Balancing multiple tasks efficiently requires prioritization and effective time management. Start by listing and prioritizing tasks to visualize the workload and break them down into smaller, manageable sub-tasks. Use techniques like time blocking or the Pomodoro Technique to stay focused, and batch similar tasks to minimize context switching. Employ tools like task managers and IDEs for better workflow management.

To manage stress, take regular breaks, exercise, and ensure adequate sleep. Practice mindfulness techniques to stay calm under pressure. Regularly review and adjust your workflow to identify areas for improvement and stay flexible with your priorities.

- **Prioritize Tasks**: Use a list and prioritization methods to manage workload.
- **Time Management**: Implement time blocking or Pomodoro Technique.
- **Minimize Context Switching**: Batch similar tasks and use efficient tools.
- **Stress Management**: Take breaks, exercise, sleep well, and practice mindfulness.

One more thing, if you have different types of work like coding and project planning/scoping try to run the two in parallel. These tasks require different focus and you can switch between one and the other ensureing you are not overwhelmed.

Finally, if you believe you would not be able to deliver all 4 feature, speak up! Speak to your manager or TL explain that you might not be able to deliver one of the tasks (lowest priority). To show seniority you can also come up with options, i.e. scope reduction of one of the features, getting another person to work alongside you, breaking your feature in phase 1 and phase 2 respectively still delivering but taking longer overall. Communication and visibility is important.

Senior Leadership @ Meta | Mentor | Coach | Tech Advisor

Alexander Rashkov

This sounds like an Engineering Behavioral interview. While they look simple and straightforward here are some tips on how to prepare:

#### 1\. Key Focus Areas

- **Delivering Projects / Execution:**

  - Think about times when you successfully delivered a project from start to finish.
  - Highlight your project management skills, how you handled challenges, and ensured timely delivery.

- **Turning Unknowns to Knowns:**

  - Prepare examples where you faced uncertain situations and how you navigated through them.
  - Emphasize your problem-solving skills and how you gather information to make informed decisions.

- **Resolving Conflict:**

  - Reflect on instances where you had conflicts with teammates, engineers, or cross-functional partners (PM, Design, Sales).
  - Discuss your approach to conflict resolution, effective communication, and maintaining a collaborative environment.

- **Communicating Effectively:**

  - Provide examples demonstrating your communication skills in various scenarios, such as team meetings, presentations, or writing reports.
  - Highlight how you ensure clarity, conciseness, and effectiveness in your communication.

- **Self-Growth Mindset:**

  - Showcase your commitment to personal and professional growth.
  - Discuss how you seek feedback, learn from failures, and continuously improve your skills.

#### 2\. Prepare Scenarios

Identify 7-8 scenarios from your past experiences that align with the key focus areas. Ensure you cover a broad range of situations, including:

- Successful project delivery
- Handling ambiguous situations
- Resolving conflicts
- Effective communication
- Instances of self-improvement and learning from failures

#### 3\. Write Down Scenarios Using the STAR Format

Structure each scenario using the [STAR format](https://engineeringbolt.com/tech/master-the-behavioral-interview-5-effective-storytelling-frameworks/):

#### 4\. Practice Delivering Your Answers

- **Role-Playing:** Practice answering questions with a friend or family member acting as the interviewer.
- **Feedback:** Seek constructive feedback on your responses, focusing on clarity, completeness, and relevance.
- **Refinement:** Refine your answers based on the feedback to ensure they are concise and impactful.

#### 5\. Addressing Different Levels of Impact

For [higher-level roles](https://engineeringbolt.com/tech/google-software-engineer-levels-roles-expectations-salary/) (i.e), prepare to demonstrate broader impact. 

**Complex problem-solving:** Highlight more complex problems you’ve solved and your strategic approach.

**Collaboration:** Show how you’ve led larger teams or projects involving multiple stakeholders.

**Learning from failures:** Discuss significant failures, what you learned, and how it led to future successes. This last bit is really important!

