From Junior to Staff Engineer: Lessons from Zach Wilson’s Big Tech Journey

Breaking into big tech and climbing the engineering ladder can seem daunting, but Zach Wilson’s career story offers invaluable lessons for ambitious engineers. Starting as a junior data engineer with a dual major in computer science and applied math, Zach navigated his way through Meta (Facebook), Netflix, and Airbnb, reaching a staff engineer role by age 26. Below, we distill key insights from his journey, focusing on career growth strategies, interview tactics, internal branding, and work-life balance.

Breaking into Big Tech: The Power of Interviews and Career Leverage

Zach’s entry into big tech was not a straight path. Initially working as a data analyst at startups and learning early Big Data technologies like Hadoop, he landed at Facebook largely due to his skills aligning with their needs. Despite competing offers and a higher salary counteroffer from his then-current employer in DC, Zach chose Facebook for its career trajectory and opportunities in Silicon Valley.

Key takeaway: How you interview is the highest leverage point in your career — even more critical than your daily impact on the job. Interviewing well can open doors to better roles and promotions that internal efforts alone might not secure.

Choosing the Right Team and Role

At Facebook, Zach had three team options: Ads, Growth, and Community Support. He chose Growth, drawn by the promise of fun and an entrepreneurial manager who became a trusted mentor. This highlights the importance of team culture and leadership fit in early career decisions.

Rapid Promotions and Recognizing Mis-leveling

Zach was hired as an IC3 (junior engineer) despite having two years of experience and quickly realized he was mis-leveled compared to new college grads. This motivated him to hustle and demonstrate impact beyond his job description, including learning full-stack skills outside his data engineering role.

His first promotion from IC3 to IC4 happened in just five months, a testament to his initiative and problem-solving beyond assigned tasks. However, subsequent promotion attempts were blocked, not due to lack of impact, but concerns about sustainability and leadership behaviors.

Insight: Promotions in big tech require more than hard work and results; leadership teams look for sustainable performance and the ability to operate at higher organizational levels, not just grinding more hours.

The Importance of Manager Relationships and Internal Brand

A recurring theme in Zach’s story is the critical role of managers and internal brand:

• His manager Jender at Facebook trusted him and gave him opportunities that accelerated his growth.
• When Jender moved to Netflix, Zach secured a senior role there through that connection.
• Building strong internal relationships and a reputation for reliability and impact can open doors and help navigate organizational challenges.

Job Hopping as a Strategy to Accelerate Growth

Zach’s promotions to senior and staff engineer levels were aided by job hopping — moving between companies to find roles that valued his contributions and met his career goals.

At Netflix, he transitioned from data engineering to software engineering, gaining exposure to cutting-edge real-time security threat detection. However, organizational changes and misalignment with his career goals led him to leave Netflix.

At Airbnb, Zach was offered a staff engineer role despite having fewer years of experience than the official requirement. His ability to tell a compelling impact story and negotiate effectively made this possible.

Lesson: Strategic job hopping, combined with a strong narrative about your impact, can accelerate career progression beyond what internal promotions might offer.

Crafting and Selling Your Impact Story

Zach emphasizes the importance of having a clear, compelling story about your work and contributions. Examples include:

• Developing key metrics to prevent spamming in notifications at Facebook.
• Building cross-product growth dashboards.
• Optimizing machine learning pipelines to reduce costs by 90%.

When interviewing, focus on making your story sound exciting and impactful to counter concerns about short tenures or frequent moves.

Work Hours, Burnout, and Work-Life Balance

Zach worked 50-60 hours per week during his rapid growth years at Facebook and Netflix, including weekends spent learning new skills and side projects. However, at Airbnb, he achieved high performance while working closer to 40 hours per week.

He warns against falling into the trap of eating meals at work, which companies use to keep employees longer, and stresses the importance of health and balance:

"Your health matters a lot... you can make millions but if you get cancer and die at 50, was it a good life?"

He also reflects that while grinding hard was necessary early in his career to build skills and impact, developing soft skills like leadership, vision selling, and sustainable work habits is crucial for long-term success.

Key Personal Traits for Success

Zach attributes much of his success to:

• Tenacity and willingness to keep learning.
• Positivity and enthusiasm, which help build strong working relationships.
• Not tolerating unfair situations, even if it means taking risks like changing jobs.

Advice for Engineers Starting Over

If Zach could start again as an IC3, he would:

• Focus more on developing soft skills and leadership earlier.
• Take better care of his health and work-life balance.
• Be more open to diverse perspectives rather than being narrowly focused on technical skills alone.

Final Thoughts

Zach Wilson’s career trajectory shows that success in big tech is a blend of technical excellence, strategic career moves, strong internal branding, effective storytelling, and personal resilience. For engineers aiming to grow rapidly:

• Invest heavily in your interview skills.
• Build trusted relationships with managers.
• Tell a compelling story about your impact.
• Know when to stay and when to move on.
• Prioritize sustainable work habits and soft skills alongside technical growth.

By learning from Zach’s journey, you can better navigate the complex ecosystem of big tech careers and accelerate your path from junior engineer to staff and beyond.

If you enjoyed these insights, consider following Zach’s story and engaging with content creators who share real-world career experiences in tech.