Success Story: Roy Garcia, Software Engineer at Meta

Welcome to Formation’s Fellow Spotlight, a blog series introducing you to former Formation Fellows who landed their dream jobs. Today, we’ll meet Roy Garcia, now a Software Engineer at Meta. Roy started in mechanical engineering before transitioning to software engineering. He joined Formation to improve his interview skills and set himself up for more significant career growth. Here’s how he found success.

Can you tell us about your background before joining Formation?

Before Formation, I was six months into my first software engineering role. This was after almost 5 years of mechanical and manufacturing engineering roles. All of these roles were 100% on-site, which made collaborating with my peers easy. The transition to a remote software role was intimidating, especially without the ability to quickly ask someone a question in-person like I was used to in my hardware roles. While in my new software engineering transition, I realized I needed to build up my confidence, so I started looking for ways to do that. I wanted to become confident in my ability to progress in software engineering.

Why did you choose the Formation Fellowship?

Formation seemed like the right fit for what I was looking for. I was already confident in my ability to code but I wasn’t sure how to get to the next level as a software engineer. The fellowship was appealing to me because it’s not a coding bootcamp; it’s a comprehensive program to build interview skills, which I needed in order to advance. Prior to Formation, I was really anxious going into technical interviews. I was performing really badly in them and felt like there was no way I could improve.

How was your onboarding experience at Formation?

The onboarding was smooth, thanks in part to a "senior onboarding buddy" who walked me through the program, platform, and expectations. This guidance helped me navigate the resources and structure of the program easily.

What were your goals as a Formation Fellow?

I wanted to improve my interview skills and be less anxious about technical interviews. All of the “technical” interview experience I had was for hardware roles. I had never done a formal software engineering interview for big tech. I had an idea of what the rounds would be like, but I didn’t know how to effectively study for them. In order to be successful, you definitely have to be able to code up algorithms under pressure, but I’d say 50% of it is being able to speak out loud about your code in front of someone so they can understand your thought process. I think I came out of Formation really strong in this area of software engineering interviews.

How was your interaction with mentors?

The mentors are all great. Some mentors stood out by going above and beyond, sometimes staying longer than the scheduled time to make sure I was understanding everything and giving me added confidence. This mentorship was crucial in my preparation, especially for system design interviews.

What did you think of Formation's platform?

The platform is easy to use and navigate, although there were some limitations due to me being a part-time fellow. Despite these, it was effective in facilitating learning and practice.

How did Formation impact your interview and negotiation skills?

I improved significantly with Formation. I went from freezing up and being super anxious about these interviews to being really confident in them. It really made a huge difference. By the end, I was really comfortable coding algorithms in an interview setting and felt confident expressing myself and talking through my approach and thought process. 

What was your actual job interview experience like at Meta?

I was in the Fellowship through the tech hiring freezes and even took a break from interviewing for a bit because there just weren’t many opportunities available. I was planning on waiting until 2024 to try again, and then Meta actually emailed me and asked if I would be interested in interviewing! I had been studying and practicing so much with Formation up until that point that I was super prepared for the interview with Meta. I was confident in every technical and behavioral round.

I had extensive exposure to various algorithms and data structures, adapting them in numerous ways. This prepared me well for my coding rounds, which I believe I excelled in. The system design interview also went smoothly, despite not being a more senior engineer.

How did Formation help prepare you for your interviews and your new role?

I paired with a mentors experienced in Meta's interview processes. Their guidance and time were instrumental in my preparation, underscoring the value of having mentors with specific company experience.

In the current tech climate, you have to go above and beyond what the general public is doing. The hiring bar is pretty high right now. The Formation Fellowship helped me stand out because it allowed to practice the other 50% of the interview which involved communicating my thoughts out loud.

Quick-Fire Round:

Proudest moment?

Passing my first system design mock interview. You don't really know what a system design interview is like until you actually do one. It was initially daunting, but the realization that it was about communication and understanding rather than delivering a perfect solution was huge for me. I was really nervous about this mock interview, especially because I did it with a staff software engineer from Spotify. It went so smoothly, and he passed me. So that was my proudest moment!

Biggest learning and Favorite group session?

My first system design group session. I had never drawn anything on a diagram or spoken on any kind of system and our mentor picked me to go first to start drawing this diagram. I said, “full disclosure, I don't know what I'm talking about.” He said, “That’s cool. Just pick something to start with, and we’ll go from there. The group can help you too.” And this is also another key learning—be brave or be bold. Formation’s mentors allow you to do that. They help you become brave and bold and develop confidence in what you're saying.

Biggest surprise about Formation?

The biggest surprise was realizing that system design interviews are also behavioral interviews in disguise. It's as much about how you communicate and collaborate as it is about your technical knowledge.