Inside engineering life at Pinterest Mexico

Meet Mike Morales, Recruiting Manager for Pinterest LATAM, as he shares what makes life at Pinterest different. You’ll learn about creating impact, passion projects, engineering deep dives, connecting with your team and our flexible work model. The proof is in the experience, so take it from Viridiana Amezcua, Pinterest Engineering Manager, who will share an inside glimpse into Engineering Life at Pinterest Mexico. 

Hi everyone! I’m Mike Morales, and I’m a Recruiting Manager for Pinterest LATAM. I started at Pinterest in June 2022, and it’s been a joy getting to know the Mexico team and broader Pinterest employees. Working at Pinterest has been such a unique experience, and I’m excited to share more about Pinterest’s culture. 

Our mission is to bring everyone the inspiration to create a life they love, and that really resonated with me throughout the interview process. I chose Pinterest after taking time to research the company and learn more about the Pinployees, mission and purpose. I knew I wanted to be a part of building the most positive corner of the internet, a platform that energizes people. I quickly realized that it’s not only Pinners who feel inspired by Pinterest, but inspiration is infused into our culture and the work that we do as Pinployees. 

At Pinterest, there’s many opportunities to create impact within your team, within the company and within our product. There’s no limit to what you can do here. If an individual has an idea or identifies areas for improvement, they’re empowered to speak up and share it with the team. Oftentimes, this is how our best ideas start. Whether it’s deemed a success or not, the learnings are never lost on our team. Win or learn is one of our core values, and a belief we always take into account. We mention our five core values a lot, and that’s because we live our values each and every day in all that we do. Our values are Put Pinners first, Aim for extraordinary, Create belonging, Act as one and Win or learn. 

Our values help us work effectively as a globally distributed workforce, our team is based around the world working from their location of choice. Yes, that’s right, we have a work model that encourages our employees to work where they’re most inspired – we call it PinFlex. PinFlex promotes flexibility while prioritizing in-person collaboration. Employees can work from home, a Pinterest office or another virtual location of their choosing. Throughout the year, we create in-person touch points for development and connection. To put it simply, you don’t need to live in or around Mexico City to work for Pinterest, you can live anywhere in Mexico! Speaking of Mexico City, that’s where our Pinterest Mexico office is located, and we recently opened the doors to a new office space. 

As a Talent Acquisition professional, I’m thrilled to have the chance to bring world-class job opportunities to our regional talent and help them advance their careers by joining one of the most impressive engineering teams in the world. Mexico’s Engineering Hub plays a critical role in our product development strategy and is currently considered as one of the most high-growth areas of the company. Enough from me, I had the opportunity to sit down with Viridiana Amezcua, Pinterest Engineering Manager, to give you the inside scoop into Engineering Life at Pinterest. 

Hey Viridiana! Thanks for sitting down with me. Why did you decide to join the Pinterest Engineering team? 

I joined the Pinterest team mainly because I love the product. I have been a Pinner since 2011, and I use it to be creative and grow in my goals and hobbies. I wanted to work on a product that brings me joy and allows me to create features for many users (450+ million monthly active users). 

After preparing and passing four interviews, I added two more things to my list: people and values. I found out that I wanted to work with all my interviewers. They all had a great attitude and a lot of knowledge, and I was excited to learn from them and grow with them. Lastly, the five core Pinterest values drew me in – put Pinners first and create belonging are my favorites. These values strongly align with my beliefs. For me, creating and caring for our users and ensuring that people around you feel valued and respected is essential.

Can you share more about what your Pinterest team does? 

The goal of the team is to understand Pinners better, so we can create a great experience for them. We own some UI features to help Pinners personalize their content (i.e. tune your home feed, hides Pins, unfollow topics) and maintain the UI where users can save their personal information.

Lastly, my team owns an in-house tool we use to send surveys to Pinners. Every time you see a message saying something like: Got a sec? Are you liking your search results and recommendations? That’s us! By the way, if you see it, please answer! We’d love to hear your feedback!

Can you describe Pinterest’s company culture?

Pinterest has a strong culture that goes beyond our work. We acknowledge that hobbies and creativity are also essential for growth. This is highlighted through Knit Con, our two-day internal inspiration conference, office events and innovative workshops. For example, during the opening of our Mexico City office, we had a workshop called Learn to Punch Needle where Pinployees learned the basics of the needle embroidery technique. Each attendee had a custom-made pin or magnet by the end of the session! When I visited San Francisco, I attended a candle-making workshop. I love the company’s encouragement to flourish in any aspect and have fun. Also, these workshops are an excellent opportunity to connect with people you wouldn’t usually collaborate with. Being able to explain why you picked an orange and coffee scent for your candle is just another level of bonding.

What advice would you give to someone looking to join the Pinterest Engineering team? 

Before the interview, it’s important to prepare. Your recruiter will share resources ahead of your calls. Take time to read the material and practice sample interview questions. Even if you think they are easy, answer a couple of them and practice saying your response out loud. It’s normal to get nervous during the interview, and practicing will help you perform better and be more comfortable.

During the interview, be collaborative, clarify the problem before working on it and think aloud. I know everyone gives this advice, but it’s easy to forget once you’re in the interview. At Pinterest, we encourage people to ask questions, so don’t be afraid to ask and talk about your solution to ensure you understand the problem.

Lastly, prepare questions for your interviewers. Remember that you are also checking that the company matches your values and goals. This is an excellent opportunity to see if the company is what you expect. 

Thanks for taking the time to chat with me, Viridiana! 

We always ask those featured on the Life at Pinterest blog the following question. Mike and Viridiana, what are you currently Pinning? 

Mike: 

In my free time, I practice Fencing, and I love how Pinterest helps me find amazing Pins from the global fencing community. It inspires me to keep giving my 100% and see how other fencers have fun while taking some fancy pics wearing their gear. Also, I’m planning to eventually, in the next few years, start designing and building the house of my dreams. Pinterest helps me find some great ideas and keeps me energized with the multiple paths I can take to make it happen.

Here’s a sneak peek: Fencing and House

Viridiana: 

My brothers and sister had the idea to have a matching tattoo. I’ve spent months looking for options the four of us could like. Finally, I created a board with all the possible options, and the last time we met, we agreed on a doodle of a dinosaur with the instrument we tried (and failed) to learn during our adolescence. 

A mix between these two pins: Pin 1 and Pin 2

Explore and apply to open engineering roles in Mexico here.