Anthropic Eng Leader And Ex-Senior Director at Meta On Microsoft vs Facebook, Career Learnings

Fiona Fung, a senior director currently at Anthropic, shares insights from her extensive career at Microsoft and Meta, focusing on leadership, product development, and organizational culture. Effective engineering management requires balancing team health with aggressive project goals, particularly during high-pressure "war room" scenarios. Dogfooding serves as a critical tool for building empathy, identifying bugs, and fostering rapport between leadership and engineering teams. Beyond technical execution, cultivating a culture of kindness and transparency significantly improves team morale and retention, especially during challenging periods like the COVID-19 pandemic. When receiving feedback, adopting a "read-only" mode allows for better listening and reflection before responding. Ultimately, professional success stems from aligning personal passion with mission-driven work, ensuring that career growth remains both sustainable and meaningful.