Meta | Phone Screen & Onsite | E4/E5 | Rejected

I recently completed all my interviews at Meta. I will not share specific questions due to a non-disclosure agreement.

Phone Screen Interview: Two questions were asked in 35 minutes; the interviewer was 10 minutes late. Neither question was from , and I could not find similar questions elsewhere. Question 1: This question involved arrays and strings. I coded an optimal solution in 10 minutes and answered all follow-up questions. Question 2: This was a pure math question requiring solving quadratic equations to arrive at a final equation and inserting values to obtain the solution. I spent most of my time on this; the coding part was straightforward.

I received an invitation to virtual onsite interviews three business days later.

Onsite Interviews:

Coding Round 1: This round was straightforward, with questions similar to those found on , but with slight variations. I solved all questions optimally. Question 1: Tree-based question. Question 2: Array-based question.

Behavioral Interview: This was a standard behavioral interview focusing on my experience.

Coding Round 2: This round included medium to hard difficulty questions; none were from . Question 1: Tree-based question. I initially provided a suboptimal solution, which the interviewer asked me to code. Midway through, as the solution became clear, the interviewer asked me to consider an optimal approach. I subsequently provided optimal code. Question 2: The question description was lengthy, requiring time to read. I provided an optimal solution. The interviewer asked a follow-up question I did not understand, leading to an incorrect answer. However, I later offered a short code snippet for a possible solution. The interviewer stated, "It was just something to think about later." I am unsure if they were satisfied. Only three minutes remained, so the interviewer concluded the interview.

System Design Round: I am unsure of my performance in this round. The design was relatively small, and the interviewer focused on one aspect. I provided functional and non-functional requirements, performed back-of-the-envelope calculations for active users and queries per second, discussed one API (as the design was small), and presented a system design, mentioning trade-offs. I then discussed the database schema and type of database to use. The interviewer asked follow-up questions about potential failures or sudden spikes, which I answered to the best of my ability. I am unsure if my answers met their expectations. The interview concluded with a discussion, and when asked if the interviewer was satisfied with the design, they responded affirmatively.

I am uncertain what aspects of my performance were lacking. The process felt very structured.

Years of Experience: 4