Value of TPMs in FAANG

May 1, 2020 14 Comments

I keep hearing from FB employees that TPMs are not first class citizens. Is it really true in most cases across your FB orgs?
TPM roles have been synergized and very much a critical role to run programs these days. Moreover you hire TPMs after rigorous interview process which means you have best of best TPMs. Is it a envious statement or is it true in all FAANG or just FB? It will help us join FB as none wants to join a company knowing it.

#please be specific, constructive and tell what exactly is failing and where/how so that your fellow TPM colleagues can improve or if they are doing great job, please do show your appreciation.

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TOP 14 Comments
  • I love my TPM and he's super important and nice. I think FB is a great place to be a TPM, at least my team
    May 1, 2020 2
    • Google
      bleh-_-

      Go to company page Google

      bleh-_-
      Which team? What do they do that makes them so great?
      May 4, 2020
    • Privacy review, team updates, cross team communication, roadmapping, chat with leadership, and he's a great career mentor too, I ask him for random advice all the time. My TPM is super senior and experienced and knows how to navigate politics.
      May 6, 2020
  • Facebook / Eng
    fired

    Go to company page Facebook Eng

    fired
    All TPMs I worked with were useless.
    May 2, 2020 4
    • Expedia Group / Eng
      E-Kurudan

      Go to company page Expedia Group Eng

      PRE
      Facebook, Google, Apple, Netflix, Amazon
      E-Kurudan
      This is good constructive detail. What sort of impact do you think or expect TPMs should do apart from the fact that directors/managers are happy with TPMs because of the workload off take. If you could give some specific subset of information, it could help your own directors watching this thread and those TPMs aka fellow colleagues to improve your workspace.
      May 2, 2020
    • Facebook / Eng
      fired

      Go to company page Facebook Eng

      fired
      The problem is that at least in the teams that I worked with, I don’t know what impact TPMs could have (and I haven’t seen successful examples), which is why I don’t see them being useful. XFN projects often require great technical depth, so TPMs couldn’t really function without having very senior SWEs helping them. And with with those SWEs present it was no longer clear what role TPMs should play.
      Also I obviously do discuss this with directors that I’m working with. And I don’t think that any of them would be watching a thread on blind :)
      May 2, 2020
  • Oracle
    fSIW60

    Go to company page Oracle

    fSIW60
    Seeing the discussion here specially in FANG how does the roles and responsibility differ for a product manager , TPM and a engineering manager ( smaller companies or non fang may have engineering manager put on other hats to make sure project runs successfully , and also look and discuss product direction and roadmap with the product teams , but mainly focus on engineering team challenges , framework and pipeline building and working with other teams to get the product evaluated - if makin a difference post launch )
    May 2, 2020 1
  • Amazon
    VkoX07

    Go to company page Amazon

    VkoX07
    TPMs are the captains of FAT programs. Their job is often misunderstood. Anything large complex and ambiguous cannot ship, and cannot ship on time without a TPM. If you have never worked with a good TPM, you also probably have never launched anything really big.

    That being said, some suck and should be not TPMs. Finally a lot of TPMs are poorly hired, poorly managed, and poorly utilized.
    May 3, 2020 1
    • Expedia Group / Eng
      hzjo3f7

      Go to company page Expedia Group Eng

      PRE
      Facebook, Google, Apple, Netflix, Amazon
      hzjo3f7
      So there is clearly fault in your hiring process where I see less experienced ppl who prep well and talk well get the jobs but not based on potential or interest or execution ability. If you have hired bad TPMs that doesn't stop there and you would have hired bad devs, bad EMs, bad directors, VPs too. So better voice out on interview systems and how to streamline it
      May 3, 2020
  • Lyft
    larywheels

    Go to company page Lyft

    larywheels
    A good TPM is better than PM and becomes really critical . Any bad type of PM will create distractions for eng
    May 2, 2020 0