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Apr 25 2018
NYC-based engineer Mona shares her focus on creating the best Instagram experience for Android users
We recently sat down for a cup of coffee and a chat with Android software engineer Mona to learn about her work on Instagram’s performance team and how they make the Android app sustainable, fast, and easy to use for users across the globe. Mona also shared how she landed her current job, what it’s like working in the New York office, and more. And of course, she dishes on her favorite coffee right now (any other oat milk enthusiasts out there?).
We know you work on the performance team at Instagram. Can you tell us a little bit more about the work you’re doing and the types of issues your team helps solve?
My team works to make sure Instagram users around the world have the best possible experience, regardless of where they live or the type of Android phone they’re using. We look at things like how quickly the network is performing in certain countries, video load time, scrolling performance, the ability for people to download the app on older mobile devices, and much more. My job is to identify issues that might be preventing a seamless experience and come up with the best possible solution.
When I first joined Instagram, I worked on building new features like Live, Stories and Boomerang. It was really cool to be able to tell my friends and family that I helped create the features they recognized and loved. My role on the performance team is a little different in that I don’t work on user-facing features; but my work is just as important. The app’s backend performance heavily impacts users’ overall experience with Instagram — without the work that we do some users wouldn’t be able to log in and use the app because of things like the type of Android phone they’re using.
Before joining Instagram, you interned at Facebook. What made you return to pursue a full-time job at the company after graduating college? What did you enjoy about your internship?
During my time as an intern at Facebook, it struck me as a place with the capacity for incredible opportunity, and I wanted to return to learn more! The projects that I worked on as an intern were challenging and much different than anything I had worked on in school. I would write my own code while in college, but having access to and being able to read all this code that employees at Facebook had written was a huge learning experience for me. I knew that returning to Facebook would continue to challenge me to grow as a software engineer. Plus, I was really looking forward to participating in things like Facebook’s Bootcamp for new hires, which I’d heard of as an intern.
Ah yes, the famous Bootcamp! Can you tell us more about the program and what your experience was like?
Bootcamp is the 8-10 week orientation and team-selection program that all new hires at Facebook go through. During Bootcamp, everyone sits together and it’s a great time to make friends with your fellow new hires (shout out to my Bootcamp BFFs)!
The first few weeks consist of courses/workshops on general things at Facebook that all engineers should know about – how source control at Facebook works, how the release cycle works, as well as some basic PHP. After that, you split up into different tracks based on focus area – so this could be Android, iOS, or backend – and learn more about platform-specific engineering topics.
It might sound surprising seeing as I’m on the Android team, but when I joined Facebook, I had no Android experience. I learned everything I know about the OS through Bootcamp and on the job. Another great aspect of Bootcamp is that you essentially shadow the team you want to join — including meeting with folks on the team, working on tasks with them, etc. — so that you get a realistic idea of what it’s like being part of the team before actually joining.
After going through Bootcamp, I felt really confident and excited about joining the Android team at Instagram, and it ended up being the perfect fit for me!
How do you think your team's work relates to Facebook's mission of bringing the world closer together, and Instagram’s mission to capture the world’s moments?
Because the majority of people living in the U.S. use high-end devices, it’s easy to forget that a lot of people in other parts of the world largely use older phone models, and these devices tend to have less storage. Because we’re focused on making sure the app works across all Android devices, the performance team plays a crucial role in making sure people all over are able to access and use Instagram. We want everyone to be able to use our app to share their photos and videos.
What keeps you working at Instagram?
The people! Not only are my co-workers really smart people I get to learn from every day, but they’re my friends, too. We often hang out outside of work, whether it’s going out to lunch in the East Village or trying a new workout class together. Knowing you’re working on tough problems with people who you truly get along with and care about makes work all that much more fun and interesting.
What is it like to be on the Instagram New York City team?
Working at the Instagram office in New York City is awesome, to say the least. We’re in a central location in Manhattan, and the space has an amazing vibe. The team out here is still pretty small, so you can really get to know everyone who works here.
Instagram and Facebook are also really plugged into the tech scene in the New York area, so we host a lot of meet ups and events at our office, and participate in the local tech conferences. For me, it’s been really cool to get to know other engineers working in New York and connect on common things we’re all working on, like performance on Android or diversity in tech. I moved here after working in Silicon Valley for a few years, and it’s been so great to see that this city has an equally vibrant and diverse tech community!
What impactful work is coming out of the Instagram New York office?
There are a lot of cool projects going on here. We have the entire Home (feed), Discovery (Search and Explore), and Shopping product teams based here, and they work on some of the most core features in the app. I’m personally really excited for the new features from the Shopping team because I love Instagram and online shopping, and think the two are a natural match!
Also, recently the performance team open sourced a library for lazy loading — check it out here!
Facebook's mission is to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together, what role does your team have in this?
We have a lot of initiatives and teams working to bring the world closer together, but to really make an impact to the world you need to operate at a large scale. Helping more than 2 billion people connect on the Facebook app every month calls for extremely complicated systems built to operate at global scale, Facebook's Software Infrastructure org is what allows all of this to happen. Our AI work is aiming to evolve the Infra org one step further through the use of Machine Learning.
What engineering management positions are Facebook hiring into?
Facebook is a growing company, we are in need of strong talent in practically every aspect of the organization, engineering management is no different. If you are a strong believer in bottom-up culture, innovation and helping people around the world build community, we want to hear from you.
What piece of advice or interview tip would you give an engineering manager or leader who is interviewing at Facebook?
Take time and prepare for the interviews, don't assume you can just share your past success stories and it will work like it did in your past companies. Facebook interviews are different, each interviewer is looking for specific aspects and will explore these in depth. Above all else, brush up on your SW skills, as we expect Engineering Managers to be very skilled in software, we would explore your coding skills, system design, and your control of data structures and algorithms.
Thanks so much for getting sitting down with us and telling us more about your work! My last question - what’s your favorite coffee drink?
Oh this is an easy one. I’m currently really into oat milk lattes. I think oat milk foams are better than other milk alternatives, like soy or almond (just my humble opinion!).
Listen to our Podcast with Mona
Episode 8 of Inside Facebook Mobile features Mona, who joins Mihaela and Pascal talk about her journey from working on web in California to scroll performance at Instagram in New York and how performance overall is approached from measuring, tackling regressions and establishing a company-wide performance culture.
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