Meta, formerly known as Facebook Inc., is a global leader in shaping the way people connect, find communities, and grow businesses. With a mission to move beyond 2D screens, Meta drives innovation in augmented and virtual reality to spearhead the next evolution in social technology.

As a Software Engineer at Meta, you will immerse yourself in cutting-edge projects involving coding, system design, and behavioral assessments spread across multiple interview rounds. Your role will demand proficiency in data structures, algorithms, and system design to create high-impact solutions. This guide on Interview Query will help you navigate the interview process seamlessly, offer insights on what to expect, and provide valuable preparation tips for your journey ahead.

Submitting Your Application

The first step is to submit a compelling application that reflects your technical skills and interest in joining Meta as a Software Engineer. Whether you were contacted by a Meta recruiter or have taken the initiative yourself, carefully review the job description and tailor your CV according to the prerequisites.

Tailoring your CV may include identifying specific keywords that the hiring manager might use to filter resumes and crafting a targeted cover letter. Furthermore, don’t forget to highlight relevant skills and mention your work experiences.

Recruiter/Hiring Manager Call Screening

If your CV happens to be among the shortlisted few, a recruiter from the Meta Talent Acquisition Team will contact you to verify key details like your experiences and skill level. Behavioral questions may also be a part of the screening process.

In some cases, the hiring manager may be present during the screening round to answer your queries about the role and the company itself. They may also delve into surface-level technical and behavioral discussions.

This recruiter call should take about 30 minutes.

Technical Virtual Interview

Successfully navigating the recruiter round will open the door to the technical screening round. Technical screening for the Meta Software Engineer role is usually conducted through virtual means, including video conference and screen sharing. Questions in this 1-hour long interview stage may revolve around common algorithm problems, data structures, and coding exercises.

You might encounter two medium-level coding problems, commonly found on sites like Leetcode. Topics may include stacks, depth-first search (DFS), and additional algorithmic concepts. Apart from coding, expect to answer behavioral questions such as handling disagreements with coworkers and solving conflicts within a team.

Onsite Interview Rounds

After the technical screening, you'll be invited to attend the onsite interview loop, which includes multiple rounds. Each round varies but typically includes:

1. Coding Interviews (2-3 Rounds): Each round consists of one or two medium to hard coding problems. You should be well-prepared to solve problems involving data structures, algorithms, and dynamic programming.

2. System Design Interview: This assesses your ability to solve a non-trivial engineering design problem. You may be asked to design systems like a search system or a file storage solution.

3. Behavioral Interview: This focuses on your past experiences, how you handle conflict, and scenarios where you contributed to a project under tight deadlines and budget constraints.

Quick Tips For Meta Software Engineer Interviews

• Brush Up on Data Structures and Algorithms: Given that the interviews heavily feature coding problems, make sure to refresh your knowledge on common data structures, algorithms, and their time complexities.
• Practice with Interview Query: Use Interview Query to practice common coding problems tagged with Meta, and familiarize yourself with the format and difficulty of the questions.
• Prepare for Behavioral Questions: These questions can be equally important. Be ready to discuss your past experiences, teamwork, conflict resolution, and how you handle feedback.

Typically, interviews at Facebook vary by role and team, but commonly Software Engineer interviews follow a fairly standardized process across these question topics.

• Would you think there was anything fishy about the results of an A/B test with 20 variants? Your manager ran an A/B test with 20 different variants and found one significant result. Would you suspect any issues with these results?

• What would you do if friend requests on Facebook are down 10%? A product manager at Facebook reports a 10% decrease in friend requests. What steps would you take to address this issue?

• What metrics would you use to determine the value of each marketing channel? Given all the different marketing channels and their respective costs at a company selling B2B analytics dashboards, what metrics would you use to evaluate the value of each channel?

• How would you test if changing Facebook's composer feature to a "+" button is a good idea? Facebook wants to change the user interface of the composer feature to a "+" button at the bottom of the page. How would you test if this change is beneficial?

• What are the Z and t-tests, and when should you use each? Explain what Z and t-tests are, their uses, the differences between them, and when to use one over the other.

• Write a function find_bigrams to return a list of all bigrams in a sentence. Write a function called find_bigrams that takes a sentence or paragraph of strings and returns a list of all its bigrams in order. A bigram is a pair of consecutive words.

• Write a query to find out how many users have opened an email. Given a table called events that keeps track of every user's actions, write a query to find out how many users have opened an email.

• Write a query to select the top five most expensive projects by budget to employee count ratio. Given two tables, projects and employee_projects, write a query to select the five most expensive projects by budget to employee count ratio, accounting for duplicate rows in the employee_projects table.

