Making Social Impact as an Engineer in Facebook With Dor G

Aug 30 2017

Making impact as an engineer in Facebook with Dor G

By Meta Careers

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Meet Dor, a software engineer in Facebook Israel working on Facebook Lite. We spoke to Dor about his career journey to Facebook, stand out moments and what has surprised him most about working here.

Tell us about yourself and your role at Facebook.

I started my engineering journey about 15 years ago in the IDF as a software engineer in a proprietary training course. After completing officers academy I managed a team of up to 10 people. However, though I enjoyed managing, I was missing the hands-on work of software engineering, so after the service I decided to focus on tech tasks and joined Verint. I then moved to Google where I worked on network-infrastructure related tools. I spent over four years there and moved to Facebook, where I am now. Today, I'm part of a team trying to identify, analyze and fix performance issues in the Facebook Lite stack, specifically looking at networking aspects of this complex client-server communication. At the same time, I'm responsible for the software engineer interviewing processes in Tel Aviv and for engineering aspects of University Recruiting.

What has your career journey at Facebook been like so far?

I joined Facebook about two and a half years ago to lead the Social Good team in Tel Aviv. Our main project was Safety Check, which at that time had completed its first steps in production. Later, we joined forces with a sister team in Menlo Park to work on a new fundraiser product through which users can donate money to charities for fundraising campaigns.

Then my daughter was born and I left for 2 months of paternity leave. During that time we started working on Facebook Lite. Being inspired by the technical complexity along with its social aspects, I decided to join Facebook Lite's journey and took over leading the release processes. After 6 months I took the second half of my paternity leave. When I got back, I decided to work on performance optimization in Facebook Lite, concentrating on the server-client communication aspects of the product.

What has been a stand out moment for you while working at Facebook?

When we activated Safety Check for the earthquake in Nepal back in April 2015, the product reassured hundreds of millions of people (in aggregate) that their parent/sibling/kid/partner/grandparent/friends were safe during a disaster happening thousands of kilometers away from their home. Seeing how people were grateful for something we created and how many hearts we touched through our work was inspiring.

What about working at Facebook has most impressed you?

Pace in light of the size. With 2 billion users one would expect a much slower company, but Facebook is an agile, fast moving company that is always on the move and looking forward. We're only 1% done in our mission to bring the world closer together.

What role does your team have in Facebook's mission to bring the world closer together?

When most of us talk about “the world”, we usually refer to only a third of it — western countries with good infrastructure and strong cellular devices, but the truth is far from that and most of the world has little to no means to connect and use the internet for their needs. If we truly want to connect the world, we need a solution that accommodates everyone's needs. Facebook Lite does exactly this and is much more suited to people in emerging markets, where cellular networks are less efficient and most people use weaker android devices to connect to the internet (if they connect at all).

What is one thing that most people don't know about working at Facebook Israel?

It doesn't feel like you're working in a company with thousands of people, instead it feels like an intimate, cozy startup where everybody knows everybody and everyone cares about everybody else. Oh, and the food is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

Since starting at Facebook, what has surprised you the most about working here?

I think what surprised me the most was the flexibility around work-life balance. I always felt the attitude towards owning my own time was more flexible in Facebook, but ever since my daughter was born, I was surprised even more.

Facebook announced the 4 months parental leave in Israel the day after Emma was born, so I couldn't tell you how excited and surprised I was. These 4 months, 2 with my wife and 2 alone with Emma, were the best presents I ever got - it's not only the time with Emma (which was priceless), but also understanding some of the difficulties my wife went through, thus improving our relationship from a place of empathy.

I take my daughter to daycare every morning, I pick her up around noon twice a week, and one day a week I leave work early to spend more time with her before she goes to sleep; I couldn't wish for a workplace more accommodating and self-aware than Facebook.

Dor enjoying time with his new arrival!

What are your three favorite things about working at Facebook?

Do I get to pick only three? Well, what makes me enjoy coming to work everyday is:

1. Pace - this is a rapid company, where one day you work on one thing and the other you jump to a whole different challenge. You get thrown out of your comfort zone on a constant basis so at the end of each quarter, you feel proud and satisfied from everything you have achieved and how you have grown.

2. Size - the office is relatively small and everyone knows everyone else. It makes small-talk in the micro-kitchen or over lunch much nicer, sports day more fun and parties more intimate. I like that I know everyone by their name and know what they are working on.

3. People - everyone here is great, and there's always someone really good at what they are doing, someone you can learn from and grow yourself.