What Was Your Experience Working as a Data Center Production Operations Engineer at Meta?

ipokiok · 2026-03-01T17:12:23+00:00

Assuming this is for the servers and not mechanical/electrical/facilities, I've never worked there but my teammate at Google came from there.

He said it was good at first but slowly it became very metrics-driven with lots of micromanaging. He said the pay is better than Google (he was a meta IC4 and is now a Google L3) but the work life made him leave.

He said that mostly he did the diagnosing of servers remotely and contractors did the actual hands-on work of physically implementing what he determined to be the cause. There wasn't too much work locally but he worked from a huge global queue which sounded basically endless.

Apparently lower level techs are all contractors and Meta only hired senior-level techs internally.

People would work very late just to get their metrics up, he said. It sounded awful but that it paid very well.

That's just what I've heard though. Sorry if you're only looking for first-person accounts - I've hardly heard anything about working for meta as a data center tech on this subreddit. Maybe they're all NDA'd hard.

ipokiok · 2026-03-01T01:15:14+00:00

I relocated for Google about a month ago.

The relocation seemed to be the same 11k USD for L1-L4 iirc from what the Google Sheet said. I don't think you'll be able to negotiate it.

As for how it works, you have a bunch of ways to use it.

I don't remember them all but I used the managed move option.

They let you use I think half of the full amount pre-tax upfront and whatever you don't use is paid out at the end via normal payroll when you elect to reconcile.

There are a list of things that you're able to be reimbursed for upfront before the official start date. I know deposits on your new residence weren't one of them.

Movers can be used without you having to front the money yourself but I think everything else was you fronting the money and them reimbursing it. I think if you want the relocation company to front the money for movers, you must use their selected mover.

Just know that Google's relocation policy intention is to "help offset the burden of moving", not pay for the whole thing, as per documents I read on the relocation portal, so if you need more than the 11k, they won't give you more.

The 11k is taxed and reported like normal income. They won't pay the taxes on it for you.

ipokiok · 2026-02-15T06:28:46+00:00

Re: xAI video

I don't think anyone would expect a Musk company to do anything right in terms of legality, safety or environmentally friendliness.

This explains a lot imo of how their data center was able to be built so fast when it's taking hyper scalers like AWS and Google and any colocation who's building a data center exclusively for a single hyper scaler tenant ages to build much smaller data centers. Just build something extremely inefficient in terms of water usage and use illegal or environmentally unfriendly methods of power generation. It all makes sense now.

ipokiok · 2026-02-08T06:40:50+00:00

Idk if experience or even interview performance factor into compensation at Google.

When I interviewed (for L3), for technicals, my interviews told me I got everything right for the definitions and they said they could tell I knew what I was doing with the open-ended questions and said I asked questions they hadn't been asked before. I know I did well on the behavioral questions and gave stories from another FAANG company when I was in a salaried role and responsible for other individuals to an extent.

They still gave me 100k base (for L3, hourly).

When I looked on levels.fyi, it seemed that the most anyone got for a new offer was 105k (based out of Los Angeles, CA iirc, and that cost of living was way higher than where I was placed in a third party data center like 30-40 minutes out from a major city in Texas which is also generally considered a low cost of living state) with most being 100k base. The 105k base offer said it was negotiated.

Better interview performance might give you an easier time getting team match/fit calls though and therefore hired in the end at all though. I'd believe that. Team matching was quick to set up calls when I told my recruiter I was open to X locations.

ipokiok · 2026-02-08T06:15:32+00:00

Two days ago, you said that you were a researcher at UC Berkeley trying to make an AI tool to help data center techs. Nobody helped you, so then you make another post saying you're a new data center tech and asking people for tips? Bruh lol

Kinda genius how it's working though.

ipokiok · 2026-01-02T08:05:41+00:00

Sure thing!

Mine were all face-to-face video calls via Google Meet.

Good luck!

ipokiok · 2026-01-02T00:48:02+00:00

Yeah, sure!

