Recent college leavers are entering a tough labor market where entry-level positions are dwindling are in high demand, managers are wary of hiring are seeking out Gen Z applicants, and there are AI continues to automate more openings. However, Meta is keenly searching for new employees and is prepared to offer substantial compensation to exceptional young individuals.
TL;DR
- Meta is hiring for entry-level software engineer roles, offering substantial compensation.
- Applicants need a bachelor's degree in a related field and some experience.
- These positions require in-office presence and offer salaries from $176,000 to $290,000.
- Mark Zuckerberg values practical skills and problem-solving abilities over prestigious education.
The $1.8 trillion tech giant is hiring for several entry-level positions, including Full-stack software engineer, and multiple product software engineer opportunities. Fortunately for Gen Z entering the tech industry, these positions don't demand ten years of experience. Applicants must possess a bachelor's degree in a related discipline such as computer science, computer engineering, or applied sciences.
Applicants for the full-stack and one of the software engineer positions are expected to have finished a university-level course, internship, thesis, or 12 months of professional experience in areas such as PHP and Hack, C++, Python, the React framework, coding challenges, or extensive storage infrastructure or frameworks. The other iOS software engineer role requires one year of experience in competencies including object-oriented software development, multithreaded programming, and Linux or Unix environments.
These Meta positions are also advantageous due to their highly desirable compensation packages, offering salaries ranging from $176,000 to $290,000 per year, in addition to other incentives such as bonuses, stock options, and benefits. Nevertheless, individuals in these WFH-loving candidates positions will not have the flexibility to work remotely from home; all full-time positions require an in-office presence at Meta's locations in Washington or California.
What Mark Zuckerberg seeks in high-performing employees
Aspiring individuals for these sought-after positions might benefit from Examining Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg's stated criteria for desirable employees.
This tech innovator, who left Harvard early has revealed that, believes practical abilities are more valuable than a prestigious university education when hiring. However, it's important to remember that these entry-level positions at Meta still necessitate a bachelor's degree. Zuckerberg seeks individuals who have developed proficiency in a specific skill and can utilize it effectively in various departments within the company. Their academic background is secondary to their capacity for execution and creative problem-solving.
“If people have shown that they can go deep and do one thing really well, then they’ve probably gained experience in the art of learning something and taking it to an excellent level, which is generally pretty applicable to other things,” Zuckerberg told Bloomberg last year.
In a challenging entry-level job market, positions offering six-figure salaries are a welcome sight.
Meta's entry-level positions offer a ray of hope in a challenging job market for Gen Z. Previously, students in fields such as computer science, coding, or engineering were led to believe that lucrative six-figure salaries awaited them post-graduation. However, the advent of AI automation has significantly altered this landscape. This year, the Washington Post reported that computer-programmer employment dropped to its has reached its lowest point since the 1980s, with one particular industry experiencing the most severe impact in recent years.
Difficulties aren't confined to software development jobs—tech firms have been shedding junior personnel universally since 2023. The share of Gen Z workers aged 21 to 25 has halved at technology businesses over the last two years, a Pave study from this year indicates. These junior employees made up 15% of the staff at major public tech corporations, such as Meta, in January 2023; by August 2025, they comprised only 6.8%. The circumstances are also unfavorable at large private tech firms. Throughout that same timeframe, the fraction of entry-level Gen Z staff decreased from 9.3% to 6.8%.
A primary reason for Silicon Valley's aging workforce appears to be the pressure on companies to achieve more with fewer resources, leading to job automation. Naturally, jobs with the most straightforward duties are eliminated first, impacting young individuals eager to begin their careers more significantly. Matt Schulman, founder and CEO of Pave, who previously worked at Facebook (now Meta) and Microsoft, has observed this change within his field. Although Meta is investing in headlines for poaching, OpenAI, and Google, with DeepMind employees with $100 million signing-bonuses as part of the AI competition, the company's fundamental strategy involves seeking out emerging talent.
“Most public companies have fleshed out training programs that are squarely centered around new grad programs and university recruiting,” the Pave CEO, with early-career experience at Facebook and Microsoft, explains. “A company like Meta, their whole talent thesis was to go after universities, get the smart 21-year-olds, and then train them up.”