**Focus on impact and business value:** Emphasize how your work has delivered value to end-users or the business.

Look for online platforms where you can practice with other engineers that are going through preparation. There are plenty of Discord servers for interview prep.

Joining a company like Meta and Google from a startup or small company often comes with significant culture shock. The differences in processes, expectations, and environment can be overwhelming. Here are some common types of culture shock you might experience; I will focus on my observations in Meta and will try to provide examples and methods to prepare yourself:

**1\. Scale and Complexity**

You might be accustomed to handling end-to-end processes in a small company. At Meta, you might work on a particular aspect of a much larger project, where coordination with multiple teams is essential. 

- **Learn the bigger picture:** Understand how your role fits into the larger organization. This helps you see the impact of your work and facilitates better coordination.
- **Develop strong relations:** Take the initiative to meet new colleagues, join interest groups, and participate in company events. Work with other senior engineers and expand your connections within the team/ organization and outside of the current organization.

**2\. Specialization vs. Generalization**

Small companies often require generalists who can wear many hats. In contrast, in Meta, typically, we have more specialized roles, especially in the Infra or ML-heavy teams:**

- **Identify core skills:** Focus on honing the specific skills required for your new role. Deepen your expertise in your specialized area.
- **Depth over breadth:** While being versatile is good, prioritize becoming an expert in your designated area. My advice here is "Land and Expand".

**3\. Formal processes**

Smaller companies often have flexible and informal processes. Due to their size, larger companies rely on more formal procedures, protocols, and approval hierarchies. 

- **Familiarize yourself with procedures:** Learn your new company's standard operating procedures, approval processes, and documentation requirements. This could be from deployment processes to performance management processes and others.
- **Be patient and thorough:** Develop patience and attention to detail to navigate the bureaucracy efficiently. Start writing a diary; it will help you come back and review over the next half/year.

**4\. Pace and pressure**

While small and large companies can be fast-paced, the intensity and scale of projects in Meta can be higher, with tighter deadlines and more significant pressure to perform. 

- **Time management:** Improve your ability to manage time and prioritize tasks under pressure. Use tools like calendars, task managers, and time-blocking techniques.
- **Build resilience:** Develop coping mechanisms for stress, such as mindfulness practices, regular exercise, and a healthy work-life balance.

**5\. Access to resources**

Big Tech companies often provide abundant resources, from advanced tools and technologies to extensive training programs and support systems. 

- **Take advantage of resources:** Proactively seek out and utilize available resources, such as training sessions, documentation, and mentorship programs.
- **Stay informed:** Keep abreast of new tools and technologies the company adopts and learn how to use them effectively.

**6\. Performance expectations**

Meta has rigorous performance metrics and regular performance reviews, which may be more formal and frequent than in smaller companies.

- **Understand evaluation criteria:** Learn about your new company's performance metrics and criteria. Understand what success looks like in your role.
- **Set personal goals:** Align your individual goals with the company's expectations and track your progress regularly. Align with your manager and ensure you have a proper set-up for success.

By understanding these potential areas of culture shock and preparing yourself accordingly, you can make a smoother transition and thrive in a company of the size of Meta and Google. You can read more about [High-performing Engineering Teams and Culture at Meta](https://engineeringbolt.com/tech/characteristics-of-high-performing-engineering-teams-in-meta-facebook/).

I definitely think this could be the perfect agent for Smart Glasses like the Meta Ray-bans. Having both audio and video input and getting real-time data for any situation, whether that is pleasure, i.e. travelling, doing something professionally, writing docs or working with tools.

So many opportunities!

Congratulations on securing an L4 role at Google. Compared to Meta, where IC4 / L4 is at the transient level, i.e. we expect people to get promoted within a certain period, in Google, L4 is a terminal/long-term level where you can stay without needing to progress to the next level, i.e. no clock.

