Episode 28
How To Be An Ace Big-Tech Software Developer - w/ Hemant
One of the twenty most-watched Ready Set Do episodes on YouTube right now.
Everyone wants the clean answer for how to get into Meta, but the real path is usually a lot less tidy than the LinkedIn version. This one gets into the stuff that actually moves the needle: the technical bar, the moves that help you switch to better opportunities, and the kind of prep that does not collapse the second an interviewer asks a real question.
Who this is for
- You are trying to get hired without sounding like everybody else in the pile.
- You would rather hear Hemant's version while the mess is still fresh than get another polished hindsight sermon.
Key takeaways
- Be An Ace Big-Tech Software Developer - w/ Hemant
- Everyone wants the clean answer for how to get into Meta, but the real path is usually a lot less tidy than the LinkedIn version.
- This one gets into the stuff that actually moves the needle: the technical bar, the moves that help you switch to better opportunities, and the kind of prep that does not collapse the second an interviewer asks a real question.
Need the cleaner version?
I pulled the sharpest parts of this lane into a guide so you do not have to reconstruct the answer from memory later.
Read the complete transcript
The edited transcript keeps the speakers' ideas, timestamps, and specific details while removing repetition and filler.
Transcript-backed moments
A few lines worth stealing before you hand over the full hour.
Hemant describes a hybrid week at Meta split among meetings, coding, design work, reviews, and mentoring. A senior engineer may spend roughly a third of the time aligning people and another substantial block implementing or reviewing code. The job is not simply uninterrupted programming; coordination becomes part of delivering reliable software across a large organization.
The biggest change from junior to senior engineering is ownership. A junior engineer can be evaluated mainly on a well-scoped implementation. A senior engineer must help define the scope, delegate pieces, unblock others, and remain accountable for the final outcome. Writing less code on a project can still represent greater technical responsibility.
He describes an 'uber tech lead' archetype: an engineer who can lead a project across architecture, execution, product tradeoffs, and team boundaries. Other engineers may grow as deep coding specialists. Hemant does not claim everyone must become a manager-shaped generalist; strong organizations need both technical leadership and exceptional implementation depth.
A technical lead often overlaps with product managers, data scientists, designers, and program managers because system choices affect each function. The engineer still needs to protect technical quality, but must translate constraints into language other teams can act on. Communication is therefore part of engineering performance, not a soft extra added after the code works.
Hemant studied at Indraprastha University in Delhi, completed a computer-science master's at Stony Brook, and entered US technology work through an Amazon internship. His path into big tech accumulated through education, internships, and repeated switches rather than one decisive credential that guaranteed the rest of the career.
Show notes
Everyone wants the clean answer for how to get into Meta, but the real path is usually a lot less tidy than the LinkedIn version. This one gets into the stuff that actually moves the needle: the technical bar, the moves that help you switch to better opportunities, and the kind of prep that does not collapse the second an interviewer asks a real question. If you are already in tech and trying to make the next jump, this is a good use of your time.
More in Get Hired
Same mess. Different guest. Pick the next conversation that feels closest to your real life.