Through the Lens of Engineering Director Jeff H

Sep 13 2017

Through the Lens of Facebook Engineering Director Jeff H

By Meta Careers

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Jeff is a director of engineering on Facebook's Profile team in our Menlo Park headquarters.

He is helping build new products for Facebook's community of 2 billion people, while making sure that his team is healthy and growing. On the engineering side, Jeff and his team are responsible for building high quality experiences at scale, while collaborating closely with cross functional partners such as product managers, designers, analysts, and researchers.

The Profile team is focused on bringing people closer together by helping them understand each other better. One aspect of this is building and innovating products that help the Facebook community discover new people to expand their network or find others with similar interests - essentially helping with the company's mission of bringing the world closer together.

In terms of managing people, one piece of advice that stuck with Jeff over the years is that managing people isn't all about driving decisions from the top down, but rather including a mix of direction from the top while including perspective from bottoms up. Jeff sees it as a reversed org chart that looks more like a tree with leadership supporting the company and managers supporting their teams.

Jeff's day-to-day activities vary quite a bit. But it's very apparent that he embraces Facebook's mission and values through his work and his interactions with his team. Here's a look at a typical day in his life through his own words and lens.

Morning

8:00 am: My day starts with taking my dog Swarles Barkley out for a walk. One of the things we think is important at Facebook is to be humble and I can honestly say that walking and picking up after Swarles definitely helps keep things in perspective!

9:00 am: I drive to work, about 15 minutes from my home, and grab coffee and a quick breakfast.

10:00 am: I spend this time checking emails, reviewing performance dashboards, and either catching up on Facebook groups for work, or testing out and giving feedback on our new products. The great thing about Facebook is that the company brings employees closer together through our internal work groups where we can share ideas and opinions on just about any topic.

11:00 am: One area our team is working on is making sure that we address the issues people have when using Profile. I love my syncs with my team to catch up on how our products are performing. Chelsea (our product specialist), Crystal (an engineering manager), and I focus on how we're doing in terms of user-reported issues, tasks, and general product quality. We like to take advantage of our roof garden for walk and talk meetings.

Afternoon

12:00 pm: I usually grab a salad for lunch and eat with the team. We have a “lunch train” messenger thread to coordinate when people are heading to lunch. One of the things I love about our team is how close we are and how it feels more like a family than a group of coworkers.

1:00 pm: Every once in a while, we have reviews with Will C, our VP, to get feedback on new products. Here's one where we're showing some ideas on how to make Profile the best place to express who you are and further improve upon the product:

2:00 pm: I have weekly one-on-one meetings with my team to talk about how things are going, how I can help them, and career goals. Having open and honest conversations is all part of Facebook's value “Be Open” and allows us to address potentially tough topics and work better together.

3:00 pm: Coffee break! We're lucky to have incredible amenities within close reach. There's never a shortage of caffeine when you need it.

4:00 pm: A quick trip over to another part of the campus for a meeting. I prefer biking between buildings to get some extra exercise in. The company makes it easy to get from building to building in various ways.

5:00 pm: Every Thursday, our team gets together for a happy hour with food and drinks. We try to pick a theme every week to keep it interesting. Recent examples include “childhood breakfast cereals”, “ketchup only foods”, and “treats from Australia”. We have a tradition where new people joining the team have to tell a joke at their first happy hour. It helps to break the ice and bring the team closer, and ultimately sets the course for better collaboration.

Evening

6:00 pm: I head home and spend time on my new hobby: gardening! I just set up a new garden with tomatoes, basil, and watermelon. I'm a total n00b and my tomatoes are taking over.

7:00 pm: Dinner with my wife at home. Even though we have great food at work, I enjoy this time with her at home.

One of my favorite places on campus is the Facebook Analog Research Lab, where artists and designers create posters showcasing different values and mottos that Facebook employees can take home.

You can see these pieces on the walls of our buildings as a way of spreading the messages. These pieces of art reflect the values that our company embraces. I've put up some of my favorites in my house: