Paul Lueng: From 3 Internships to Full-Time at Airbnb

Welcome to Formation’s Fellow Spotlight, a blog series designed to introduce you to former Formation Fellows who have landed their dream jobs. Today we’ll meet Paul Lueng, a Software Engineer at Airbnb. Paul struggled to find a meaningful role after earning his B.A. in Computer Science, but his passion for engineering propelled him to keep pushing. Here’s Paul’s story of how he went from working at 3 internships in a single year to landing a full-time role at Airbnb.

What was your background prior to Formation?

My parents immigrated to San Francisco from China in 1990 and had me in 1997. They knew some English, but not enough, so I translated for them from a young age. I grew up feeling like I was in the middle of both the Chinese and American worlds: I wasn’t quite American enough, and not quite Chinese enough.

During college, I studied abroad in South Korea. The experience was amazing. It was my first time living away from home, and I was immersed in a completely different culture in a country where I didn’t speak the language. I had to learn little bits of the language so that I could get around, and I relied on other students and locals to navigate the country. I was experiencing what my parents must have experienced when they first came to the U.S. Having this experience brought me full circle, and I came home with an appreciation for the time I spent there and for what my parents must have gone through as immigrants.

My very first experience with CS was actually in high school. I thought it was a nice skill to know at the time and found it interesting, but I didn’t decide to pursue it back then. In college, I decided to give CS a try again and realized that I enjoyed how logical everything was. I graduated from SFSU with a BA in Computer Science in 2019, right before COVID hit, and interned for a few startups for a total of 1 year before I joined Formation.

What made you want to up-level your career? What problem were you facing or what opportunity did you want to pursue?

After graduating, I was continuously applying for engineering jobs. I interned at 3 different startups before I realized I had a skill gap. I had learned the technical side of CS in college courses, but I was missing the practical side of it.

How did you find Formation? What other kinds of training did you consider, and why did you end up choosing Formation?

I thought about interview prep programs and even boot camps, but Formation was the one that stood out to me. I really liked the mentorship and interview practice aspects. When you’re interviewing for a real job, you’re one-on-one with the interviewer, so being able to do unlimited mock interviews with a senior engineer 1:1 was a huge selling point for me.

What was your specific goal in becoming a Fellow?

I started out with the goal to find a job within 6-7 months. Towards the middle of my Fellowship, I realized I just wanted to build skills to become a better engineer. In the end, I actually did get a job within 6 months!

How did you work with the mentors?

Working with the Mentors was my favorite part! I loved getting feedback from them. In real-life interviews, I would never get feedback on how I performed. Mock interviews with Mentors provided honest feedback and they really wanted to help you succeed.

I still thank Sophie and Formation to this day for referring me to Airbnb!

What did you think of the Formation platform?

I liked it! You kind of get to see your progress and level up as you go. I could track my performance from 1-2 months prior where I wasn’t passing interviews, and then I could look at my current progress and I was passing algo interviews. It really helps you build confidence in your abilities and skills and really helps know when you’re ready to interview.

How did your interview skills improve with your Formation training?

The biggest improvement was that I became confident in my algo interview skills. Time complexity, space complexity, I just started feeling more confident in my foundations. I learned that, even in an interview, if I didn’t know something, I could ask for help and know that it was ok to admit what I didn’t know.

How did Formation help you prepare for your new role?

We did a lot of small projects which allowed me to get used to pushing code to repo, doing pull requests, etc. I learned the practical side of engineering that I was missing from my Computer Science background at Formation. I still thank Sophie and Formation to this day for referring me to Airbnb!

What team are you on in your new role?

I’m part of the Cities Team—Homes on the Airbnb platform.

What is a project that you’ve shipped in your new role?

I worked on a project called City Portal. Cities have different Airbnb regulations, and the project I worked on provided a way for government officials to see how many listings are in any given geo-location. We made sure that all Airbnb listings were following the existing laws and any new laws passed in their city.

Quick-Fire Questions

First code you shipped?

A college assignment where I wrote in Java for a multi-player tank game

Proudest moment?

Passing the Airbnb interview and getting the offer. I was so happy that whole week I couldn’t believe it!

Biggest mistake?

Not joining Formation earlier!

Favorite “Lunch and Learn”?

Samorn’s Imposter Syndrome Lunch and Learn. It was on the same day as one of my interview rounds and I was actually feeling imposter syndrome right before my interview. The topic could not have come at a better time. I got off the lunch and learn and went right into my interview feeling a renewed sense of confidence.

Favorite group session?

The algo workouts were really helpful for me to see how other people think. We all learned from each other during those sessions.

Biggest surprise about Formation?

The community! The senior engineers, peers, and channels to communicate with everyone all created such a great experience

Anything else you want to share?

Join Formation!

Interested in leveling up your career like Paul? Apply for our Fellowship and become the engineer you were meant to be.