To scale their new notebook platform, "Bento," at a rapidly growing Meta, the team focused on making it the default for all new hires in boot camp. This created network effects by capturing users with no legacy habits, bypassing the difficulty of converting entrenched employees.
To pursue a high-risk internal tool, the engineer explicitly negotiated a 2-3 month "exploration" period with his manager. This aligned expectations, framing the work as a calculated risk rather than a guaranteed deliverable, which protected his performance review if the project failed.
A new PhD hire at Meta was advised by his manager to embrace the "Software Engineer" title over "Data Scientist." The manager explained that SWEs held the real power and influence in the company, and pigeonholing himself into a less central role would limit his impact.
For his Principal Engineer promotion, the work alone wasn't enough. He identified critical leaders (VPs, Directors), proactively sought their mentorship, and held monthly check-ins. By the time the promotion cycle began, all key decision-makers were already aligned and supportive, making it a formality.
Instead of competing for the single "Uber TL" role, Adrian carved out a new leadership position by focusing on "user experiences." He took this complex work off the main TL's plate, allowing that person to focus elsewhere and establishing himself as the go-to expert in a critical sub-domain.
The speaker credits his career success to being a well-rounded "product hybrid" with skills in data, software, product, and design. He argues this versatility, allowing him to move from debugging firmware to debating product strategy, is more valuable than deep specialization, quoting "specialization is for insects."
As a junior IC at Instagram, Adrian was told leadership had "bigger fish to fry" than his A/B testing idea. He built a scrappy, functional prototype anyway, recruiting a PM for air cover. This bottoms-up initiative proved its value and ultimately led to his first senior promotion.
When building his internal developer tools team at Meta, Adrian's hiring strategy was simple: find talented engineers who were already building similar tools on the side out of passion or necessity. He then offered them the chance to turn that side-hustle into their full-time, high-impact job.