Just got into Meta as E4 but need some guidance on team matching
Hey everyone!
I just passed all my Meta interviews for E4 in infra! and now I am onto team matching!
However, my recruiter wants me to try out for the monetization/ads org, but I've heard a lot of bad rumors about that org, notably that work life balance is awful and stress is really high. (Blind seems to especially dislike it haha)
Does anyone have real experience with that org here? Are the rumors true?
I don't mind a little bit of extra stress and doing some overtime from time to time as long as it's not overtaking my personal life.
For instance at Amazon (Gen AI) there were months where I was doing 80h+ per week non stop and that's the number one reason why I would like to leave tbh.
This is only the fast track option that my recruiter is offering me tho, I might still be able to get into the normal team matching pipeline afterwards too.
Anyways, thanks in advance! :)
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Discussion
(12 comments)- 12
7 days agoGuiding ML Engineers through their career journey. ex-Head of ML, ex-Meta Staff SWE, ex-AdobeCongratulations on your offer! I agree with Rahul's assessment. While every organization has its strengths and limitations, here's my perspective on working in Ads at Meta:
The workload in Ads tends to be substantial, with most people working 60+ hours weekly, though some smaller teams may have lighter schedules. However, this intensity comes with notable benefits: you'll work alongside exceptional colleagues, and promotion opportunities are more plentiful (up to E7). During the 2022 major layoffs we lost only one person out of 30, which was significantly lower than other orgs, making Ads a relatively stable place to work.
As an E4, your primary focus should be advancing to E5, since Meta is up-or-out system at that level. Keep in mind that pursuing promotion typically requires more effort than maintaining your current level. 80 hours for a few months is expected.
One bonus piece of advice regarding PSC (Meta's evaluation process): while it's important for you to understand how it works, it's even more critical that your manager does.
Based on my experience, I would strongly recommend against joining any team where the manager has less than 12 months of tenure at Meta. Even with the best intentions, newer managers simply lack the deep understanding of PSC's nuances that comes with time at the company.
- 06 days agoMid-Level Software Engineer [SDE 2] [OP]Amazon
wow that's crazy, 80hours for a few crazy! I guess you're including all the time required to write your promo doc and gather all the feedback?
> Based on my experience, I would strongly recommend against joining any team where the manager has less than 12 months of tenure at Meat. Even with the best intentions, newer managers simply lack the deep understanding of PSC's nuances that comes with time at the company.
yeah thank you for this advice, it seems very helpful
> The workload in Ads tends to be substantial, with most people working 60+ hours weekly, though some smaller teams may have lighter schedules
is that for an average week or just only in the most busy times? - 0
3 days agoTech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course Hero[The workload in Ads tends to be substantial, with most people working 60+ hours weekly, though some smaller teams may have lighter schedules]
is that for an average week or just only in the most busy times?That's just an average week for the vast majority of ads engineers.
- 107 days agoTech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course Hero
To be blunt: Work-life balance on ads team is not good. Since Meta is one of the worst diversified companies, 97% - 99% of their revenue comes from digital ads. This puts a ton of pressure on ads teams, especially during oncall.
However, it is possible to have good work-life balance on Meta ads and still be a high-performer. I would know because I did that (35 - 40 hour weeks), and I have mentees who are still doing that. My situation is different though:
- I'm a mobile engineer (mobile is weekly cut, so oncall is inherently more chill)
- I was on ads for a long time (my work-life balance initially wasn't great, but as I grew into the role, I became way more efficient and trusted)
- I was at Meta before the "year of efficiency" era
What I will say about ads though is that impact is super clear: Link your work to $$$. Performance review and promotion is effectively math. As an engineer, I like how straightforward that makes things.
More thoughts on ads team dynamics here: "What is it like working on ads teams?"
- 07 days agoMid-Level Software Engineer [SDE 2] [OP]Amazon
how bad does the wlb get?
I've been on an Gen AI team at Amazon and it's been some 80h even 100h weeks for months straight and that's definitely not something I'd like to live again too much XD.
