23-year-old Indian-origin engineer lands Rs 3.5 crore job at Meta. Here's how
Manoj Tumu, a 23-year-old software engineer, shares his journey from Amazon to Meta, highlighting career lessons in AI, internships, and interview prep.
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At just 23, Manoj Tumu, an Indian-American software engineer, has secured a coveted role at Meta, earning a total annual compensation package of around $400,000 (Rs 3.52 crore).
Before joining Meta's advertising research team earlier this year, Tumu worked at Amazon, where he gained foundational experience in software engineering and machine learning.
In a recent article for Business Insider, Tumu revealed that he left Amazon in June 2024 to pursue the opportunity at Meta.
"In June, I left Amazon to join Meta as a machine learning software engineer for a total compensation of over $400,000. I was really excited about it and knew I wanted to take the job as soon as I got the offer," he wrote.
While grateful for his stint at Amazon, Tumu said he was drawn to the scale and complexity projects at Meta. "Though I had learned a lot at Amazon, I just thought there was more interesting work going on at Meta," he remarked.
Reflecting on industry trends, he noted the rapid advancements in artificial intelligence and machine learning. "It used to be a lot more acceptable to just use classical techniques, which rely on humans to make decisions about data representations. Now the focus is on deep learning, which taps into artificial neural networks to automatically learn features from raw data," he explained.
For aspiring engineers, Tumu emphasized the importance of internships, even those with modest pay, as stepping stones in machine learning careers. "Even low-paying internships can be beneficial... don't worry about the pay," he advised.
He also shared insights on resumes and job applications, pointing out that persistence mattered more than personal contacts. “I left cold emails. My decent resume helped me secure my jobs at Meta and Amazon, as I did not have a reference for either of the companies,” Tumu said, adding that candidates with two to three years of professional experience should focus more on work achievements than university projects.
Tumu further cautioned job seekers about behavioural interview pitfalls.
Recalling his six interview rounds at Amazon, he said preparation was key. He studied Amazon’s leadership principles in depth, creating detailed notes with example stories and follow-ups to structure his answers. His advice: “Read the company’s stated values carefully and adapt answers to suit the examples being assessed.”
