Welcome to your preparation guide for your interview at Meta! Use the What You’ll Find in sidebar to quickly jump to the section you are looking for. Our This Guide engineering leaders and recruiters put together this guide, so you know Interview Process Overview what to expect and how to prepare. We recognize that interviewing can Coding Interviews be stressful, so we hope this guide provides the information and Behavioral Interview resources you need. Remember, your recruiter is there to support you, so please reach out to them with any questions. Final Tips and Post Interview
Appendix / Resources Accommodations Process Before you get started, it's important to note that Meta is committed to providing reasonable support (called accommodations) in our recruiting processes for candidates with disabilities, long term conditions, mental health conditions or sincerely held religious beliefs, or who are neurodivergent or require pregnancy-related support. If you need support, please reach out to [email protected] or your recruiter.
Team Introduction
As a Software Engineer you will have the opportunity to have an
impact on one of many teams. Teams include, but are not limited to; Family of Apps, Monetization, Gen AI and Reality Labs. Please note, you are interviewing for a generalist software engineer role.
Interview Process Overview
This guide will explain what to expect during your interviews with Meta. As part of your interview, you will have the opportunity to meet with peers, cross-functional partners, and other leaders at Meta. Your recruiter will be your guide throughout
1 the process and aim to adequately prepare you to bring your best self to your interview. Your interview process will include 3 to 4 interviews, each lasting about 45 minutes; each interviewer will leave a few minutes at the end for your questions. You can expect the following interviews as part of your full loop: • Coding (two – three coding interviews) • Behavioral
Video Conference interview best practices
• Most important: if you'll be coding remotely on Coderpad.io, make sure
you've practiced using it to code!
• Make sure you're in a quiet environment.
• Double check that you have a reliable internet/phone connection.
• It's okay to ask the person you're speaking with to speak slowly if you can't catch what they're saying.
• You'll need a laptop with a webcam, speaker, and mic. We recommend
using a headset or headphones with a mic for better quality audio, but this is optional.
Interview Dress Code
As you're probably aware, we promote a casual environment at Meta so that
everyone can be their authentic selves. Formal dress is not required (jeans are ok)! Dress comfortably. We care about what you can do, not what you wear.
Coding Interviews The interview focuses heavily on coding. You’ll be assessed on how you solve the problem as well as the structure and style of your code. It’s best to avoid bugs, but the interviewer will not compile your code so don’t worry about making minor mistakes. Finding and catching bugs in your code is a positive sign! Additionally, they’ll want to hear your thought process throughout, so be sure to provide a narrative as you go through the code. You’re welcome to code in whatever language you feel most comfortable but choosing one that is going to assist in getting an optimal solution in the most speedy and efficient manner is key.
2 What we look for? Your interviewer will be thinking about how your skills and experience might help their teams. Help them understand the value you could bring by focusing on these traits and abilities.
• Communication. Are you asking for requirements and clarity when
necessary, or are you just diving into the code? Your coding interview should be a conversation, so don’t forget to ask questions.
• Problem solving. We’re evaluating how you comprehend and explain
complex ideas. Are you providing the reasoning behind a particular solution? Developing and comparing multiple solutions? Using appropriate data structures? Speaking about space and time complexity? Optimizing your solution?
• Coding. Can you convert solutions to executable code? Is the code
organized and does it capture the right logical structure?
• Verification. Are you considering a reasonable number of test cases or
coming up with a good argument for why your code is correct? If your solution has bugs, are you able to walk through your own logic to find them and explain what the code is doing?
How to prep
Interviewers can only assess your skills and abilities based on what you show them during your interview, so it’s important to plan and prepare to best showcase your strengths.
In addition to the Preparation Hub on your Career Profile, live interview training will be offered that is distributed by your recruiter. We encourage you to attend a live prep session, as well as practice on your own. If you’re not able to catch a live session this video will give you an example of what to expect during your coding interviews.
1. Before you practice, plan!
Be honest with yourself—only you know how much prep time you’ll need. Make the most of your prep time by following these steps to plan your approach before you start practicing.
• Schedule time to study and practice. Block out time every day to write code. You’ll need to practice writing code without executing it - without the help of a compiler and debugger. This will simulate a timed interview
3 environment. Be sure to practice with a friend or peer and create a mock interview for yourself.
• Prioritize breadth over depth. It’s much better to practice solving fewer example problems of many problem types than to become very familiar with one type at the expense of the others.
• Set aside time to review what you’ve practiced. As you solve problems, make cheat sheets or flash cards to review later. Revision and repetition will strengthen your understanding of core concepts.
• Remember your goal. Aim for confidently solving one to two questions— while thinking aloud—in about a 35 minutes. (Keep in mind you will have two – three coding interviews so you will want to aim for this in each interview block)
2. Use key practice strategies to practice effectively
Reading through sample questions, recognizing concepts, and having a vague
understanding of these concepts won’t be enough to help you shine. You need to practice! Make sure you’re setting your practice sessions up for success by following these tips from engineers who’ve been through the process.
