't rush into this. I've watched Taro's E5 promo crash course, have listened to my manager's feedback and consistently improved myself each time.

Now I feel ready. The Staff Engineer (TL) I work with has also vouched for me and said on the engineering excellence axis I'm performing way better than the other E5s on the team and he's not concerned about the other axes either. I've shared this with my manager. I've been performing at this level for about 2-3 months now and will continue to do so for another 2 months before perf season.

For some additional context, I joined Meta in Feb as an E4 and was aiming to get to E5 in 1 year. I know this seems aggressive, but that's because Meta down leveled me.

My manager said that I need to continue doing this for another half. Is this usually the case? Maybe I set my expectations too high by reading Alex's Linkedin Posts about mentoring engineers to E5 so quick :)

FYI on the internal career pages it says "1-2 quarters (or more)" which could mean absolutely anything

I am soon going to join Meta (Monetisation org) as a mid-SWE.

Before this, I spent <5 years at my previous company. The last 1.5 years weren’t that great for me. I didn’t have much opportunity to grow or learn. I had a medical emergency and also lost interest in my role due to the company's deteriorating culture and benefits. So, I mostly stayed there for the RSUs.

Now I want to start fresh and start with the same zeal of a student out of college. I aim to become a Sr at Meta in a year. I know monetisation is a rough org for a SWE but I want to see it as the next stepping stone.

I wanted your advice on how to:

1. Start showing impact in a month
2. What initiatives can I take to start behaving as E5 within 2-3 months of joining?

PS: I have already gone through the and it was super helpful. With this post, I want to get something more specific to Meta and(or) monetization org. For eg:

1. How to deal with Meta's internal team politics?
2. How to approach the "1 year" target with the manager?
3. What things should I focus on? (like being proactive in the team's operation excellence meetings, focussing more on doc and code reviews, or building strong relationships with existing E5/E6 and getting help from them) - I am sure it will be a combination of multiple stuff.

I'm a new MLE at Meta, so I'm in bootcamp. I'm trying to go for a team that’s super in-depth with regards to ML and neural architectures vs. a team that would give me more breadth. How can I find such a team and what questions can I ask to identify it?

I’ve recently been applying to various jobs, just in case of an unexpected layoff (golden parachute). Lately, I’ve been motivated to upskill as a developer. I’ve now reached the two-year mark at my company. After the reorg, I have a new manager, team, and director, and I really like this team. My performance over the past six months has been better than it was with my old team. Recently, Google reached out to me for an interview, but I haven’t really studied data structures and algorithms (DSA) due to work. My performance hasn’t been great, and now I also have a phone interview with Meta.

On the plus side, my company's stock has surged, and we’ve received bonuses, raises, and promotions. In my last 1-on-1 meeting with my manager, he told me I should be more independent and that my performance is great (hinting at a promotion)—fingers crossed. My family and friends are encouraging me to interview with both Meta and Google, but I don’t really want to leave my current company.

Obviously no one can predict the future, but there's a lot of uncertainty and a lot of my peers have fears that a recession could impact return offer rates. Naturally, since I'm interning soon, I have the same anxiety. I understand 2025 is different from 2022, but I'd appreciate input from others. Could RO rates scale back drastically?

I've got my first interviews lined up with Meta and LinkedIn in December. I can probably push it to January but the dilemma remains the same.

How do I effectively prepare for those interviews?

Background : 2 years of SWE experience and Electrical Engineering background.

I am pursuing my master's from Georgia Tech part time and working a full time job. I barely get 4-5 hours for myself a week and I use those to either play football with friends or watch a show with my family.

I didn't expect to get such interviews in the first place. The recruiters had reached out to me.

After Thanksgivings and up until January first week, I have the semester break. So I can prepare them effectively for around 6 weeks with my job and no master's going on then.

I am not well versed with any topic to solve a question but I remember some of the concepts from my undergrad algorithms course and the weak interview prep I had done 3 years ago.

A good thing here is that I am pursuing a graduate level algorithms course this semester but again it's purely theoretical/psuedocode based. It helps building intuition with DP, Graphs and Divide N Conquer problems. On paper I can solve those questions but may fumble with the implementation.

I'm thinking of picking questions from the frequently asked Meta/LinkedIn problems list on leetcode and preparing for the Interviews solely based on this. I don't know if any other problem set would help me now.

I'm only giving this interview because I don't want to miss out on this opportunity. I've always dreamt of such an opportunity and now it's finally coming true. I wouldn't be sad if I didn't clear the interview but just disappointed in myself if I don't give my best in the limited time available.

Please do let me know if there is anything I can do to game the system and somehow perform well.

I went through the interview loop at Meta, and currently in TM phase. I had initially interviewed (phone screen) for the E6 SWE role, but got down-leveled to E5. Went through the interview loop for E5. The recruiter came back with an offer for E4 (got down-leveled again). Does it make sense to take up the offer? Would it be a setback career-wise to accept an E4 role in spite of having 12 yoe?