Six Months at Meta: Reflections on Scale
Half a year in - what I've learned about operating at Meta scale and building VPS from inception.
Six months since joining Meta. Time to reflect on what's different at this scale.
What Surprised Me
Process isn't bureaucracy: I expected big-company process to slow things down. Often it's the opposite - well-designed process prevents chaos at scale.
Expertise depth: Whatever problem you have, someone at Meta has solved something similar. Finding them is the challenge.
Infrastructure leverage: Years of infrastructure investment means features that would take months elsewhere take weeks here.
Ambition level: The roadmaps assume we'll solve problems that don't have known solutions. Bold, occasionally unrealistic.
What I'm Learning
Navigation skills: Finding the right people, teams, and decisions requires active networking. Org charts don't tell the whole story.
Influence without authority: Can't just decree decisions. Have to build coalitions, make the case, earn buy-in.
Long planning horizons: Decisions made now affect products launching in 3+ years. Think further ahead.
Cross-functional coordination: Design, research, policy, legal, communications all have legitimate input. Technical correctness isn't sufficient.
VPS Progress
Team: Started at 5, now at 15. Hired well, building strong foundation.
Architecture: VPS system design reviewed and approved. Implementation started.
Prototypes: Basic localization working in demo environments. Nowhere near production.
Partnerships: Aligned with Quest team, smart glasses team, mapping infrastructure team.
Challenges: Data pipeline is the bottleneck. Privacy review is rigorous (rightfully).
Cultural Observations
Move fast: Still feels true despite company size. Bias toward action.
Openness: Internal communication is remarkably transparent. Most docs accessible to everyone.
Feedback: Direct feedback is cultural norm. People tell you what they think.
Mission: People genuinely believe in connecting the world. It's not just marketing.
Missing from Magic Leap
Startup urgency: At Magic Leap, every decision felt existential. Meta has more room for error.
End-to-end ownership: At Magic Leap, I owned hardware to software. Here, I own one component in a larger system.
Scrappiness: Magic Leap made do with less. Meta has resources, but sometimes that means solving problems with headcount rather than cleverness.
What I Bring
Systems thinking: Understanding how components interact, not just individual optimization.
Hardware empathy: Knowing what's possible on device, not just in cloud.
Shipping experience: Having launched real products, not just prototypes.
Synthetic data expertise: This is still novel at Meta scale.
Looking to 2021
Goals:
- VPS MVP running on Quest
- Synthetic data platform operational
- Team scaled to 30+
- First external partnerships for mapping
It's ambitious. But that's why I came here.