What a Program Manager at Meta Wishes They Had Known Before Entering the Technology Industry
Josh, a Program Manager at Meta, found the significant ambiguity inherent in the role unexpectedly challenging, contrasting sharply with the clear structure of their military background. This "choose your own adventure" aspect requires navigating "what's important work" versus "throwaway work," demanding a level of independent decision-making and ownership that was more extensive than initially anticipated.
Ambiguity in Tech, Program Management, Personal Ownership, Strategic Goal Setting, Effective Time Management
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Josh Dalva
Program Manager
Meta
Boston University, 2015
UCLA Anderson, MBA
International Relations & Affairs
Technology
Operations and Project Management
Greek Life Member, Veteran
Video Highlights
1. Navigating ambiguity and undefined paths is a significant aspect of program management in tech. Unlike structured environments, tech roles demand more independent decision-making and prioritization of tasks.
2. Program Managers must possess strong personal ownership and strategic thinking to define goals, translate them into daily actions, and identify less impactful work.
3. The ability to make independent decisions and prioritize tasks effectively is crucial for success in tech program management roles. It is a challenging but rewarding aspect of the job, similar to a 'choose your own adventure' scenario
Transcript
What have you learned about this role that you wish someone would have told you before you entered the industry?
The biggest thing that caught me off guard and that I wasn't expecting as much was navigating ambiguity. A lot of times, maybe this is coming from my background in the military, you generally have a pretty clear path of what you're trying to accomplish and how you need to accomplish it. You know how you're going to report that to superiors and how you're going to motivate your team to get that accomplished.
But in tech, specifically program management, there's a lot more open-endedness. No one holds your hand; no one tells you how to do things or what to do. You just have to take personal ownership and realize what your goals are.
How do those impact and affect the organization and the strategic goals? Based on that, how do I translate that to my day-to-day? What's important work that needs to be done? And then, equally important, what's throwaway work, or work that's actually just not an effective use of my time or other people's time?
Those are challenges that I knew would be apparent in technology, but it's definitely more than I thought. It's a cool challenge and opportunity because, as I said before, it's really a "choose your own adventure." But it can be difficult because it's a lot easier if someone just tells you what to do and you go do it. Navigating the ambiguity has definitely been a challenge that I was maybe underestimating initially.