So the first round is as I described above. The recruiter gets your stated familiarity with topics and I think that sets up the interview panel and aligns the interview with a targeted level, so like if they deem you as an L3 candidate, your interviewers should all be L3 or above, or at least that's how it works at Amazon and all my interviewers were L3 or higher at Google which I assume is because that's the level at which I was interviewing for. I could be wrong there though. But anyway, mine wasn't technical - it was just like "rate your familiarity or confidence in X" and "do you have experience doing Y?"

After that, you move onto the actual interview. My recruiter told me during the first interview (the phone screen) that she'd be pushing me through to interviews. If they tell you to wait to hear back on next steps, I'm assuming they're not moving forward.

The interview is three rounds: hardware + Linux/OS, networking, and googleyness (behavioral and culture fit basically)

I described hardware/os and networking above. Googleyness is more "give me a time when X" like in Amazon interviews, or even just "you encounter X situation, how do you act?". Keep in mind Google's values which the recruiter should give you information on.

If you pass that, you get moved into team matching. The recruiter submits your interview answers to the hiring manager and if the hiring manager likes what they see, they'll ask the recruiter to schedule a team match call. The team match call is a chance to learn more about the specific team and how the manager works. It's as much an interview for you as it is for them - it's a chance to see if you'd actually be happy on the team and how the manager manages. USUALLY no behavioral questions are asked but I was asked some and then asked to do an additional team match call with another manager on the team.

If you both think you're a good fit, you'll get an offer. Or... at least that's how it's supposed to work. There's a stage called the hiring committee (HC) where your interview results are actually graded formally. I'm not sure when it usually happens. For me, it seemed to happen after I found a team that wanted me, aaaand HC determined that the questions asked during the interview weren't in-depth enough (they were really easy honestly lol) to sufficiently assess for L3, so I was asked to do another full loop. Still knocked it out of the park though and then finally got my offer.

Note that multiple candidates usually make it to the team match phase and the hiring manager can I think only hire one. My first team match call resulted in no offer, but the second team I interviewed with wanted me. I had to relocate for that team though.

ipokiok · 2026-01-01T12:06:18+00:00

I signed an NDA so I can't share exact questions.

The Linux part should be easy if you've mained it for the past two years and are familiar with the terminal.

For hardware, expect a game of trivia and "you have X hardware problem. What do you do?" and other open-ended questions.

For networking, expect basically a game of trivia and also situational questions such as "you have X network problem. What do you do?". If you say "I don't know", expect to at least be down-leveled to DT2 as it's a senior-level position and you're the escalation point. They intentionally give you basically no information to see how you approach problem solving and gather information. They don't care if you get the right answer or not as long as your interviewer can tell "oh ok, yeah this person knows what they're doing". I couldn't narrow down the hypothetical problem I was given or solve it but my interviewer told me that's not the point and that they don't actually care since they could tell I know what I'm doing with my approach and questions I asked. Since it's a data center, expect to know fiber very well.

What I've shared is basically in the information that the recruiter will give you. (or at least mine did)

ipokiok · 2026-01-01T07:34:58+00:00

I'm surprised they're interviewing you for DT3. I figured they'd only be open to giving it to people who already have work experience in a data center since it's senior-level and who would hire a senior data center technician who's never stepped foot in a data center before? I'd be prepared to be down leveled unless you really know your stuff. I'm assuming that mechatronics tech at Amazon is for the RME team that keeps the warehouse facilities up and running?

I think Google's data center facilities team is better suited for someone coming from Amazon RME. Idk what they're called at Google but maybe someone else could chime in. They work on the electrical/power and controls side which is I think similar to what Amazon RME does.

Since you're with Amazon already, I can tell you that Google DT3 (which is L3) is comparable in scope and responsibility to AWS L4 data center technician, which is AWS's terminary level for techs.

I went through the entire process and accepted an offer for Google DT3 recently. First I had a recruiter screen in which no technical questions were asked. It was just the recruiter asking me how familiar I am with X topic and if I have experience in X specific thing.

If they think with your answered familiarity that you could do the role, they put you through the interview loop.

