Software Engineer · Onsite · Multiple Types

Meta — Software Engineer ✅ Passed

Level: Senior-Level

Round: Onsite · Type: Multiple Types · Difficulty: 7/10 · Duration: 240 min · Interviewer: Unfriendly

Topics: System Design, Coding, Behavioral Questions, AI, Greedy Algorithms, Dynamic Programming, Unit Testing

Location: Menlo Park, CA

Interview date: 2026-01-10

Summary

Round 1: System Design

Question: Design a leaderboard system and consider bottlenecks.

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Round 2: Coding

Question: 1. Modified version of a frequently asked interview question, requiring me to return the length of invalid portions. 2. Implementing a solution without using HashMap, converting to 3Sum after confirming conditions.

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Round 3: Behavioral (BQ)

Question: Standard behavioral questions.

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Round 4: AI Coding

Question: A new question involving poker cards, calculating scores by forming combinations that sum to 15, and optimizing the strategy using DP. I also had to fix unit tests and implement a card-drawing strategy.

Details

Preparation Tips & Key Takeaways

What I Learned

• The AI round was challenging due to the large amount of code and difficulty in understanding what the interviewer was looking for. Rushing to answer can lead to misdirection.
• AI can be helpful depending on how you phrase your questions. I found that asking about test error messages wasn't very helpful, and I ended up finding the bug myself.

Recommended Preparation

Coding Practice

• Practice variations of common coding problems.
• Review frequently asked interview questions.

Dynamic Programming

• Understand DP approaches for optimization problems.

Unit Testing

• Be prepared to understand and modify existing unit tests.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

• Rushing into answering questions without fully understanding the problem.
• Relying solely on AI for debugging without attempting to understand the issue yourself.

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