Key insights
- Andrew Bosworth, chief technology officer at Meta, recently addressed the query of what “type of person” has succeeded on the tech giant.
- Bosworth listed several qualities he would want in an worker, from being adaptable to being a great person.
- Bosworth is not the only technology leader taking note of these features.
Working in Silicon Valley will be lucrative. Recent federal filings show that researchers at OpenAI, for instance, earn salaries between $245,000 and $685,000. The software engineers at Meta now take home a base salary of between $120,000 and $480,000 on the tech giant.
It takes a special form of person to unlock these salaries and get hired at a Big Tech company. Andrew Bosworth, Meta’s chief technology officer, responded to a question on social media about what “type of person” is successful at Meta. Bosworth leads quite a few departments on the AI giant, from the Metaverse to AI glasses.
“That’s a good question,” Bosworth replied on Instagram earlier this week.
The CTO listed several qualities he would love to see in an worker. The first element is to “strive relentlessly to do great work.” At his company, persons are expected to be pleased with what they construct and to take the outcomes personally, he explained.
Bosworth also stressed the importance of rolling with the punches, which he calls being “adaptable.” When plans change, these employees don’t react with knee-jerk fear; Instead, their first instinct is curiosity and excitement about what the change might mean for them, he said.
Bosworth oversees departments which have recently experienced budget cuts. Meta began in January Reduction of over 1,000 jobs inside its Reality Labs division, indicating a move away from pure virtual reality towards AI and smart glasses.
Strong employees also speak directly and value the identical directness from others, says Bosworth. He added that employees should accept direct feedback within the spirit wherein it’s given and use it for further development.
Direct communication can result in conflict within the workplace, but Bosworth has an approach to handle that. In one Post published on his personal blog In September 2025, Bosworth introduced a four-step approach to resolving interpersonal conflicts. The steps are to take heed to an individual, ask them to take into consideration why the conflict occurred, turn to the opposite party and ask them to have a look at the situation from a distinct perspective, and eventually bring the 2 sides together and ask them to reconcile.
The final quality Bosworth looks for is just being “a good person.”
Other technology leaders agree
Bosworth is not the only technology leader taking note of these features. Patrick Collison, CEO of payment processing giant Stripe, said in a podcast in 2018 that he looks for “determination and competitiveness” in recent hires, or an awareness that it’s “hard to do anything meaningful.”
He also tries to seek out individuals who have “interpersonal warmth” and “a desire to make others around them better” – in other words, they’re good people.
Meanwhile, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has done this repeatedly Empathy highlighted as a key leadership and attitude trait and argues that without empathy and a learn-it-all mindset, nothing else matters.
Key insights
- Andrew Bosworth, chief technology officer at Meta, recently addressed the query of what “type of person” has succeeded on the tech giant.
- Bosworth listed several qualities he would want in an worker, from being adaptable to being a great person.
- Bosworth is not the only technology leader taking note of these features.
Working in Silicon Valley will be lucrative. Recent federal filings show that researchers at OpenAI, for instance, earn salaries between $245,000 and $685,000. The software engineers at Meta now take home a base salary of between $120,000 and $480,000 on the tech giant.
It takes a special form of person to unlock these salaries and get hired at a Big Tech company. Andrew Bosworth, Meta’s chief technology officer, responded to a question on social media about what “type of person” is successful at Meta. Bosworth leads quite a few departments on the AI giant, from the Metaverse to AI glasses.
