Thanks to its famously easy-going culture and
fabulous perks, Facebook is one of the most in-demand places to work -- and
getting a job there is no easy feat.
To get a better sense of what it takes to land
a highly coveted position with the social media giant, we recently spoke to one
employee who walked us through his interview process and shared what it's
really like to work for the company.
Nicolas Spiegelberg earned a Masters in
Computer Engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 2006.
After graduating with a 4.0 GPA, he worked for
a telecommunications company in Alabama for a few years -- but had a serious
interest in the "greatly unrealized potential of online social
networking."
Spiegelberg, 32, tells us he was "hooked
on the idea of working for Facebook from the start."
In 2009, "Facebook had fun programming
puzzles that you could solve and get your performance evaluated online,"
he says. "I solved a variant of the 'Stable Marriage Problem' and
submitted the answer. Turns out Facebook recruiting saw the results, and I got
an interview request from a recruiter as a result."
The first step was a 45-minute phone
screening. "Most of the interview was spent on a coding problem but there
was a decent chunk of time at the end where I could ask the engineer questions
about their job and what motivates them to work at Facebook."
Spiegelberg was invited to California to meet
with hiring managers in person. He went through a total of four interviews with
a quick break in the middle.
"It was refreshing from some of the other
10-plus hour interview slogs that I've been through in the past," he says.
"I feel like they got a good assessment of my skills while not spending so
much time that I was too drained to perform well at the end."
Spiegelberg says if you're flying a long
distance, Facebook normally gives you an extra day to rest before your
interview. "I strongly recommend taking it so you can relax, freshen up,
and give it your 100% the next day."
He says two of his in-person interviews
focused on coding and algorithms. "They give you problems that require you
to take the common programming structures (lists, graphs, caches) and combine
them together to solve a single problem," he explains. "The problems
are a little contrived, but definitely mirror the sort of problems you
encounter on a day-to-day basis here."
Another interview focused on work philosophy.
"The interviewer had me walk through tough problems I had solved in the
past and various lessons I learned from it," says Spiegelberg.
"Facebook wants to make sure that you want to constantly improve and can
use lessons from the past to apply to current challenges."
And the final interview focused on system
design. "I believe my particular question was to design a traffic light
system," he recalls. "Facebook doesn't ask this anymore -- but the
basic gist was to see if I could take a complicated problem and break it into
parts. Nowadays, we focus more on designing some of the basic products that
comprise Facebook."
Spiegelberg says he wasn't a shoo-in after
that round.
"It turned out, my packet created a big
argument during candidate review. One person really didn't want me hired.
However, a couple different interviewers thought that Facebook would be making
a mistake by letting me go. The people who fought for me were able to convince
management to reassess me on the criticisms of the negative interviewer and I
had two follow-up phone screens."
Spiegelberg has seen candidates demoralized
because they didn't do well in their interview and they just give up.
"What they don't realize is that Facebook values somebody who will go to
bat for you. That's why you need to give it 100%. You actually have multiple
chances to convince Facebook hiring managers that they are making a huge
mistake if they let you go."
He did just that and eventually won over the
skeptics.
In November 2009, he landed a job as a
software engineer in Facebook's California headquarters, and in January 2012,
he relocated to Facebook's New York office, where he was promoted two years
later to engineering manager.
"I love it here," he says. "There
is so much opportunity for personal and professional growth. I started by
joining a brand new team that created Facebook Messenger, scaled their storage
system to billions of users, open sourced my work, and traveled all over the
world to share my experience at conferences."
"Then, I moved to New York to help start
an office," he continues. "A year ago, I moved to Mobile
Infrastructure and am learning how to scale out a completely new set of
challenges. There are always new, unexplored growth opportunities for engineers
here."
Facebook is always at the top of workplace
rankings, including Glassdoor's list of the best companies to work for.
Spiegelberg says Facebook's mission, culture, and values are what make it such
a great place to work. "Making the world more open and connected for
billions of users is a high impact and personally rewarding mission. Friends
and family are constantly sharing how Facebook helped them connect with people
they care about."
Internally, he explains, the Facebook culture
is also very open and connected. "You can learn about any area of
Facebook, even it's not immediately related to what you do." If you don't
fully understand how Facebook's News Feed works, for instance, you can go watch
an internal presentation. "If you're wondering what Zuck (Facebook CEO
Mark Zuckerberg) thinks about Occulus, ask him this Friday at the company
Q&A."
Spiegelberg says Facebook values building
products that people love by moving fast and being bold. "As an engineer,
this means that you're empowered to fix problems instead of resign yourself to
them. Engineers are constantly trying to move faster and make a better
experience."
Another important thing to know, especially if
you're interested in working for Facebook: it's imperative that you study up
before you apply for a job.
"Facebook attracts people that want to
make an impact," he says. "Our interview process might be tough, but
you know that your co-workers are individuals with the same perseverance that
you demonstrate," he explains.
"One of my favourite quotes, echoed by
multiple Facebook engineers, is an ancient Latin proverb: 'Fortune favours the
bold.' Maybe you're a great fit for Facebook; maybe it's something else. You'll
never know if you don't try," he says. "The act of being bold and
putting your all into preparing for your dream job can only end well."
