I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Meta (Menlo Park, CA) in Jul 2012
Interview
After I solved a puzzle through InterviewStreet.com, a recruiter contacted me by e-mail and we set up an introductory phone call (15 min). She seemed really nice, she asked me to evaluate my knowledge on several technologies and sublects like C++, Perl, Algorithms/Data Structures, .NET Framework etc. She immediately told me that she was going to schedule a technical interview with an engineer.
The engineer called me several days later and asked me to solve together an algorithmic problem via a workspace sharing website. We could both write code simultaneously and see each other's work. The question wasn't hard and although I had a pretty good idea how to solve the task, I wasn't very smooth and made several mistakes. Maybe because it was my first technical interview ever.
Bottom line, I liked their attitude and they did a good job. It was my fault that I didn't go to a second interview and I've learnt my lessons. It was a very good experience.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Write a function that finds the square root of a decimal number.
The entire process usually takes 3–8 weeks, depending on scheduling and the specific role. Coding interviews heavily emphasize common DSA topics such as arrays, strings, trees, graphs, BFS/DFS, heaps, hash maps, and dynamic programming. System design becomes increasingly important for E4+ positions.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Given an array of integers and a target value, return the indices of two numbers that add up to the target
Unexpectedly, the first question in the technical round felt familiar. It was about finding a subset of strings with unique character concatenation — same problem I had worked through on PracHub a few days earlier. The interview included a recruiter screen followed by a rigorous pair of technical interviews where I tackled data structures and algorithms alongside system design concepts. After successfully answering a few more challenging DSA questions, I received an offer. The entire experience was intense but ultimately rewarding, and I happily accepted the position.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Given an array of strings, pick a subset whose concatenation contains no duplicate characters, and return the maximum possible length of that concatenation.