### **Engineering Levels Overview**

- **L4** - 1-5 years of industry experience, sometimes awarded to high-potential new grads and PhDs.
- **L5** - Senior Software Engineer: 6-9 years of industry experience. This is the level most engineers are at internally within Google. You're expected to be able to operate with little direction and handle complex tasks on your own.
- **L6** - Staff Software Engineer: 9+ years of experience and an expectation that you have solid interpersonal skills. Many engineers will start managing more extensive projects and teams at this point. A promotion from L5 to L6 is more exponential in nature, and candidates rarely get hired for this role externally.

### Growth Strategies

Focusing on several key areas will be crucial to accelerate your promotion from L4 to L5 at Google within the next 1-1.5 years. Here are some strategies tailored to your situation:

**1\. Get a Mentor**

- **Find a Suitable Mentor**: Look for a mentor who has successfully navigated the path from L4 to L5 or beyond. A mentor can provide insights, advice, and guidance specific to Google's culture and expectations.
- **Leverage Google's Culture**: Google's culture is conducive to mentoring. Take advantage of this by seeking mentors within and outside your immediate team.

**2\. Treat Your Manager as a Mentor**

- **Build a Strong Relationship**: Develop a positive, collaborative relationship with your manager. View them as a partner in your career growth.
- **Regular Feedback**: Actively seek and be open to feedback from your manager. Demonstrating that you can accept and act on feedback positively is crucial for your growth.
- **Set Expectations**: Communicate your career aspirations to your manager and work together to create a plan for achieving them.
- **Set Clear Goals**: Work with your manager to set clear and achievable goals that align with the L5 expectations. Use these goals to guide your development and track your progress.

**3\. Demonstrate Leadership**

- **Active Participation**: Speak up in meetings, contribute ideas, and participate in decision-making processes. Show confidence and back your suggestions with data and logical reasoning.
- **Lead Projects**: Take ownership of complex projects that involve cross-team collaboration. Show that you can manage and drive these projects to successful completion.
- **Influence and Persuasion**: Develop your skills in influencing and persuading others. This can involve presenting compelling arguments, negotiating, and building consensus.

**4\. Enhance Technical Skills**

- **Deepen Expertise**: Continue to develop deep expertise in your core technologies and stay updated with the latest advancements.
- **Innovate**: Propose and implement solutions that address complex problems or improve existing systems. Contribute to the technical vision of your team.

**5\. Deliver High-Impact Results**

- **Strategic Projects**: Focus on projects that have a significant impact and align with organizational goals. Choose visible projects and demonstrate your ability to handle complexity.
- **Quantify Impact**: Measure and effectively communicate the impact of your work. Use metrics and data to highlight your contributions and successes.

**6\. Mentor and Guide Others**

- **Mentorship**: Actively mentor junior engineers, providing guidance on their projects, conducting code reviews, and helping them navigate challenges.
- **Knowledge Sharing**: Share your expertise through tech talks, documentation, and informal training sessions. Foster a culture of continuous learning within your team.

**7\. Build a Strong Network**

- **Internal Networking**: Develop strong relationships within your team and across the organization. Networking can provide support, opportunities, and visibility for your work.
- **Seek Sponsorship**: Identify a senior leader/engineer who can advocate for your promotion. A sponsor can provide valuable guidance and support during the promotion process.

**8\. Seek Continuous Feedback and Improve**

- **Regular Feedback**: Consistently seek feedback from your manager, peers, and mentor. Use this feedback to identify areas for improvement and make necessary adjustments.
- **Self-Assessment**: Regularly assess your performance against the L5 expectations. Identify gaps and work proactively to address them.

Best of luck in your journey to next level!

Generally you will need about a year after you join a team to be eligible for an internal move. In the first role / team you have the opportunity to ramp up and build good context of the tooling, languages, libraries and develop strengths in speicific areas. 

**Transferable Skills**

While the actual technical work might not look so interesting, developing indepth domain knowledge withing your org, establishing strong relations with other engineers and XFNs, getting good grasp on how to navigate embiguous situations and structure your projects, all of these beahviours and skills are transferable.