• Practice coding the way you’ll code during your interview. Use CoderPad.io if your interview is via phone or video call, or use a whiteboard or pen and paper if your interview will be in person. Check with your recruiter if you’re not sure which format you’ll use.
• Set a time constraint when you practice problems. In your coding
interview, you’ll be asked to solve one or two problems in under 35 minutes. Practice coding solutions to medium and hard problems in less than 15 minutes each to help you be ready for the constraints during the interview. There are resources available in the Preparation Hub within your Career Profile such as coding puzzles and practice exercises.
• Code in your strongest language. Provide the most efficient solution and find and fix the bugs yourself.
• Practice talking through the problem space and possible solutions before you dive in and talk through your decisions out loud as you code. Interviewers will be evaluating your thought process as well as your coding abilities. Explaining your decisions as you code is crucial to helping them understand your choices. The more you practice this, the more natural it will feel during the interview.
4 3. Understand the types of problems you may encounter
Practice a variety of different problems—and understand why we ask them—so
you’re prepared to solve them during your interview.
• Don’t be surprised if the questions sound contrived. Problems may be
different than what you’re probably tackling in a day-to-day job. We won’t ask a “puzzle” question, but questions may be different than real-world questions because they need to be described and solved in 10-20 minutes.
• Problems may assess the depth of your knowledge and your versatility. For example, your interviewer might ask you to solve a problem any way you want. Then, they could add constraints on the running or space characteristics and ask you to solve it again.
• Problems may focus on edge cases. You might be asked to parse some data format or mini language. Your answers demonstrate your ability to handle multiple states in your head.
• Think about different algorithms and algorithmic techniques (e.g.,
iteration, sorting, divide-and-conquer, recursion). We do not ask dynamic programming questions or system design questions, so don’t spend time prepping for that technique and focus your efforts elsewhere.
• Think about data structures, particularly the ones used most often. For instance, array, stack (or queues), hashtable, trees (including specialized trees like binary trees and binary search trees), graphs, and heaps.
• Problems may test how well you know how things work under the hood. For example, you might be asked to implement well-known library functions.
4. Decide what resources you’ll use to prepare
It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the number of online resources or the detail in an
entire theoretical algorithms book. Here are some sites that our engineers found helpful when preparing for their coding interviews.
Top sites for practice problems from Meta:
• Meta Sample Interview Problems and Solutions
• InterviewBit
Other websites:
• LeetCode
5 • HackerRank • Topcoder • GeeksQuiz
Video prep guides for coding interviews:
• Cracking the Meta Coding Interview Videos (The Approach and Problem Walk-through) (password: FB_IPS)
How to Approach Coding Problems During Your
Interview
Before you code
• Ask clarifying questions. Talk through the problem and ask follow-up questions to make sure you understand the exact problem you’re trying to solve before you jump into building the solution.
• Let us know if you’ve seen the problem previously. That will help us understand your context.
• Present multiple potential solutions, if possible. Talk through which
solution you’re choosing and why.
While you code
• Don’t forget to talk! While your interview will be focused heavily on
coding, the engineer you’re interviewing with will also be evaluating your thought process. Explaining your decisions and actions as you go will help the interviewer understand your choices.
• Be flexible. Some problems have elegant solutions, and some must be
brute forced. If you get stuck, just describe your best approach and ask the interviewer if you should go that route. It’s much better to have non- optimal but working code than just an idea with nothing written down.
• Iterate rather than immediately trying to jump to the clever solution. If
you can’t explain your concept clearly in five minutes, it’s probably too complex.
• Consider (and be prepared to talk about):
o Different algorithms and algorithmic techniques, such as sorting, Divide and-conquer, recursion, etc.
6 o Data structures, particularly those used most often (array, stack/queue, hashset/hashmap/hashtable/dictionary, tree/binary tree, heap, graph, etc.) o O memory constraints on the complexity of the algorithm you’re writing and its running time as expressed by big-O notation.
• Generally, avoid solutions with lots of edge cases or huge if/else if/else blocks, in most cases. Deciding between iteration and recursion can be an important step.
After you code
• Expect questions. The interviewer may tweak the problem a bit to test your knowledge and see if you can come up with another answer and/or further optimize your solution.
• Take the interviewer’s hints to improve your code. If the interviewer makes a suggestion or asks a question, listen fully so you can incorporate any hints they may provide.
• Ask yourself if you would approve your solution as part of your codebase. Explain your answer to your interviewer. Make sure your solution is correct and efficient, that you’ve taken into account edge cases, and that it clearly reflects the ideas you’re trying to express in your code.
What to Practice Everyone could use a refresher in at least one core area! Before coding interviews brush up on CS fundamentals— especially algorithms and data structures. Review foundational techniques—recursion, graph theory, tree traversal, combinatorial problems, and so on.
