Meta interview guide
Meta software engineer interview: process, questions and prep
Meta interviews move fast. Coding rounds often ask for two problems in 45 minutes, and design rounds expect you to set your own numbers. Meta has also started to allow an AI assistant in some coding rounds. Here is what to expect and how to practice.
The process
The Meta interview process
What candidates commonly report. Teams and levels differ, so ask your recruiter what your loop looks like.
- Recruiter screen
A short call about your background and level.
- Technical screen
45 minutes, usually two coding problems. Speed and clean code both count.
- Onsite
Usually two coding rounds, one design round and one behavioral round. E5 and above may pick product design or systems design.
- AI-assisted coding
Some loops now include a coding round where you can use an AI assistant. You are judged on how well you guide it and catch its mistakes.
Questions
Meta behavioral interview questions
Questions candidates report from Meta behavioral rounds, and what a strong answer shows.
What's the best thing you've built? What are you most proud of, and what could you have done better?
A strong answer shows a clear account of their own contribution and its scope.
Tell me about a time you pushed for an idea even though people were against it.
A strong answer shows turning the disagreement into something they could test.
Tell me about a time you got harsh feedback, for example in a code review. How did you respond?
A strong answer shows separating the feedback from the tone.
Tell me about a mistake of yours that broke production. How did you communicate it?
A strong answer shows owning it fast and in the open.
Tell me about a technical decision you had to make with incomplete information. How did you move forward?
A strong answer shows moving fast while managing the risk.
Tell me about a time you cut scope to hit a deadline. What did you cut, and why was that safe?
A strong answer shows a clear reason for what was cut.
Tell me about a time you chose a quick, hacky solution to move faster. What happened to that tech debt?
A strong answer shows a deliberate trade-off, not an accident.
Tell me about a project with vague requirements and no clear owner. What did you do?
A strong answer shows stepping in to create clarity.
Tell me about a time you brokered a compromise between two teams with competing goals.
A strong answer shows understanding what each team really needed.
Tell me about a time you gave up your own progress to unblock someone else.
A strong answer shows seeing the team's goal over their own.
Questions
Meta coding interview questions
Coding problems candidates report from Meta interviews.
Contains Duplicate
Sets for constant-time lookups
LRU Cache
Caching model responses, eviction order
Valid Palindrome
Pointers from both ends, skipping noise
Two Sum II - Input Array Is Sorted
Using sorted order instead of a hash map
Valid Parentheses
Matching pairs with a stack
Daily Temperatures
Monotonic stack in one pass
Binary Search
Loop bounds and off-by-one errors
Search Insert Position
Lower bound on a sorted log
Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters
Growing and shrinking a window
Maximum Depth of Binary Tree
Recursion on a binary tree
Binary Tree Level Order Traversal
Breadth-first search with a queue
Merge K Sorted Lists
k-way merge with a heap
How to prepare
How to prepare for Meta
- Practice solving two medium problems in 45 minutes.
- Talk while you code so the interviewer can follow you.
- In product design, start with the API and the data model.
- In the behavioral round, show how big your work was: one task, one team or several teams.
Questions.
How many problems are in a Meta coding interview?
Most people get two problems in 45 minutes. Strings, trees, arrays and two pointers come up a lot.
What is Meta’s product design interview?
It is a design round about a user-facing product, like a news feed or photo sharing. It focuses on the API, the data model and what the user sees, more than on servers.
What does the Meta behavioral interview cover?
Conflict, unclear problems, growth, driving results and the scope of your work.
Can I practice a Meta mock interview?
Yes. Orin runs Meta-style mock interviews by voice, with Meta’s reported questions asked first and follow-ups in its style. Company interviews are on the Pro and Max plans. Your first interview is free.
How does an Orin mock interview work?
You talk with Orin by voice, like a video call. It asks questions, listens and asks follow-ups based on what you said. Coding happens in a live editor and design on a live whiteboard. After the interview you get a report with quotes from your answers, what cost you points and what to practice next.
Practice your Meta interview.
Talk through Meta-style questions with follow-ups, then see exactly what to fix. First interview free.
Start free interview