At this point your clock is already running, i.e. you have about 24 months to progress from IC3 to IC4 and if you switch a team and you are in the same position that could cause just more headaches and make things tougher.

**Seek Mentorship**

One strong advise here, find mentors both inside and outside of the team. Use the person inside to help you with ramping up faster, grow your scope and deliver results that will support your promotion. 

With the external mentor try to focus more on the soft skills. This could be structuring and organising your projects, defining success criteria, communication, etc. That's a person that may not have much context on your current technical and problem space, but they can help with all other general groweth areas. Look for someone that has grown from IC3 to IC4+ internally this is great way to learm from the experience of another person.

Finding a mentor with the right experience aligned to your long term goals is also important. If you'd like to move to AI/ML space, speak to someone that has done similar transition. It's highly likely that the skills you can develop in your current role both soft skills and technical will be required in the new AI space.

Internal transfers (same role/level) have not changed but with signifficantly fewer open positions it is becoming really hard for people to move as there are more internal candidates than open positions.

General steps are, find a team that has an open role, reach to manager to discuss domain, projects and growth oportunities (common topics). You might need to share your previous half/year rating with the new manager. If both sides are alligned from there you inform your Current Manager you would like to move to another team, prepare a transition plan, Hiring Manager will reach out to the Current Manager, probably will ask for timeliens and potential growth areas for the individual so HM can continue with focused growth in those areas.

Next is just move things in the internal tool, and done.

Trasnitioning from Good to Great TL at Meta, requires a multifaceted approach that balances deep technical skills with leadership capabilities. Here are several strategies to consider:

### 1\. Strategic Vision and Planning

- **Broaden Your Technical Vision**: Great tech leads have a strong understanding of how their work fits into the bigger picture. Start by expanding your knowledge of industry trends, emerging technologies, and how they can be applied to solve larger business problems.
- **Strategic Alignment**: Ensure that your technical decisions and project directions are aligned with the company’s strategic goals. This means understanding the company's vision deeply and how your team's work contributes to that.

### 2\. **Leadership and Influence**

- **Mentorship and Coaching**: Great tech leads don't just manage; they mentor. Invest time in coaching your teammates, helping them grow their skills and careers. This could be through formal mentorship or informal coaching sessions.
- **Stakeholder Management**: Enhance your ability to manage expectations and communicate effectively with stakeholders, including non-technical ones. This involves improving your negotiation, persuasion, and conflict resolution skills.

### 3\. **Technical Excellence and Innovation**

- **Continuous Learning**: Stay abreast of new technologies and methodologies. This doesn’t mean jumping on every new tech but having a well-reasoned perspective on what is worth adopting.
- **Foster Innovation**: Encourage a culture of experimentation and learning within your team. This can involve organizing hackathons, dedicating time for exploring new technologies, or encouraging participation in tech conferences.

### 4\. **Execution and Delivery**

- **Process Improvement**: Continuously seek ways to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of engineering processes. This could involve adopting new tools, refining existing workflows, or implementing best practices in software development.
- **Quality Focus**: Ensure your team delivers high-quality code. Establish and enforce coding standards, conduct thorough code reviews, and maintain a high bar for testing and debugging.

### 5\. **Communication and Collaboration**

- **Enhance Your Communication Skills**: As you move up, your ability to communicate clearly and persuasively becomes even more critical. Work on tailoring your message for your audience, whether it's writing technical specs, presenting to senior leadership, or providing updates to your team.
- **Cross-functional Collaboration**: Great tech leads work effectively across teams and departments. Look for opportunities to collaborate on projects or initiatives outside your immediate team to build bridges and gain new perspectives.

### Personal Development Plan

- **Set Specific Goals**: Define what greatness looks like for you in your role. This could include technical mastery in certain areas, leadership qualities, or contributions to strategic projects.
- **Seek Feedback**: Regularly seek feedback from your peers, managers, and mentees. This will help you identify areas for improvement and measure your progress.
- **Find a Mentor or Coach**: Consider finding a mentor who has successfully navigated this transition. They can provide valuable insights, guidance, and feedback.

