Meta (Facebook) Software Engineer Interview Guide
Read our guide on what to expect in the Meta interview and how to prepare.Want to land your dream job as a Meta (formerly known as Facebook) software engineer? Don't interview for Meta until you finish reading our guide. Meta's interview process is known to be highly competitive, given its prominent position in the tech ecosystem.
In this guide, we'll examine frequently asked questions about the Meta interview process, including hiring criteria and tips to succeed in the interview.
Software engineering at Meta is incredibly rewarding, with its huge scale and mission to connect billions of users across the world.
Interview Process
Typically, there are three stages to Meta software engineer interviews: recruiter screen, technical screen, and on-site.
Recruiter Screen
The 30-minute recruiter phone screen is fairly straightforward and mostly asks questions based on your resume and fit for the software engineer role. The recruiter may ask about your interests, your past experiences, and why you want to work at Facebook. During this call, the recruiter can answer any questions you have about the interview process.
No need to prepare much for this one! Review your resume to speak from it, and be sure to research a bit more about Meta, like their company mission..
Technical screen
You'll then meet with a Meta software engineer to solve a coding problem. These problems will be a bit lighter in-depth and are conducted over video chat. To prepare, practice some problems on HackerRank or in our software engineer interview question database.
On-site
The onsite Meta software engineer interview consists of three parts across five interviews.
- Coding
- Design (both system design and product design)
- Behavioral
The next section will discuss specifics on how to prepare for each of these rounds.
Sample Interview Questions
Meta breaks down its interviews into coding, systems and product design, and behavioral questions. Within systems and product design, Meta has a specific interview on product design and a specific interview on system design. Here's what they ask and how you can prepare for each one.
Coding
Generally, you'll get two coding questions in your Meta software engineer on-site interview.
Meta is looking for:
- Communication: Can you communicate your ideas and concepts clearly? Do you ask clarifying questions in the interview?
- Problem Solving: Can you comprehend challenging problems and devise solutions to them? Do you optimize your solutions considering constraints like run-time?
- Coding: Can you translate your ideas into code?
- Verification: Do you know how to test your code and verify that it works as intended?
To prepare for these questions, Meta recommends getting as much practice as possible. Here's a list of recommended reads to prepare for coding interview questions:
To prepare for these interviews, we also recommend reviewing our data structures and algorithms modules in our software engineering course and practicing data structures / algorithms questions in our interview question database.
System Design
This interview may or may not be included in your on-site. Be sure to ask your recruiter whether or not you'll be asked a systems design interview question before preparing for this particular type of interview.
The system design interview at Meta will ask you to weigh design considerations for complex problems. Here's a list of concepts that Meta recommends you review before your interview:
- Concurrency (threads, deadlock, starvation, consistency, coherence)
- Caching
- Database partitioning, replication, sharding, CAP Theorem
- Networking (IPC, TCP/IP)
- Real-world performance (relative performance RAM, disk, your network, SSD)
- Availability and reliability (types of failures, failure units, how failures may manifest, mitigations, etc.)
- Data storage and data aggregation
- QPS capacity / machine estimation (back of the envelope estimates), byte size estimation
Some example questions involve architecting a video distribution system or designing a mobile image search client.
The best way to prepare for system design interviews is to watch our practice system design interviews like this one on Meta's news feed, and try your hand at some practice system design questions in our interview question database..
Product Design
This interview may or may not be included in your on-site. Be sure to ask your recruiter whether or not you'll be asked a product design interview question before preparing for this particular type of interview.
The product design interview at Meta (not to be confused with a PM product design interview!) will involve designing a product or API to support an end-user experience. Here's a list of concepts that Facebook recommends you review before your interview:
- Scalability
- Design patterns
- Data ownership
- Protocols
- Data formats
- Client-server design
- Designing for long term vs. complexity
- Accommodating possible product changes
Some example questions involve designing a product API or an email server.
The best way to prepare for product design interviews is to watch our practice product design interviews like this one on Meta's news feed, and try your hand at some practice product design questions in our interview question database..
Behavioral
Meta's culture and values are important to the company, so they spend a full interview round on behavioral interview questions.
Meta will ask questions about the following:
- Background experiences from your resume.
- Specific examples and the resulting impact of previous work.
- Critiquing yourself and what you learned from a certain situation.
- Why you like being a developer.
- Why you'd like to join Facebook.
To prepare, create a story bank of stories and experiences that would be relevant to your interview. In particular, choose experiences that align to company values.
When answering questions, use the STAR format, and be sure to be familiar with Facebook's engineering culture.
Here are some helpful links to review before your interview:
- Meta Engineering Facebook Page
- Meta Code Videos
- Meta Open Source Website
- Engineering Leadership Blog
Of course, the best way to prepare is to practice behavioral interview questions.
