Career Advice About Pinterest

I have been working in the industry for almost 8 years, but I often feel like an average engineer. I spend most of my time working, but I haven't achieved any significant accomplishments in my career.

I was able to get jobs at Pinterest and the company that used to be called Meta because I memorized coding interview questions and exaggerated my achievements. However, I don't have the motivation to aim for promotions, and I worry that I don't have what it takes to be an outstanding engineer in the tech industry. I work every day, but I feel lost and unsure about where my career is going.

I'm worried about my future career growth and whether I will find fulfillment. Are there other people who have felt the same way but managed to overcome it and succeed?

Suboptimal work efficiency resulted in me putting so much time at work, leading to poor WLB @Meta. I don't want to repeat it @ Pinterest. How can I improve my efficiency?

I work as an ML Engineer at a company, and I have been part of my team for two years. Unfortunately, the product I was solely responsible for got canceled due to external reasons, even though it was showing good growth. Throughout my career, I have specialized in creating recommendation systems for online content platforms.

Currently, I am involved in less impactful tasks related to migrating our systems. We hope to find more meaningful work in the future, but I'm unsure if our team can achieve significant growth. While my manager sees value in me, I am not considered the best player on the team.

Recently, I learned that the Ads department is actively seeking to hire experienced ML engineers, possibly even seniors. They have ambitious goals and are eager to develop new solutions to reach them. I attended their hiring meeting, and the ML director spoke passionately about the work, which felt risky but exciting.

Part of me believes I should join this team. The expectations would be higher, and the company genuinely values their work. It would provide a greater challenge, and I believe such situations are crucial for personal growth and improvement. Additionally, working in a different department would expose me to different organizational dynamics. In my current team, I'm increasingly feeling complacent and lack inspiration.

On the other hand, part of me thinks I should remain with my current team. I don't dislike my manager, which is not always the case in every job. My current team is also important, and I have respect for my colleagues. If I stick it out, there's a chance I might come across something interesting eventually. However, switching teams would mean losing the relationships I've built and potentially delaying promotion opportunities. Moreover, there are concerns about possible layoffs, so it might be safer to be conservative.

Do you have any thoughts on this matter?

I’m currently a relatively new senior engineer at Pinterest trying to get to staff engineer. The area where I need the most help is the direction axis of the next level. How can I meaningfully shape the vision for a decent project?

I joined Pinterest few months ago, and I was under the impression that I will be driving a large, high-impact project. I was hired with this project in mind, but due to external factors, this project has been deprioritized and removed from the roadmap.

This puts me in a vulnerable position as now I don't have major scope to work on. Here are my thoughts on how to remedy the situation:

• Find new scope - I am doing this now, but this is tough as I'm pretty new. Unsure how I can find this on such short notice.
• Change teams
• Wait for the manager / lead to figure out a new large scope project for me
• Work closely with my manager, so they can find a new project for me

I’m at a point in my career where I want to be more intentional about the kind of companies I work for.

Don’t get me wrong—I love building things. I’m passionate about software engineering and I want to work at a place that truly contributes to my long-term growth.

I have 10 years of experience and have worked across different industries, startups, and mid-sized companies. I’ve learned a lot, but lately, I feel like I’ve hit a plateau. Some of my side projects push me more than my actual jobs.

Update: I have not worked for a big tech company.

That got me thinking—maybe I’m missing out by staying in the same kind of environments. I’m starting to question: What if I aimed higher? What if I prepared for companies with stronger engineering cultures, like Pinterest?

I admire Pinterest for its engineering standards and design aesthetics. It seems like the kind of place where I could grow a lot. But here’s my real question:

If I prepare for Pinterest, will I also be improving my chances with other similar, high-quality companies?

I know most of these companies have similar interview flows—screening, DSA, system design, behavioral, etc.—but I’m wondering:

• Do these companies share common patterns beyond the interview structure?

• Are there core topics, practices, or even mindset shifts I could focus on to become a better fit across the board?

• Can preparing for one help me build a reusable foundation that applies to others?

In short, I’m trying to plan the next phase of my career journey more strategically—and I’d love insights from others who’ve gone through this or are thinking the same.