• Write a query to get the last transaction for each day from a table of bank transactions. Given a table of bank transactions with columns id, transaction_value, and created_at, write a query to get the last transaction for each day. The output should include the id, datetime, and transaction amount, ordered by datetime.

• Write a query to get the average order value by gender. Given three tables representing customer transactions and customer attributes, write a query to get the average order value by gender. Round the answer to two decimal places.

• What is a confidence interval for a statistic and why is it useful? Explain what a confidence interval is, its usefulness in statistics, and how to calculate it.

• What are Z and t-tests, and when should you use each? Describe the Z and t-tests, their purposes, differences, and appropriate usage scenarios.

• Is it worth playing a game where you win $21 if the sum of two dice equals seven, but pay $10 per roll? Analyze the expected value of the game to determine if it is worth playing.

• How would you explain a p-value to a non-technical person? Provide a simple and clear explanation of what a p-value is and its significance in hypothesis testing.

• What is the expected number of good ads rated by different types of raters?

• Calculate the expected number of good ads if 100 raters each rate one ad independently.
• Calculate the expected number of good ads if one rater rates 100 ads.
• Determine the probability that a rater was lazy if an ad is rated as bad.

• What metrics would you use to track the accuracy and validity of a spam classifier model? You are tasked with building a spam classifier for emails and have built a V1 of the model. What metrics would you use to track its accuracy and validity?

• How would you evaluate the success of advertising for an event with a 10% weekly increase in search clicks? You are in charge of tracking the success of advertising for an event. Every week, there has been about a 10% increase in search clicks for the event. Is this good or bad? How would you evaluate whether the advertising needs to improve?

• How does random forest generate the forest, and why use it over logistic regression? Explain how random forest generates the forest. Additionally, why would you use random forest over other algorithms such as logistic regression?

• How would you build a restaurant recommender on Facebook, and what are potential downfalls? Describe how you would build a restaurant recommender on Facebook, starting with data collection and then the building process. What are some potential downfalls or concerns about adding this feature to Facebook?

• How would you test if having more friends increases the probability of being an active Facebook user after 6 months? Describe how you would test whether having more friends now increases the probability that a Facebook member is still an active user after 6 months.

What is the average salary for a Software Engineer at Meta?

Q: What is the interview process like for a Software Engineer position at Meta?

The interview process at Meta typically includes multiple stages: an initial phone screening with behavioral and coding questions, followed by technical interviews with two leetcode-style coding problems, system design questions, and a behavioral interview. The whole process is well-structured and includes periodic communication from the recruiting team.

Q: What kind of technical questions can I expect in the Meta interview?

You can expect medium to hard-level Leetcode questions focused on data structures and algorithms. Additionally, there may be system design questions that require you to solve engineering design problems. Some common topics include stacks, depth-first search, tree problems, and string manipulations.

Q: How should I prepare for the coding interviews at Meta?

To prepare for the coding interviews, practice Leetcode problems, especially those tagged with Meta. Brushing up on data structures, algorithms, and Big O notation is crucial. Interview Query offers great resources to help you practice these types of questions.

Q: What is the company culture like at Meta?

Meta is known for its innovative and collaborative environment. The company values creativity and encourages employees to think outside the box. It's a fast-paced work culture where cross-functional collaboration is frequent, and engineering excellence is highly emphasized.

Q: What qualities does Meta look for in a Software Engineer?

Meta seeks individuals with strong technical skills, problem-solving abilities, and a good grasp of coding fundamentals. Experience with large-scale infrastructure applications and proficiency in languages like C++, Java, Python, or PHP can be particularly beneficial. The ability to communicate effectively and work well in teams is also important.

The interview process for a Software Engineer position at Meta offers a structured and rigorous experience, encompassing multiple stages including technical screenings, behavioral interviews, and system design challenges. Candidates have noted the importance of being well-prepared for a variety of coding questions, often sourced from common problems found on platforms like Leetcode. While some interviewees appreciated the well-organized stages and supportive interviewers, others noted areas for improvement such as video quality in the prep materials and a need for more personal touch during interviews.

Despite these mixed reviews, the opportunity to work at Meta remains highly attractive due to the company's innovative culture and the cutting-edge projects in augmented reality and social connectedness. Aspiring candidates should focus on honing their technical skills, especially in data structures and algorithms, and consider leveraging resources like Interview Query for comprehensive preparation.

If you want more insights about the company, check out our main Meta Interview Guide, where we have covered many interview questions that could be asked. We’ve also created interview guides for other roles, such as software engineer and data analyst, where you can learn more about Meta's interview process for different positions.

At Interview Query, we empower you to unlock your interview prowess with a comprehensive toolkit, equipping you with the knowledge, confidence, and strategic guidance to conquer every Meta machine learning engineer interview questions and challenges.

You can check out all our company interview guides for better preparation, and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Good luck with your interview!