Looking for more detailed guidance on what to review for your coding interviews? The exercises housed in your Career Profile under “Preparation Hub” have been helpful for many University Grads preparing for a Meta technical interview. Feel free to use this list as a starting point and tailor it to suit your areas of need.
Behavioral Interview What can you expect The behavioral interview will consist of a 45-minute session. Your interviewer will want to learn about your background, what you’re passionate about in tech, and what kind of impact you want to make.
7 What do we look for? The purpose of the behavioral interview is to assess if a candidate will thrive in Meta’s fast-paced and highly unstructured environment. To that end, we assess candidates on five signals that correlate with success at Meta:
• Resolving conflict: What kind of disagreements have you had with
colleagues and/or managers? How have you resolved them? Can you empathize with people whose points of view differ radically from yours? • Growing continuously: Your interviewer will be assessing your aptitude for seeking out opportunities for growth and learning. Do you take constructive criticism as an opportunity to improve? How have you approached improving your skills? • Embracing ambiguity: How do you operate in an ambiguous and quickly changing environment? Are you comfortable making decisions and maintaining high levels of productivity when you are missing information or lack clarity? How did you react when you had to quickly pivot away from a project due to a shift in priority? • Driving results: We will be evaluating your experience pushing yourself and others to deliver against goals and objectives. How do you demonstrate your impact? Are you self-directed in reaching goals despite challenges and roadblocks? • Communicating effectively: How well do you communicate with teams? What about cross-functional partners? How do you tailor your communications based on the work and/or the audience?
We may ask you to:
• Discuss available details of past and current projects/internships.
• Provide specific examples about what you did and the resulting impact. • Share what you learned from a past situation.
How to prep
Just like with the coding interviews, it’s important to prepare ahead of time for interviews designed to get to know you better.
• Know yourself. Take the time to review your own résumé as your interviewer will almost certainly ask about key events in your work history. Be prepared to discuss projects in depth. It's helpful to outline 2-3 major projects ahead of time.
• Be honest. Not every project is a runaway success and we may not always interact perfectly with our peers. Being transparent in these situations won’t be counted against you in the interview. In fact, sharing & discussing
8 how you learned, improved, and grew from your past experiences is valued. Share what you learned from a past situation.
• Use the S.T.A.R. method to mentally organize your thoughts. This will provoke a well-thought-out and chronological action of events. Easy to describe, easy to follow. You can practice this method using the Journaling Exercises in the Preparation Hub within your Career Profile.
o S—One or two sentences about the SITUATION: What happened?
o T—Describe the TASK: What was your specific goal?
o A—ACTIONS you took to overcome the obstacles and complete
your goal.
o R—The tangible / quantifiable RESULTS of the situation: How did
it help the project / team / company? What was the impact and what did you learn from the situation?
o Have concrete examples or anecdotes. Support each question
with practical experiences and examples. Avoid theoretical answers - if you go into a theoretical tangent, your interviewer will redirect you to provide a concrete example.
Final Tips for your Interview
• Be yourself. This means being open and honest about your successes and ways you’ve improved throughout your career. Also, be sure to call out how you have specifically added value to your team or projects you’ve contributed to. We value teamwork and what each individual member brings to the table.
• Carefully review and familiarize yourself with the job description and perform research on Meta and the role. Be prepared to answer why you are interested in this specific role and in working at Meta.
• Please take the time to review our mission statement and core values. These values influence how we work together to fulfill our mission of bringing the world closer together. We also encourage you to take time using our products such as Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp.
• Prepare thoughtful questions for the interviewer(s). Your interviewer
may challenge your ideas, and you should be ready to speak not only to what you recommend or have experienced but the why as well. It is
9 important to think outside the box and to approach problems from creative and different perspectives.
Post Interview – What to Expect
You can expect your recruiter to provide a specific timeline or updates along the way. Your recruiter will inform you of next steps after your interview as soon as they are available. Feel free to follow up with them if you have not heard within a week of your interviews.
Appendix / Resources Below is a curated list of resources to get started and help you prepare.
Meta’s Technical Environment
• Engineering at Meta - FB page
• Meta Code videos
• Meta Opensource website
• Engineering Leadership at Meta blog
Connect with Meta Employees
• Once you’ve made it to the onsite/full loop interview stage, request to interact with an employee and learn what it's like to work at Meta through the Meta Connections Program.
Meta Resources
• About Meta website
• Meta Newsroom website
• Meta Careers website & Meta Careers for Interns & New Graduates
• Meta Life website
• Meta Diversity website
• Meta Employee Benefits website
• Interviewing at Meta: The keys to success blog
Update personal information, track interview progress, and send
thank you notes.
10 At any time during the interview process, you can track your progress, send thank-you notes and update your personal information all via the Career Profile. If you do not receive a link from recruiting, you may create one.
Thank you for taking the time to review this guide!
