I recently completed my full-loop interview at Meta for a Software Engineer, Product position. The interview included two coding rounds, two behavioral interviews, and one system design interview.

System Design Interview

I was tasked with designing a system to enable the internationalization of services within Facebook, specifically to allow Facebook to translate content for clients.

1st Coding Interview

Problems:

1. Palindrome Permutation
2. Implement a Java iterator that returns a sorted list over k sorted lists: java class SortedIterator implements Iterator<Integer> { public SortedIterator(List<List<Integer>> lists) {} public boolean hasNext() {} public Integer next() {} }

2nd Coding Interview

Problems:

1. Print elements in diagonal order: java Input: [[ 1, 2, 3, 4], [ 6, 7, 8, 9], [11, 12, 13, 14], [16, 17, 18, 19]] Output: [1, 6, 2, 11, 7, 3, 16, 12, 8, 4, 17, 13, 9, 18, 14, 19]
2. Minimum Remove to Make Valid Parentheses

1st Behavioral Interview

Focused on past projects and challenges, including complex projects, conflict resolution, and feedback given to peers.

2nd Behavioral Interview

Similar to the first, covering topics like conflict resolution and peer feedback.

Recruiter Feedback

I did not advance in the interview process. The recruiter indicated that I did not pass any of the rounds.

My Reflections

System Design: The interview went well, though I believe I could have performed better. (Grade: B+) 1st Coding Interview: This round went extremely well. I solved all problems, explained my solutions, and wrote clean code with test cases. (Grade: A+) 2nd Coding Interview: Despite a rocky start, I successfully solved all problems, explained the solutions, and wrote clean code with test cases. (Grade: A) 1st Behavioral Interview: This round went well. I provided clear answers with examples and tangible results. (Grade: A-) 2nd Behavioral Interview: Similar to the first, it went well with solid examples and results. (Grade: A)

I was surprised by the outcome, especially considering my performance in the coding rounds. I understand that behavioral interviews can be subjective, but I am still unsure how I did not pass the coding interviews. I hope this overview of the process and my experience is helpful.