Meta Senior Manager (M2) on Manager Career Growth, PIPs, Amazon vs Meta | Stefan Mai
Stefan Mai was a Senior Manager (M2) with experience across Meta and Amazon. We went over his career story in growing to M2 which is equivalent to Senior Staff (IC7) in big tech. Since he started his own company now, he was happy to be fully transparent about the behind the scenes of managing in big tech. Since he founded the interview prep company, Hello Interview, I also thought it’d be interesting to talk about trends he’s seeing in AI cheating tools and how to get offers at OpenAI/Anthropic. We discussed:• Meta Senior Manager (M2) career growth story• Amazon vs Meta culture• Which company had stronger engineers• How low performer quotas & PIPs work• Eng vs manager career growth• Transitioning to AI/ML as an eng• Getting offers at OpenAI and Anthropic• Advice for his younger selfTimestamps:(00:00) Intro(00:59) Early career at Amazon (05:46) Growth to eng manager at Amazon(11:31) Storytelling tips(16:28) Why he left Amazon(22:59) Transitioning to AI/ML(27:01) Senior manager (M2) promo story at Meta(31:30) Mutiny and manager politics(40:34) Are managers harder to layoff?(49:50) Senior manager (M2) skill gaps(53:21) Eng vs manager career growth(56:27) Amazon vs Meta culture(01:00:34) Amazon vs Meta performance(01:05:24) Low performer quotas(01:08:55) Can you get out of a PIP?(01:12:23) AI interview cheating(01:16:42) Passing OpenAI & Anthropic interviews(01:18:33) Job hopping(01:22:37) When he grew the most(01:24:22) How to write better (01:26:22) Career motivations past M2(01:28:11) Advice for younger selfWhere to find Stefan:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefanmai/• His company: https://www.hellointerview.com/Where to find Ryan:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman
--------
1:31:26
--------
1:31:26
Instagram Staff (IC6) Promo Despite 10 Team Switches in 9 Years (Career Story)
Sash Zats grew to be a Staff Engineer (IC6) at IG despite switching teams 10 times in 9 years. His career journey was a series of jumps to exciting projects and letting career growth happen as a byproduct. I interviewed him to show you how team switches can play out. We discussed:• How 10 team switches in 9 years affected his career• The story behind the Instagram blockchain initiative• His 2 diff in 6 month performance review• What working on Instagram Threads was like pre-launch• The value of prototypingTimestamps:(00:00) Intro(00:49) First team: iOS on Newsfeed Delight(05:30) What makes a good designer partner? (08:30) Joining a hardware team (12:08) 2 diffs in 6 months (15:03) Joining the Instagram blockchain team(21:37) Joining Instagram Threads pre-launch (28:53) Working with an exceptional engineer (Peter)(33:02) Working on AI prototyping teams(37:15) Reflecting on team switching’s impact on career growth (44:35) Why leave Meta (46:15) Advice for younger self (47:53) Outro Where to find Sash:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sashzats/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/zatsWhere to find Ryan:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman
--------
48:15
--------
48:15
Amazon VP On Promotions, Getting Fired Twice, Working With Bezos | Ethan Evans
Ethan Evans went from being fired twice because of poor soft skills to getting promoted to Vice President at Amazon with a team of over 800 engineers. I asked him about everything he learned along the way.We discussed:• Being fired for poor soft skills• What VP promotions look like• Working with Jeff Bezos and Andy Jassy (current Amazon CEO)• VP performance reviews• Stack ranking, PIPs and how managers can fire anyone• Advice for his younger selfTimestamps:(00:00) Intro(01:01) Experience before Amazon(05:03) Getting fired twice & learnings(14:02) Joining Amazon(16:02) What VP promotions look like(26:03) Promotion failure story(29:14) Integrating Twitch into Amazon(33:48) Jeff Bezos vs Andy Jassy stories(36:53) VP performance reviews (41:10) Stack ranking & PIPs(46:11) A manager can fire anyone they want(50:45) Advice for his younger self(53:03) OutroWhere to find Ethan:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanevansvp/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/EthanEvansVP• Newsletter: https://levelupwithethanevans.substack.com/• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-BAdkBGjOIlccGLZ3jbLiAWhere to find Ryan:• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/
--------
53:25
--------
53:25
Tech Lead for Meta's Most-Used Programming Language (Promotion Story)
Dwayne Reeves is a Senior Staff Engineer (IC7) at Meta who is the Tech Lead of the most used programming language (Hack) at the company. He started at the company as a new grad from MIT and shared the story of how his career grew. We discussed:• His promotions to Senior (IC5), Staff (IC6), and Senior Staff (IC7)• The value of type systems• Transitioning to a TLM and why he switched back• Working with brilliant engineers and overcoming imposter syndrome• Advice for his younger selfTimestamps:(00:00) Intro(00:39) Joining Facebook(04:52) Did MIT help with career?(07:13) His first team(10:37) Why static typing is superior(13:17) The uncanny valley of type systems (16:11) Senior Eng (IC5) promotion story (19:24) Staff Eng (IC6) promotion story (23:38) Manager transition story(28:57) Managing ICs vs EMs(32:54) Senior staff Eng (IC7) promotion story(35:42) Impressive ICs(40:33) Why stay at Meta(44:28) Advice for younger self(45:46) Outro Where to find Dwayne:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dwaynereeves/Where to find Ryan:• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/
--------
46:09
--------
46:09
GoogleX Chief Scientist On Imposter Syndrome, Career Growth, Project Taste
Carey Nachenberg was a Chief Scientist at a GoogleX moonshot, a Fellow (senior most eng at Symantec) and a professor at UCLA. I interviewed him about his career story and we discussed:• Story behind his growth to IC10 (VP equivalent)• How high-level IC recruiting works• How imposter syndrome held him back• How to develop “project taste”• How AI is affecting his studentsTimestamps:(00:00) Intro(00:54) Growth to Fellow at Symantec (13:13) The most complex malware(16:13) Why C was faster than assembly(17:17) Imposter syndrome(21:28) What matters more than intelligence(28:03) Experience at GoogleX(34:24) Leaving GoogleX(37:43) Experience at Lyft(43:40) Getting credit on collaborative projects(46:53) Becoming a professor at UCLA(49:13) How to speak well(53:23) How AI affected his students(1:03:53) Career regrets(1:07:16) Finding work you enjoy(1:09:03) Advice for younger self(1:11:04) OutroWhere to find Carey:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carey-nachenberg-14bbb03/Where to find Ryan:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman
Australia