I applied through a recruiter. The process took 6 weeks. I interviewed at Meta (Menlo Park, CA) in Jul 2018
Interview
Contacted by recruiter over LinkedIn. Set up a time to connect. Further set up a Skype interview with a manager. Based on feedback, recommended me to speak with another recruiter in a different division. Had another skype interview, followed by onsite. Had 4 different interviews in the Onsite round, two focused on Product sense, one technical and one on probability/statistics.
The interview seemed like they were looking for people who could be well paid cogs in a machine. The interview schedule was designed with just a 15 min break and ran from 10.15 through 2 pm with little time to grab lunch or being provided one. Most companies either provide lunch if an interview happens to be scheduled during lunch hours or schedule an interview that ends before / starts after lunch time.
Also, it seemed solving the actual interview questions mattered less than what an interviewer already predecided to offer as feedback based on their opinions about your resume beforehand. Inspite of claims of it being a very rigorous and fair process, it seems there is lot of inbuilt subjectivity in the process and lot of leeway allowed in interview feedback as well as the hire / no hire decision.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Signed NDA. Questions focused on product, and how to infer information based on given data by customers.
Tough interview overall—definitely not what I expected. The technical rounds were intense, particularly when they had me design an A/B test for the News Feed ranking algorithm. I had to discuss metrics and sample sizes in detail. Lucky for me, the time I spent on PracHub right before the interview helped me nail that deep-dive question as it mirrored what I practiced. The behavioral questions felt standard but were still challenging. After a whirlwind process, they extended an offer, which I happily accepted.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Design an A/B test to evaluate a new ranking algorithm for the Facebook News Feed. Walk through metric selection (engagement, time-spent, MSI, well-being), unit of randomization given network effects between friends, sample size and power calculations, how you'd detect novelty effects vs. true lift, and how you'd handle a guardrail metric regressing while the primary metric is up.
Total 7 rounds: first round for resume screening, second for technical screening, then for on-site virtual with 4 interviews back to back, then hiring manager round after team matching and then salary negotiation with HR
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Meta’s evaluation rubrics focus heavily on "Product Thinking over Fancy Math". Interviewers want to see if you can operate like a product owner with an analytical mindset, navigating messy scenarios affecting billions of users
The Interview Process is very structured -
First Tech Screening round - 45 mins (usually can extend a bit depending on the interviewer)
- 2 SQL Questions ( Medium to Hard ) - based on Joins
Full Loop - 4 rounds 45 mins each.
- SQL
- Behavioral
- Analytical Execution - stats & prob, A/B testing, case study
- Analytical Reasoning - Case study
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Questions on Bayes Theorem, Probability distribution, etc.
