Meta

Role: Software Engineer (Products)

College: Not Specified

Interview Date: October 2023 - January 2024

Interview Type: Off-Campus (via recruiter/referral)

Result: Implied Offer (Based on video title "I Went ALL IN (Meta Software Engineer Interview Experience)")

Difficulty: Medium to Hard

Rounds: 5 (Recruiter Call, Mock Interview, Phone Interview, Onsite - 2 Coding, 1 Behavioral, 1 Product Design)

Topics Asked: Data Structures, Algorithms (Recursive Depth First Search), Product Design, Behavioral

Experience:

The candidate applied in October 2023 and completed the process in January 2024. The process began with a recruiter call, followed by a mock interview, a phone interview, and then an onsite loop.

Recruiter Call: A non-technical discussion about the candidate's background and the interview process.

Mock Interview: The two questions asked were LeetCode #2 and LeetCode #79, both described as recursive Depth First Search problems. The candidate found them relatively easy due to prior exposure and received good feedback.

Phone Interview: Two problems from the "top Facebook 100" LeetCode questions were asked. The candidate performed very well and received positive feedback, advancing to the onsite.

Onsite Interviews (Split over two days): The onsite consisted of two coding rounds (two questions each), one behavioral interview, and one product design interview. The candidate opted for product design over system design due to stronger API design skills.

Coding Round 1: The first question was a common Facebook-tagged question with a trick to solve it without extra memory. The candidate coded it quickly but struggled to explain *why* the trick worked. The second question was also previously seen, but the candidate had recently learned a more optimal solution.

Coding Round 2: The first question was a "warm-up" (LeetCode Medium) that the candidate had seen years ago and struggled with, taking too long to solve. The second question was entirely new and difficult, a concept not encountered since grad school.

Behavioral Interview: This round involved straightforward questions about conflicts with managers, leading projects with unclear requirements, etc. The candidate felt this round went very well and was more conversational.

Product Design Round: The candidate felt this was one of their stronger rounds, despite coding being their perceived strength. The question was from Educative.io resources, and the interviewer seemed satisfied with the solution.