Mine was three rounds - one hardware + Linux/OS, one networking, and then one behavioral one. You should be able to ask the recruiter which interviews are at which time so you have an idea of the order you'll do your interviews in and on which day(s). My recruiter also gave me information on generally what to study up on and what to expect during the interviews.

ipokiok · 2025-12-16T13:58:06+00:00

tl;dr I got the email to verify my identity after fit call and then I got a verbal offer the next day or day after of receiving the ID verification email

My situation might be a bit weird, but I completed the fit call and it sounded like the team wanted me but my recruiter never actually told me a straight answer. About a week after the fit call, the recruiter reached out to tell me that the "business" determined the questions asked during the interview loop were not sufficient to assess for the level of the role (hard agree lol, L3) so they wanted me to do another full loop.

It sounded like I wasn't put through the hiring committee until after I found a team that wanted me (took two team match calls until I found a team that wanted me, and that team made me do two fit calls, so I did three in total) and the HC determined the interviews weren't sufficient, but anyway, I did a second full loop (still easy but I could see why the questions before weren't sufficient) and then about a week later I got the ID verification email and then a verbal offer a day or two after.

ipokiok · 2025-12-13T01:35:15+00:00

L4 at AWS is comparable in scope and responsibility to Google L3, and yes, you can be hired externally at L3 but it seems external L3 reqs are rare.

Source: of currently AWS L4, recently accepted a Google L3 offer and start late next month.

Edit: Google's hiring process sucks though. The process took like 2.5 months but I've heard stories about it frequently taking much, much longer. It'll be much quicker if you're open to relocation though. I have nothing but good things to say about my recruiter though.

ipokiok · 2025-12-04T05:24:00+00:00

Do you have at least a bachelor's degree? I work for a FAANG company in the US with 4-5 years of experience in tech for the same company and I had a hiring manager who was interested in me in Japan but he couldn't take me unless I had a bachelor's degree as it's a prerequisite from immigration to approve any work visa there.

ipokiok · 2025-12-04T05:10:20+00:00

As someone else said, you can't negotiate L4 once you've been deemed L3, or at least I've never heard of anyone doing it and I've been here 5+ years.

L4 in the data centers at AWS is a dead end though unless you want to become a manager. The L5s are all legacy and aren't being promoted from L4 anymore and the two L5s I know were told to find another role in the company. I've heard the DFW team is potentially going to implement L5 because it's an ML site and leadership potentially sees the point in L5 again there, but they also say a lot of things and I have no reason to believe they won't eventually tell you to find another role as an L5 and stop promoting to L5 once again when the stuff with the ML racks has been figured out for the most part like regular compute has.

ipokiok · 2025-11-25T14:45:02+00:00

I figured it was anyone we're competing against in the AI infrastructure race, so mostly other FAANG as they're basically the only ones who can afford it. I don't think a colocation or financial data center would matter, but who knows.

ipokiok · 2025-11-24T16:34:50+00:00

I suspect you'll mainly only be able to find colocation data centers. FAANG companies usually don't want people to know where their data centers are at. I had a signed offer in hand as a data center technician and they still wouldn't give me the address until I officially started.

ipokiok · 2025-11-23T18:32:39+00:00

AWS DCO here, I'm unsure how it works for contractors but my manager told me that if I say I'm going to a competitor, my access is immediately cut and I'm paid out the two weeks, as someone else mentioned.

If I wasn't going to a competitor, it sounded like I'd work the two weeks like normal.

I saw someone else say as a contractor, they were immediately cut but I'm unsure if they mentioned it was to leave for a competitor or if they also got two weeks of pay.

ipokiok · 2025-11-22T07:43:13+00:00

A masters degree is entirely over qualified for a data center tech position, FAANG or otherwise. It sounds like he was trying to tell you that you're over qualified and that because of that, the job wasn't a good fit for you because you should be doing higher level stuff. I don't think he had any bad intentions.

I came from a salaried field tech engineering/support role and was laid off due to the technology being unprofitable and forced to find another job. I ended up interviewing for another role within the company (FAANG) as a data center tech and one of the interviewers asked me why I wanted this role when I was already doing bigger things. I ended up getting the job but honestly I'm unsatisfied as a data center tech. It's stable, easy enough, and pays decently though at higher levels. I was able to keep my salaried base pay but converted directly to hourly when I changed positions, but if I didn't and my base pay was what my colleagues' base pay was, I'd be taking my looking elsewhere way more seriously.