Switching domains in tech, especially for a senior engineer aiming for rapid impact and advancement, involves strategic learning and networking, adapting to new cultural norms, and leveraging your existing skills in new ways.

There are few areas that you should focus and if you have 30-60-90 day plan that will help you to stay focused and have a tangible progress towards your goals. One more thing to add here, have you thought **how are you going to measure your success**? This is very crucial step so you can have a start and end point of your ramping up and onboarding.

Here are few tips to consider:

- **Focused Learning:** Prioritize learning the most relevant concepts, tools, and frameworks that are critical for your role at Meta. Online courses, bootcamps, and internal knowledge sharing groups could be quite effective. Read code, then wrote code, experiment.
- **Project-based Learning:** Engage in hands-on projects that are similar to your work at Meta. This will help you apply theoretical knowledge to practical scenarios, enhancing your learning.
- **Mentorship:** Seek out mentors within Meta who are experienced in ML. They can provide guidance, feedback, and insider knowledge that can accelerate your learning curve. Find two mentors, one internal in team and one external outside of the team. First will focus mostly on the onboarding, tech and projects and the other one will focus on career growth.
- **Identify Transferable Skills:** Lean in your soft skills. Skills like problem-solving, project management, and effective communication are highly transferable. Reflect on how your past experiences can benefit your current role.
- **Apply Your Domain Knowledge:** Even if the domain is different, your experience in networking could provide unique insights into how ML algorithms can be optimized for better performance or innovative uses within Meta’s infrastructure.
- **Build a Network:** Connect with other teams and individuals within Meta who work on or are interested in ML. This can provide opportunities to collaborate on interdisciplinary projects, further enriching your experience and exposure.
- **Feedback Loops:** Establish regular feedback sessions with your peers and manager. This will help you understand how well you're adapting and where you can improve, both technically and culturally.

Having unlimited PTO sounds like a dream, but it often leaves employees unsure about how much time off is reasonable to take. Here are some tips to consider when deciding on the amount of PTO to take:

1. **Understand Company Culture**: The first step is to understand the culture around taking time off in your company. Look at what others do, especially those at your level or in your team. If there's a general trend or an unwritten rule about the average days people take, aim for that as a baseline.

2. **Performance and Workload**: Consider your workload and performance. If you're meeting or exceeding expectations and you manage your workload effectively, taking time off when needed shouldn't be an issue. Ensure your projects are in a good state or covered during your absence.

3. **Communication and Planning**: Communicate with your manager or team about your PTO plans well in advance. Discussing your plans helps ensure that your time off doesn't disrupt the team's workflow and shows that you're proactive about maintaining productivity.

4. **Use It Strategically**: Use PTO not just for vacations but also for personal development, rest, and mental health. Spreading your days off throughout the year can help prevent burnout.

5. **Look at Industry Standards**: While "unlimited" suggests there's no upper limit, the average PTO in the U.S. (including sick and personal days) ranges from 2 to 4 weeks per year. Use this as a rough benchmark if you're unsure.

Remember, the goal of unlimited PTO policies is to offer flexibility and promote a healthy work-life balance. It's important to use it in a way that benefits your health and well-being.

The most important part here is to have a chat with your manager and ensure that you have a full alignment with them on their expectations. If your manager is clear what the expectations for you are as an engineer, how much and when is it reasonable to answer, what are the projects and impact you should deliver at your role. All of that should be your guiding principles.

Now it's very important for your manager to set the tone for the team and explain what a Healthy Culture looks like, and if they are encouraging this behavior across the team that might be the core of the issue. 

You can be very clear and upfront with your manager and colleagues that they cannot and should not expect from you to respond during out of office hours. Set that expectations very clearly and even post about it something like personal "Readme" and if anyone is pushing on that this means you might be in the wrong company altogether.