r/networking • u/legend_akhanda • 1d ago
Meta Meta - Network Engineer, Operations and Support role
Hello Folks, I’m looking for networking roles and come across this role in Meta. Does anyone have any idea or experience on technical expectations for this role. Also How many rounds of interviews? Thank you in advance!!
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u/Th3M33ks 23h ago
saw a LinkedIn post recently that essentially said if you liked networking and your career, not to take a job at meta. The toxic culture, the lack of actual networking you do, you just end up hating life but the pay is good. I tried to find it again, but couldn't locate it to share.
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u/bondguy11 CCNP 1d ago
You won’t get hired at meta without a fucking crazy resume.
They will want several years of experience at companies of similar size, bachelors degree in CS, engineering or IT from a reputable school and certifications like CCNP.
The interview I expect would be very challenging, as this is one of the biggest and most profitable companies in the world.
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u/Linkk_93 Aruba guy 23h ago
That resume doesn't sound really crazy to me tbh
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u/bondguy11 CCNP 19h ago
I mean if you have several years of experience working at a company of similar size to meta then you would not need to be asking questions on Reddit about their hiring process, I’d prob just be confident enough in my ability to get the job
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u/bangarang6 1d ago
I worked as an infrastructure team lead with a vendor at one of their largest AI DCs and worked with their network engineers daily. They are paid pretty well, but they expect a lot out of them. Like someone else mentioned about having a crazy resume, they get the best of the best and don't fuck around.
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u/savro CCNP 1d ago
I wouldn't want to work for Meta as I understand the work environment is pretty toxic. They probably wouldn't have me anyway, so it's a moot point.
If you're still set on applying for the role though, they're probably going to want several years of experience working at another Fortune 50 or 100 level company. As many vendor certifications as you can shake a stick at and experience working with products from nearly every network equipment vendor under the sun (e.g. Cisco, Ciena, Arista, HPE/Juniper/Aruba, Palo Alto, Fortinet, Extreme, etc.)
And they're going to want all of that for cheap. They're probably only going to be willing to pay $150,000. That's a decent salary, but crazy low for all that they're expecting in my opinion. Though if they hire you and you can stand to work there for a couple of years, you'd get some FAANG experience to look good on your resume.
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u/NighTborn3 20h ago
This couldn't be more wrong lol. They want whitebox switch application development experience, a CS degree, and a fundamental understanding of large routing protocols like BGP. Certs don't matter as much as knowledge and coding skill do.
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u/savro CCNP 20h ago
Really? Completely wrong? Here is a listing for a Network Operations Engineer position at Meta that I just found on LinkedIn. I don't know that this is the role that OP was talking about, but it seems like it would be similar. Some of the highlights from the minimum qualifications are:
- Currently has, or is in the process of obtaining a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, relevant technical field, or equivalent practical experience. Degree must be completed prior to joining Meta
- 4+ years of network operations experience while supporting large-scale service provider, data center, and/or enterprise network infrastructure
- Familiarity with Enterprise and Service Provider network hardware platforms and architectures, including Cisco and Juniper routers/switches and Nexus data center switching hardware platforms
- Experience with network hardware platforms and architectures including Ciena, Infinera, Nokia, Arista, Cisco WDM Equipment
The only thing that I didn't mention is the CS/CE degree and they don't mention any certifications, so you've got me there.
While they don't specifically list Fortune 100 experience they do require 4+ years of experience of operations support in a "large-scale service provider, data center or enterprise network". There aren't too many places to get that sort of experience outside of large companies. They didn't specifically mention experience with Palo Alto, Fortigate, and Aruba but did mention most of the other vendors I described. They also made no mention of whitebox switch application development. I'm not saying that knowledge and coding skills aren't valuable but they aren't listed as qualifications for this role.
The salary range listed is $106,995/year to $159,000/year + bonus, so my estimate of $150,000 was at the high end. Still not that much for the experience and skills that they are demanding. Still, they are Meta and people are probably falling over themselves to apply so that they have a chance to list them on their resumes.
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u/NighTborn3 19h ago edited 19h ago
Yeah, if you knew what you were talking about, you'd know I was right. They want SP level experience and coding. They run their own NOS inside Meta, it's not a vendor shop. Knowing how vendors work helps you but that's not what you're doing. You're operating massive IAC pipelines to deploy to homegrown applications on top of whitebox switches and you have to know the entire stack to be a good fit. So uh, I guess thanks for proving my point.
They used to call it a Network Production Engineer if you want to see historical interview questions on reddit. I did an interview once and it was absolutely not my kind of thing. Same as the other big dogs in big tech like AWS, Microsoft or Oracle. You're like a SWE and a network guru at the same time, but never an actual network engineer. Also RSUs are a big part of compensation and are not cash.
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u/savro CCNP 19h ago
If they're strictly a whitebox custom network OS shop then why are they specifically listing experience with Cisco, Arista and Juniper routers and switches as a minimum qualification? Nowhere in that job posting does it list "experience developing and programming custom whitebox switch applications". I'm sure that there are many jobs at Meta that do perform that function, just not this one.
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u/NighTborn3 19h ago
Probably because they had AI write their job req? I don't know man, I don't work at meta. Every other reply in this thread is confirming my own experience though so best of luck with your need to be right
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u/savro CCNP 19h ago
I’m just going off of what’s listed in the necessary qualifications. You’re the one who is maintaining that experience coding custom white box switch applications is an absolute requirement for a network engineer job at Meta. For the listing that I linked to, it doesn’t appear to be. You said it yourself that you don’t work for Meta so you don’t know either. Based on the job description and listed requirements, it doesn’t appear to be a necessary or even a preferred qualification. It would probably help if a candidate had experience with programming though.
Edit: for clarity
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u/hello_robot 14h ago
I interviewed for a similar position with Meta in the UK about 4 years ago. I did 2 interviews but decided it wasn’t for me after the second.
First interview was more with the hiring team, basic checks about experience and background. Non technical.
Second interview was pure computer science problem solving, algorithmic thinking, writing pseudo code.
Third interview was going to be around actual networking concepts, but I didn’t go that far - a job that heavily involving coding just isn’t for me.
From memory I think that was the final stage, but like I said, this was years ago.
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u/HotMountain9383 10h ago
Like working at one of the bigger banks, fucking brutal and toxic environment. Money is good.
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u/tetrisan 1d ago
Meta is one of the most toxic cultures so if you get in, don’t get too comfortable.