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We caught up with Aharon, a product analytics manager supporting data engineers and data scientists at our Israel site. His team works on all projects across the site. Read on to find out about Aharon's background and his journey to Facebook.
Have you always been interested in tech?
I grew up in New Jersey in the United States. My family was part of the Orthodox Jewish community. From my teenage years I was very active in religious studies and organizations and I assumed I'd grow up to be a rabbi. I also was very excited about Israel and thought it would be great to move there. I was also into computers and electronics, I was kind of a tinkerer and wasn't shy to take things apart and see how they worked.
You relocated to Israel from the USA, tell us your story
I came to study religious studies in Israel for two years after high school. I liked Israel and wanted to live here. Then I went to Yeshiva University in New York where I studied religious studies and computer science. I knew computer science was a good option for Israel but didn't think too deeply about really having a career in it. When I got married, we moved to Israel and I studied religious studies for a few more years. Shortly afterwards, I was ordained as a rabbi. During this time, I carried out some computer projects on the side, mainly with PHP and MySQL for web development.
Aharon officiating a wedding for Brandeis University alumni in Chicago, IL
I returned to the US to work for a few years as a rabbi of Orthodox students at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. It was a very intense period, the responsibilities felt heavy at such a young age, but I felt I was making a big difference. My wife and I returned to Israel after 4 years.
Tell us a little bit about your career change and your journey to Facebook
This was when full adulthood really set in! I was 31, had two kids, some work experience and was now in the country where I planned on staying. I hoped to work as a rabbi in Israel and tried briefly but I found it was a bad fit for me, so I quit. I reviewed my PHP, learned about Wordpress and Drupal and got a job as a web programmer in a local SEO company in Gush Etzion. Moving to a new country forced me to be adaptable.
That was a difficult time in my life, I always had a certain idea of who I am and what my life-plan is, and suddenly it came apart. I didn't feel like my programmer job was the long-term option for me but didn't really know what was. I had money to pay the bills but I didn't have much direction, so my personal narrative dissolved. I questioned whether I should have ever left America where I was making a difference in students' lives. I thought maybe medicine was a field where computers could be applied to help people, so I decided to studied public health at Ben Gurion University one day a week. Our third child was born around that time that I started.
I interviewed in all kinds of tech companies, but none felt like a fit. Most of the jobs were in the Tel Aviv area which meant a 1-2 hour commute versus walking to work. Nothing felt like an important enough mission or professional opportunity to justify that. I also experienced discrimination. Sometimes between the lines; people thinking it was weird how much time I had studied religious studies. Sometimes explicit; like a recruiter at one company asking me in an interview whether I think I'll fit in given that most people there ate non-kosher lunch so it would be an uncomfortable environment for me. I wish I could say I fought hard against this. But the reality is when you need to support your family, you aren't in a position of strength, you have to try and conform to what companies demand, even if it's not fair.
I finally got a job offer at Seeking Alpha. I interviewed for a web programmer role there but when they met me and we talked about how I was learning bio stats and epidemiology at Ben Gurion University, they offered me to start their BI department. This was a pretty unusual offer because they were more stable than most startups and they were asking me to lead an area where I didn't have proven experience. I started as the only “BI guy”, where I set up logging and a data warehouse. Then my role shifted towards marketing and product analytics, driving growth with insights from data. We added people incrementally and I became Director of BI, then VP of Marketing. I learned an awful lot there and built up my experience.
After three years at Seeking Alpha I felt it was time for something new, so I started a role leading growth at JoyTunes in Tel Aviv. They make mobile apps for learning to play music. It was much earlier stage growth than Seeking Alpha, we didn't have such a large user base for experimentation, so the focus was on optimizing paid campaigns and thinking which biz dev strategy could drive growth. This was my first job in Tel Aviv and it was then that I found “my synagogue”, “my restaurants”, “my gym” - my community.
I was there a few months when I was invited to apply for Facebook. That was completely unexpected but I decided to give it a try. The recruiting process was transparent and straightforward, I was impressed with the people I spoke with on video calls. After a couple remote interviews I flew to Menlo Park for a day of in-person interviews, my first time in Silicon Valley, and was hired as a product analytics manager in Facebook Israel.
Aharon with some members of the Israel product analytics team
What made you choose to join Facebook over other companies?
The resources and maturity of an established company with the innovative spirit of a startup made me choose Facebook. The company has positive values that I identify with, both for our office community and our user community. The people I met in the interview process - future colleagues and future manager - made a strong impression.
Tell us about the analytics team at Facebook and what it's like to lead them
Our team is responsible for interpreting data from the apps developed in Facebook Israel. We build the correct data logging, integrate into a number of different systems, and interpret the data to understand what further engineering work is needed. This includes defining goals, designing experiments or studying usage patterns to detect problems, thus we are the “eyes and ears” of the development teams, ensuring their work has maximum impact. I love that Facebook is a data-driven company where this guidance is consistently sought and followed.
Working at Facebook has been a really exceptional opportunity for me. It's tied together so many different threads of my past. My role is primarily about supporting and growing the team, so it builds on my experience leading a community. It's also about helping people grow as data scientists and so my technical knowledge is also core. My favorite work in my rabbinic role was 1:1 Torah study, which is collaborative and non-hierarchical. It's two people reading a book together and discussing. This is the spirit I try to apply when working with data scientists and data engineers in our team - they are smart talented people who bring so much expertise to the table. My contribution is to be a good listener and a supportive partner in every conversation. I feel good about my job when I'm helping build the right structure and environment for them to succeed. Another crazy fact - two former students from Brandeis work at Facebook Israel!
Did you have any misconceptions prior to joining Facebook that you now realise were incorrect?
Yes! I knew it was a very successful company so I assumed the people would be arrogant, materialistic and elitist. I have found instead that my colleagues have very wholesome values and are very welcoming.
Welcoming guests from the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community to Facebook's Tel Aviv office
How is Facebook a diverse place?
I love that we are a diverse, global company where I collaborate with a wide range of people from Israel and around the world. Along with my colleague Idit Yaniv, I'm co-site builder for diversity and inclusion, and I'm very proud of how our office is welcoming and inclusive to everyone.
What does the world need more of?
We need more forums for people to come together as community across sectarian lines. When I am in the Orthodox community I feel such a strong sense of belonging, I think many people feel that in their local “comfort zone”. Today we have the technology for me to communicate with someone from a completely different background, on the other side of the planet. But we are less advanced on the social layer; why should I talk to him or her, what should we talk about? Is there an event that we celebrate together? Identity and belonging are still very local and I believe we can progress on that.
Image 1: Welcoming Brandeis alumnus Selig Davis to the Facebook Tel Aviv analytics team, with our recruiting partners in London; Image 2: With Frase Fraser - a Facebook colleague with whom Aharon shares a surname; Image 3: Dinner with fellow analytics managers in Palo Alto
What’s the best piece of advice you can give someone looking to join the Facebook?
Participate collaboratively with our recruiters and interviewers - they want to help you. Listen to their advice and study the material they send you!
Read more in Yediot here.
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