I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Meta (Menlo Park, CA)
Interview
Did a phone screen with them. The interviewer gave me a task which I already knew the solution for at first (find two elements in an integer array which sum up to a given number). When I pointed out that I know the solution to the problem, he gave me another one: to determine if a sequence of numbers is monotonic (i.e. ascending or non-descending). The interviewer didn't seem to understand the difference between non-decreasing and ascending sequences and it took a while to figure out the exact specification for the problem. The interviewer expected a straightforward solution which compares elements pairwise, but I came up with a more elegant one, which is based on calculating the pairwise difference and would require only a single array traversal. The interviewer didn't understand my solution and told me that he haven't seen this solution before and it wasn't the solution he was excepting. Eventually, he couldn't come up with an example where my code wouldn't work or a flaw in my reasoning.
I've got feedback that my solution wasn't the one the interview was expecting and therefore rejected.
very friendly and flexible interviewers. They all asked Leetecode medium questions. There were no tricky algorithms or data structures. The whole process took about 4 weeks from start to finish. overall a positive experience.
standard leetcode gatekeepers. nothing special about it. they expect you to solve multi problems, about 3 in total if you manage to solve, then they would consider. experience doesn't matter, your correct answer matters
The whole interview process took about a month, which felt a bit longer than I anticipated. It began with a technical phone screen where I tackled a DSA question about arrays. This led to a more in-depth technical round that included a design question on building a real-time leaderboard system. Funny enough, that prompt was almost identical to what I practiced on PracHub, which felt like a lucky coincidence. The final interview was a bit more relaxed, covering behavioral topics. I ended up getting an offer, which I happily accepted.
Interview questions [2]
Question 1
Design an online game leaderboard system that updates player scores in real time
Software Engineer applicants have rated the interview process at Meta with 3.3 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 56% positive. To compare, the company-average is 56.5% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Software Engineer roles take an average of 27 days to get hired, when considering 2,266 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Meta overall takes an average of 31 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Meta as a Software Engineer according to 2,266 Glassdoor interviews include:
Phone interview: 39%
One on one interview: 24%
Skills test: 15%
Presentation: 8%
Background check: 4%
Group panel interview: 3%
Personality test: 3%
IQ intelligence test: 2%
Drug test: 1%
Other: 1%
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