But some overtime from time to time isn't that bad for me as long as I'm compensated well for the impact I'd bring. - 17 days agoTech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course Hero
You see, that's the nice thing about Amazonians going to Meta. You are working crazy hours already, so you might as well get paid for it. Meta tends to pay far more than Amazon, and the raises are way more competitive, especially for high performers.
But yeah, 80-100 hour weeks consistently at ads is pretty common unfortunately... Especially for someone who's:
- New to the company
- Never worked on ads before
- Working at post "year of efficiency" Meta
- Doesn't work on mobile
Ads easily has the worst average WLB of any broad organization at Meta.
- 16 days agoMid-Level Software Engineer [SDE 2] [OP]Amazon
wow ok that was really insightful, thanks alex
- 0
5 days agoThoughtful TarodactylTaro CommunityHow does that intense hours affect WLB? are you still stack ranked against your teammates -- as in can you be underperforming while working 80 hours/week?
Basically if everyone is a high performer working intense hours does that mean everyone gets promo-ed fast? or because everyone is high performer its still just as hard as any other org to get promoted?
- 14 days agoTech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course Hero
How does that intense hours affect WLB?
Simple: Your WLB is trash 😭
Are you still stack ranked against your teammates -- as in can you be underperforming while working 80 hours/week?
Of course, especially now. You can easily be underperforming working 80 hour weeks or 100 hour weeks. This is because your impact doesn't necessarily scale linearly with time.
I have seen many people get PIP-ed at Meta or even fired without being given a PIP chance. Most of them were working 60+ hour weeks. They weren't managed out because they weren't working hard enough (most people who get into FAANG are willing to work hard). They couldn't make it due to deeper fundamental problems with their skills and behaviors, the stuff that Taro is entirely built to teach you.
Basically if everyone is a high performer working intense hours does that mean everyone gets promo-ed fast?
Meta has far above average promotion speeds but not because everybody is working hard. It's because Meta is genuinely good at evolving engineers' behaviors.
You can easily be working 80 hour weeks consistently and stuck at your current level at Meta. Again, impact != time spent. Impact scales far more with how you spend your time, not how much time you spend.
I have Meta mentees working 40-50 hour weeks who are substantially outperforming engineers working 80-100 weeks.
or because everyone is high performer its still just as hard as any other org to get promoted?
In order to be a high-performer, you need to be genuinely better than a huge portion of people at your level within your org. Everything is relative. The bar at Meta is far higher than at most other companies. Unless you're in the top ~30% of your band, you are not a high performer, even if you are working 100 hour weeks.
- 73 days agoSenior Software Engineer [E5] at Meta
I used to work for the Ads team at Meta and I moved to the infra org 6 months ago. Everything that was said above is true. Your expectations are higher in Ads vs other teams. The bar is high and people tend to overwork in Ads because of the pressure of psc and also it's intense because of the revenue generation. Some of the oncalls are pretty stressful because again you need to stop the $$ bleed. Having said that. I have seen people getting promoted faster in Ads, it's easy to show impact ( $$) If you like working in a high pressure environment and like to grow faster.. then take it. ( Also remember you need to get to E5 in 33 months at Meta ). I now work for an infra team and it's much relaxed here but again the growth is slow. DM me if you want to chat more
- 03 days agoTech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course Hero
Glad you were able to find a more relaxed team Luther!
I can echo the faster promotion thing in ads. In my Instagram Ads org, people got promoted way faster compared to other engineers across Meta. But of course, it came at a cost with the worse WLB, greater pressure, and heightened competitiveness among engineers.
- 48 days agoTech Lead/Manager at Meta, Pinterest, Kosei
congrats on passing the Meta interviews!! Generally, I do think it's true that the Ads org has a more intense culture than other orgs. Your impact can be very quantifiable, and there's a bunch of pressure to hit each quarter's target. I hope Ilya, Alex, or someone else could chime in with their experience.
However, Ads also could be a great place to learn, especially since you're willing to work hard when you first join.
Do you have friends who currently work at Meta? They may be able to tell you about other openings for infra engineers, and that's a very reasonable thing to mention to the recruiter.
If this process takes time, though, I'd optimize for getting matched ASAP. You can always switch teams later.
Some very relevant discussion here:
