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Ksenia Koldaeva
CST 300 Writing Lab
12 January 2021

Path to Software Engineering at Facebook

Technology increasingly becomes an integral part of our daily lives. It is hard to imagine

a day without technology from social media to general tools such as search engines, cloud file

exchange, collaboration platforms, and food delivery services. Brookings.edu shows that the IT

sector has been incredibly robust over the past decade. Value-add produced by the IT industry

grew 77 percent from 2008 to 2017 from $835 billion to $1,480 billion a year (Henry-Nickie,

Frimpong, & Sun, 2019). Therefore, IT is a consistently growing industry. Among the existing

companies, Facebook, Google, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft are the major players in today’s

software industry. According to infographics and the article published by Ohio University, these

5 technology giants have a tremendous impact on millions of American users as well as

consumers globally (“The Ambitions of the World”, 2020).

Being one of the tech giants with a market value of over $600 billion dollars, Facebook

offers many career opportunities in Software Engineering (“The Ambitions of the World”, 2020).

The company’s main headquarters are located in Menlo Park, California. Furthermore, Facebook

offices expand to 70 cities globally (“Company Info”, n.d). Facebook was founded in 2004 by

Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes, and Eduardo Saverin at Harvard university

as a tool for students (Hall, 2020). The early history of Facebook’s founding is very inspiring. In

2003 Mark Zuckerberg created a service on the university campus called Facemash. The services

had a great success among students — 450 people accessed it in the course of 2 days only. The
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service got shut down because Zuckerberg violated university policies and used unauthorized

resources (Hall, 2020). In 2004 Zuckerberg registered the domain http://www.thefacebook.com

and continued growing it with his fellow students Saverin, Moskovitz, and Hughes as the social

network for students. Facebook quickly saw tremendous success with 250,000 student users from

34 schools (Hall, 2020). Early Facebook’s features included the Wall for users’ profiles and

photo tagging capabilities. In 2006 Facebook opened public access to the platform beyond the

student community. At that time Facebook already had six million active users (Hall, 2020).

Now, Facebook is a publicly owned company that is comprised of social media platforms and

other digitals products.

Facebook provides a separate website where all the information about the company is

openly published. According to about.fb.com, Facebook leadership is represented by Mark

Zuckerberg — Founder, Chief Executive Officer, Sheryl Sandberg — Chief Operating Officer,

Mike Schroepfer — Chief Technology Officer (“Company Info”, n.d). On the website, Facebook

also lists 8 primary products in 2021. Some of the products such as Facebook and Instagram

social media platforms, Facebook Messanger app, and Whatsapp messaging application are well

established on the market, others, such as Novi payment service, were relatively recently

announced (“Company Info”, n.d).

It is widely known that Facebook has a controversial reputation regarding user privacy

data for over a decade now. For instance, Electronic Commerce Research and Application

journal published an article in 2010, outlining concerns about the ease of the private data

accessibility in Facebook News Feed and how perceived control over the user’s privacy differs

from the actual control (Hoadley, Xu, Lee, & Rosson, 2010). Later NY Times reported that
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Cambridge Analytica has collected data of millions of Facebook users without their consent

(Rosenberg, Confessore, & Cadwalladr, 2018). Currently, Facebook puts a strong emphasis on

giving back to communities, encouraging diversity, and promoting accessible technology as a

part of their PR outreach (“Community”, n.d). This will not necessarily alleviate all the privacy

concerns, however, it could mean that within reasonable and responsible usage, Facebook can

provide positive values for individual users and businesses.

Overall, according to the analysis of the current trends of the Information Technology

sector, IT outpaces many other industries such as good-producing sectors (Henry-Nickie,

Frimpong, & Sun, 2019). Similarly, the U.S Department of Labor predicts that the number of

jobs in software development will grow by 24 percent through 2026 (“Information Technology”,

n.d). There are many reasons why college graduates might want to pursue a career in Software

Engineering. For example, Vault.com lists career diversity, good pay, fun working environments,

excellent benefits, and many geographical locations as some of the reasons to join IT

(“Information Technology”, n.d). The ability to make an impact on millions of users, rise to

technological challenges, constant learning, and teamwork could be other reasons the IT industry

attracts young professionals.

Facebook makes a great effort to provide relevant information regarding opportunities

and areas of work to attract new talent. According to Facebook careers description page for

Software Engineering, Facebook is a great place to work in a team, fast-paced environment and

to work on products that affect billions of people (“Software Engineering & Developer Jobs”,

n.d). As mentioned before, Facebook is not only the social media platform and the Messenger

app, but also Instagram and WhatsApp applications, Oculus labs among the total of 8 products.
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(“Software Engineering & Developer Jobs”, n.d). On the website, Facebook specifies 3 main

concentrations in Software Engineering — Product and System, Infrastructure, Specialist (iOS,

Android, ML, AR/VR) ​ ​(“Software Engineering & Developer Jobs”, n.d). That means that while

job requirements are similar, there is an opportunity to target a specific concentration to develop

relevant skills. Product and Systems is a fascinating area since it presents many opportunities to

design complex scalable systems and support existing products within their lifecycle. The

specialist track presents a viable opportunity to grow a specific skill set and to stand out as a

professional in a narrower domain.

Facebook interviews are notoriously difficult. As Facebook says on the career website:

“Facebook goes to great lengths to create a good filter and ensure teams hire the right people”

(“Interviewing at Facebook”, 2020). The article “Interviewing at Facebook: The Keys to

Success” shares important tips where preparation, coding practice, and fluency in algorithms are

the key components (“Interviewing at Facebook”, 2020). Specifically, diving deeper into

Facebook career advice articles, coding components asked on the interviews are big-O notation

and time complexity analysis, data structures such as “lists, arrays, hash tables, hash maps,

stacks, queues, graphs, trees, heaps” and algorithms on these data structures (“Preparing for your

Software Engineering Interview”, 2016).

In addition, working on the interview preparation could be only half of the battle.

Facebook technology is complex and operates at scale. Having a firm understanding of scalable

systems and deep knowledge in at least one or two specialization areas would be another focus of

the preparatory work to launch a career at Facebook. For instance, systems design is another

component of onsite interviews at Facebook (“Preparing for your Software Engineering

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Interview”, 2016). Therefore, as engineers, candidates can expect to use those skills as a part of

day-to-day work responsibilities.

When creating education and career advancement plans, candidates should consider the

requirements listed above and make sure preparatory work has been completed in all directions.

CSUMB students can focus on a study plan covering the following areas:

1. Software Design - CST 338

2. Algorithms - CST 370

3. Software Engineering - CST 438

4. Operating Systems - CST 334

5. Computer Networking - CST 311

The first classes in the list will have a direct impact on the interview preparation. It is

impossible to successfully pass an interview at Facebook without knowledge in these areas.

Following classes in the list will ensure a good generalist preparation and overall technical

fluency in computer science, which will be applied at the interview level and on the job itself.

Software Engineering class and final capstone projects could serve as a great platform to develop

a specialization to help to build a resume that will stand out. For example, specialization in iOS,

and Android development and programming in languages such as Java and Swift can be a good

way to gain hands-on experience.

Taking the required classes for graduation builds important academic knowledge that is

needed for respectful professionals. However, companies such as Facebook, look above and

beyond technical skills making behavioral interviews and integral part of the interviewing

process. Teamwork, motivation for the profession, and real-life experience are what Facebook is
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looking for (“Preparing for your Software Engineering Interview”, 2016). Analyzing 200

currently open positions at Facebook for software engineers only 7 positions offered Interning

opportunities and none of the remaining positions were listed as entry-level jobs with 0 years of

experience (“Software Engineering & Developer Jobs”, n.d). Typically positions at Facebook

require 5 and more years of experience. Thus, preparation should be focused on getting valuable

real-life experience to become a competitive candidate at Facebook. Below is a suggested career

advancement plan to be done outside of the university coursework.

For students already holding entry-level positions in the industry, the first step should be

diving deeper into the current position and succeeding in it. Any type of IT-related job would

have a lot of opportunities for developing teamwork and collaboration skills and resilience in

challenging situations. For students looking into getting their feet in the door, finding an

entry-level position for a small company could be the first stepping stone.

The next step would be the interview preparation focusing on algorithms, data structures,

and systems design. Fortunately, modern technology offers a lot of help in this domain.

Platforms such as Leetcode.com and Interviewing.io offer problem training and mock interviews,

where Facebook lists Cracking the Coding Interview by Gayle Laakmann McDowell and

Introduction to Algorithms by Thomas H. Cormen, Clifford Stein, Ronald L. Rivest, and

Charles E. Leiserson books as recommended preparatory sources (“Preparing for your Software

Engineering Interview”, 2016). Another way of getting involved in algorithmic practice is to

form and join study groups on campus and join communities online.

After the first two steps are fleshed out, one might consider looking into new

opportunities in bigger companies that are concentrated around systems at scale. While not all of
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the smaller software companies have similar opportunities to Facebook in terms of technical

challenges, compensation, and benefits offered, a lot of them are great companies to work at.

Working at such companies will provide the necessary work experience needed to make a leap

into a company such as Facebook. Lastly, an alternative career path could be pursuing the entry

job opportunities that involve iOS and Android development to acquire firm specialization in

these domains and to prepare better for jobs in big companies like Facebook. Work in these areas

aligns with Facebook’s specialist concentration. Being a very practical direction in software

development, that path could be very pragmatic to follow.

In conclusion, a career in Software Engineering can be extremely rewarding in the

current economy. Jobs in that field often offer interesting technologies challenges, opportunities

to make an impact on millions of users, great economical stability, health benefits, and beautiful

places for relocation. On the other hand, lucrative positions for software engineers at bigger

companies attract a lot of talent and competition. Facebook, for example, has a lengthy interview

process, that is meant to filter the majority of applicants. A comprehensive preparation plan is a

key component to be competitive and successfully land a job at a company such as Facebook.

Proposed are the comprehensive study and career advancement plans that would require a lot of

dedication and work. Such plans might not guarantee success at a specific company. However,

over time, such work will result in strong fundamentals and skills that can be successfully used

across the industry and applied in multiple companies.

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References

The Ambitions of the World's 5 Most Powerful Tech Giants. (2020, February 04). Retrieved

January 13, 2021, from

https://onlinemasters.ohio.edu/blog/the-ambitions-of-the-worlds-5-most-powerful-tech-gi

ants/

Community. (n.d). Retrieved January 13, 2021, from https://about.fb.com/community/

Company Info. (n.d). Retrieved January 13, 2021, from https://about.fb.com/company-info/

Hall, M. (2020, October 22). Facebook. Retrieved January 13, 2021, from

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Facebook

Henry-Nickie, M., Frimpong, K., & Sun, H. (2019, March 29). Trends in the Information

Technology sector. Retrieved January 13, 2021, from

https://www.brookings.edu/research/trends-in-the-information-technology-sector/

Hoadley, C. M., Xu, H., Lee, J. J., & Rosson, M. B. (2010). Privacy as information access

and illusory control: The case of the Facebook News Feed privacy outcry. Electronic

Commerce Research and Applications, 9(1), 50-60. doi:10.1016/j.elerap.2009.05.001

Information Technology. (n.d). Retrieved January 17, 2021, from

https://www.vault.com/industries-professions/industries/information-technology

Interviewing at Facebook: The Keys to Success. (2020, August 25). Retrieved January 17, 2021,

from

https://www.facebook.com/careers/life/interviewing-at-facebook-the-keys-to-success

Preparing for your Software Engineering Interview at Facebook. (2016, July 27). Retrieved

January 17, 2021, from

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https://www.facebook.com/careers/life/preparing-for-your-software-engineering-intervie

w-at-facebook

Rosenberg, M., Confessore, N., & Cadwalladr, C. (2018, March 17). How Trump

Consultants Exploited the Facebook Data of Millions. Retrieved January 17, 2021, from

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/17/us/politics/cambridge-analytica-trump-campaign.ht

ml

Software Engineering &Developer Jobs. (n.d). Retrieved January 13, 2021, from

https://www.facebook.com/careers/areas-of-work/engineering/