Frontline Manager at Meta to Senior Director at Snapchat in 3 Years (Career Story)
Frontline Manager at Meta to Senior Director at Snapchat in 3 Years (Career Story)  
Podcast: The Peterman Pod
Published On: Mon Dec 22 2025
Description: Rong Yan went from a frontline manager at Meta to a Senior Director at Snapchat in 3 years. I interviewed him to ask what led to that rocketship career trajectory in management. We went over how he job hopped into his first Director role and much more.𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/frontline-manager-at-meta-to-senior• YouTube: https://youtu.be/BHlko_Mg-Jk• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:00:00 - Intro00:46 - Joining Facebook03:06 - Moving up into a Director role05:09 - Director skill gaps15:31 - Domain knowledge & management18:45 - LA vs SF cultures20:48 - Senior Director growth at Snapchat22:43 - Evan Spiegel stories24:59 - Recruitment at higher levels32:05 - Career planning in hindsight34:08 - Biggest career regret35:33 - How much of growth is luck?38:19 - Advice for younger self41:53 - Outro𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝗼𝗻𝗴:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rong-yan-2004692/• Personal Website: https://cs.cmu.edu/~yanrong𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman