E4 Team Match at Meta: New York?

Question

Recently interviewed for the pathways program but was upleveled to E4 and have just entered team matching.

This has been a wild ride and I'm super grateful to have this opportunity. My girlfriend and I currently live in NYC (as well as all of our friends).

From what I hear, there is 0 headcount at E4 in NYC at the moment, but some may be opening up next spring, but seattle and menlo currently have some spots.

I would LOVE to stay in NYC, but also can't afford to let this opportunity slip through my fingers after all the blood, sweat, and leetcode.

My preferences are NYC > Seattle > Menlo Park. Recruiter says there is no ticking clock, so we are setting primary location to seattle until if/when headcount opens in NYC, and then if still no bites, expanding to Menlo Park.

If I get put in Menlo/Seattle, I'd try and transfer back to NYC after ~1-1.5 years.

Looking for guidance on how to play the location game with shifting headcounts, as well as feasibility of a transfer back to the East coast at some point.

Should I really just focus on getting a match and focus on Menlo Park from the start to maximize chances?

Rahul Pandey · Accepted Answer

Is the pathways program a rebranding of the rotational eng program? I don't recall hearing about pathways when I was at Meta.

You have the right approach: focus on whatever location lets you join a team ASAP. Minimize the time for you to officially be a full-time employee at Meta.

Right now, Meta doesn't really have any kind of obligation to you, and can ghost you or rescind the offer with even a simple macro-economic change.
But once you join the company (i.e. you have a badge and laptop), you gain some job protection and stability that will immediately help your career.

To answer your question directly, adding MPK will make new roles available to you, right? So it does help with the objective function above.

But I'd ask the recruiter what they're seeing. If there's a 80%+ chance of you getting a team match in Seattle, you probably don't need to be that desperate to add MPK.

See also: How to navigate through team matching with Meta?

E4 Team Match at Meta: New York?

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