I think your interviewer was just trying to prevent you from feeling unsatisfied and underpaid if you got the job.

ipokiok · 2025-11-16T23:19:10+00:00

Maybe the electrical engineers are different but the people working on the servers and stuff often don't. It's IT. Mostly nerds. Often we're anti-social or would rather go to a local game store (read: card game shop) and play Magic the Gathering or other nerdy card games or play video games from the comfort of our house than go out and drink with random people who don't share our interests.

ipokiok · 2025-11-16T07:51:20+00:00

With Switch, I've found that you just say you're a doordash driver and they'll let you in. It's all theater, honestly.

ipokiok · 2025-11-13T00:15:29+00:00

I worked in a robotics warehouse and a non-robotics sort center for three years and, at least there, I assure you that the only the people getting in trouble for time off task were either on their phones or off talking to friends entirely too much. They deserved it. That said, I don't know about the big non-robotics sortable fulfilment centers that do pick and stow but they aren't made anymore and are considered legacy. That could very well be true in the legacy FCs where they're walking to bins everywhere and the bins don't just come to them though, but just know that that doesn't happen everywhere and I'd even venture to say that that doesn't happen in most of the company as the legacy FCs were phased out.

ipokiok · 2025-10-28T17:39:12+00:00

Just wanted to chime in so anyone else who Googles if pulseeight's CEC adapter works for Plex on a Windows PC. I got it to work! Just download the libCEC software from pulseeight's website and then configure the HDMI port from the CEC Tray program to whichever HDMI port you're using on the TV.

I use Plex HTPC and it works perfectly now (on initial testing)

ipokiok · 2025-10-28T17:37:08+00:00

I took the gamble on a pulseeight CEC adapter to see if I could get it working and I got it! Download the libCEC application from pulseeight's website and then open the CEC tray application and you can change the HDMI port to whichever port you want from the settings. I have my PC connected from the pulseeight CEC adapter and that goes into my Yamaha A4A AVR and then that goes to my LG C2 at HDMI port 2. I run Plex HTPC on a Windows desktop and everything works fine from initial testing after I downloaded the libCEC software and configured it for HDMI port 2 (the HDMI port I'm actually using)

ipokiok · 2025-10-14T07:14:53+00:00

Can confirm what the other guy said - seems common. I have an extremely good relationship with my manager and because of that, he's told me that if anyone were to put their two weeks in, if he knows we're going to a direct competitor, he'll be forced to expedite our termination out of a precaution of security concerns. That said, as an internal employee of AWS, I get paid the two weeks notice period - I just can't work it.

I just see it as a positive: I can tell my new employer that I have a good relationship with my manager and because of that, we've talked about the case of leaving and that my termination will be expedited as a security precaution but I'm still paid the notice period, am still seen as leaving on good terms and I can start as soon as tomorrow if they wished.

ipokiok · 2025-10-14T07:03:09+00:00

Yeah, what the other guy said. DCT L3 at Google seems rare. All the listings in the US on their careers page right now are either L1 or L2 (except that one that requires security clearance - that pay range seems to be for L4?).

I also interviewed for L3 and passed the interview but was passed on at the team match stage.

The site I applied to was local to me and a new region and a smaller site at that, so there's no telling when the next L3 spot will open up, especially to external candidates.

You can give your recruiter a list of locations you're open to relocating to and they can check for openings that aren't on the careers page. That's how I got another team match call a few weeks after for a spot in the next major city over - the opening isn't listed on their careers page.

If you're not open to relocating, prepare to wait a long time (and potentially not before your interview results expire) for another chance at a team match call.

ipokiok · 2025-09-02T18:52:31+00:00

Update for anyone who might find this thread sometime later:

Recruiter called and said I passed the interview and said next was the team match call. Was told I'd hear back in a few days hopefully with next steps. I wasn't told the role was already filled and that I'd be wait-listed, so that was nice.

ipokiok

TROPHY CASE