Meta Phone Screen US

I recently completed a phone screen interview for Meta. I hope sharing my experience will be helpful to others.

Preparation and Timeline: I am not actively applying for jobs and hadn't practiced coding problems since college, so I was not well-prepared. I was contacted by a Meta recruiter, and the opportunity seemed appealing, so I began practicing. The phone screen took place approximately 20 days after speaking with the recruiter. I was able to choose my availability, although the recruiter ultimately finalized the date.

Given my full-time job and limited time, I only practiced the top 70 Meta-tagged questions. I didn't have time to review other materials, but I did refresh my knowledge of basic data structures and algorithms, including tries and heaps.

Interview:

The interviewer was friendly and helpful. The interview began with a brief introduction and some discussion about my current role.

We then proceeded to the coding questions. The first question was Nested List Weight Sum. I quickly arrived at a solution and discussed the time and space complexity. I performed well on this question without making any mistakes, and the interviewer was satisfied with my solution.

The second question was Basic Calculator II. I had seen this question during my preparation, but I made some errors during the interview. My approach was correct, and I attempted to solve it without using extra space. However, I panicked due to time constraints and introduced bugs into my code. I identified and corrected some bugs, but there were still a few remaining at the end of the interview. My interviewer pointed out the remaining bugs.

I felt I could have performed better on this question and that I missed some cases due to panic. We spent a few minutes on Q&A. Based on our conversation, I anticipated a rejection. The interviewer did mention that I had a strong foundation and that these things happen in stressful situations.

Overall, I enjoyed speaking with the interviewer, and the experience was positive. I received a rejection email the following day.