A chat with Brian, Product Ops Manager at Meta

Meta l United States l Products Ops Manager (current)

A 60-min interview with Brian Cheng, a Products Ops Manager at Meta.

Keep in mind that this interview only provides high-level guidance on how to better prepare for the interviews and illustrates the sort of relevant insights you can find by networking with people. It doesn´t intend to describe the interview process in detail. Enjoy the talk!

#1: What do you do as a Product Ops Manager?

This role is focused on assisting the operations team to launch new products and features. For example, we test features and collect bug data, so we can work with vendors to categorize them and channel them to the right tech teams for fixes. In this role, we focus on optimizing rather than releasing new products.

#2: Why Meta?

I wanted to work on something that was customer-facing. I also wanted a large company that is always in the news for leading and changing the technology discussion worldwide. Precisely because it´s such a relevant player in the industry, we can be impactful and change how people interact with technology to make it a more integral part of their lives.

#3: What defines the culture at Meta?

It´s a company where people skills matter a lot. The impact you have is not about what you know; it is about the relationships you can build and nurture within the company.

The culture is about collaboration and teamwork. In my interviews, it was important for them to know that I had experience working with people to get things done. Your personal brand is key to growing professionally.

#4: How was your recruitment process?

A screening call was followed by the submission of my resume. Then, I had a call with the manager, where he asked behavioral questions and gave me space to also ask about the role and the company.

Then, I had the super day (three interviews in one day):

• The first was technical: it included a real-time SQL exercise and a few technical questions about my past experience (this depends on the role your are interviewing for)

• The other two were business cases, more qualitative than the ones you expect to enter consulting companies such as McKinsey. For example: "In which city would you launch the product and why?"

Meta is one of the big techs with the most qualitative recruitment process.

In my case, it was very useful to prepare cases for consulting, so I was ready for more quantitative/ tougher questions. At the end, the underlying skills are very similar - your capacity to structure, to solve problems, etc.

Finally, I had a call with the hiring manager to align expectations on the role and ensure I was a solid cultural fit.

#5: Did networking help you get the job?

It did.

It was very useful that I spoke with someone from the team, including the actual hiring manager, to understand their work and what they were looking for. I also asked him to link me to someone from the team, so I could dig into expectations for the role, most relevant skills, etc.

From my old school, someone was working at Google as Product Ops Manager. I reached out to him on LinkedIn, so he agreed to help me prepare. He actually became my mentor, so when I was unemployed, he guided me and helped me prepare the process. When I applied to Meta, he also gave me relevant information: which type of SQL questions I would get, how to better answer, etc. He advised me to always prepare for the worst-case scenario (tougher questions). He has been extremely helpful.

#6: What advice would you give to someone in the process today?

For any job you want, or you are considering applying, it's helpful to do self-reflection.

Where are you going?

Why? (You need end goal to work backwards)

What are the major skill sets, and who are the right people to help you understand this?

What can I do now to get prepared?

Sometimes there is a gap between Me today and where I want to get to; draw an action plan to close that gap.