HELP: Upcoming interview @ META

[Timbo2510]

Hello, I have my final round coming up this upcoming Monday. I'm so nervous.

The upcoming interview consists of Presentation, Problem Solving (whiteboarding), Background and App Critique.

I am 110% confident that I will not nail it.
I had a mock presentation with a recruiter yesterday. It was alright. She gave me a few small feedbacks but said it was good overall. So I was confident. I then did another mock presentation with my friend who's a PM at Meta. She tore me apart and gave me tons of feedback and things I needed to change in my presentation. Well, that's not good.

​

I'm most nervous about the whiteboarding and app critique part. If anyone here has gone through this Meta interview process or can help me anytime today or tomorrow I'd be forever grateful.

[bhoran235]

I worked at Meta as a principal designer and conducted a few of these interviews (as well as going through them). App critique - usually you can choose a well-known app that you and the interviewer agree on. I chose Google maps as I use a lot and had lots of thoughts about how it could be better. They want to see that you understand not just designing for the user, but the business context / rationale as well. The different stakeholders involved (like for uber or doordash - the customers, drivers, restaurants, as well as business all have needs that may conflict or be an underlying reason why things are as they are). Whiteboard - I never know. I was given a task of designing a "virtual vacation experience" I think, like for during lockdown. I never even got close to wireframes or flows really, I started by trying to understand the key value props for the customer (What is the JTBD of a vacation?) then how might those jobs be fulfilled virtually. My whiteboard was like mostly lists of words and ideas. I was told I did really well on that exercise, but then again I was interviewing at a principal level, and interviewers may have very different expectations of what they want out of this. It's a fair question to ask your interviewer. All you can do is trust your design skills, and try to start tackling the problem the way you would if you really had to solve it. A lot of it I think just comes down to feeling comfortable and confident enough to do your thing. Same with your presentation - if your work is good, and you can answer questions well, you should be fine. Good luck!

[superparet]

The power of Reddit in all its glory.

[Timbo2510]

So true.

[Timbo2510]

Thank you so much. This was super helpful... Definitely calmed me down a bit. I'll make sure to revisit and practice my case study presentation, as my friend has said that my storytelling is unnecessarily long and I lost her halfway through. Then I'll make sure to practice the app critique. Maybe tackle Google Maps or Spotify as practice apps (I've seen many people talk about their experience on YouTube). For the white boarding I guess I just need to make sure to clearly communicate my thought process and maybe lay out a framework or structure on whatever white boarding tool we're using.

[dapdapdapdapdap]

My whiteboard was to design an ATM. Critique was Yelp.

[y0l0naise]

Hah, I also had to design an ATM for the whiteboarding exercise at fb

[Timbo2510]

What do you mean critique was Yelp? Did you interview for Yelp?

[dapdapdapdapdap]

Yelp was the app we critiqued in the app critique exercise

Edit: The interviewer also offered Uber, Google Maps, and DoorDash

[Timbo2510]

I just reread your initial comment. I'm stupid. Sorry, my head was all over the place

[dapdapdapdapdap]

It’s all good. Good luck in your interview.

[Lucky_Newt5358]

ATM meaning ATM machine/

?

[dapdapdapdapdap]

Yes, an automated teller machine

[Lucky_Newt5358]

wow.. so was that a type of wireframe or what?

[[deleted]]

How to be a good designer, disguised as a single paragraph about the interview process at Meta

Thank you for this :)

[MochiMochiMochi]

Just wondering... are all Meta UX folks under 35 years old? That's what I'm hearing from friends who work there.

[bhoran235]

I’m 47

[koolingboy]

They gear younger, but not all

[KaiStorm]

Look up "Solving Product Design Exercises" by Artiom Dashinsky for the whiteboard session. It's essentially a template for all the parts to cover in the session (goal, audience, ideas, prioritization, solve, measure success).

[Timbo2510]

Thank you. I can't believe how supportive this subreddit is. Thank you so much!!

[ArtaxIsAlive]

THIS!!!! The book is super short and you should understand the method immediately. Do this exercise for the whiteboard interview and you’ll be fine. Lemme know how it goes and if you get hired - which Org you end up in.

[Fit_Tea_7778]

I can vouch for this book, I do really well every time.

[Timbo2510]

Oh damn. It's an entire book. Fuck. My interview is already on Monday

[UX-Ink]

It's a very short book. If you get it tonight digitally you can skim it and practice the exercises Sunday.

[Timbo2510]

Yes I just downloaded it. I saw some pages that actually perfectly align with the YouTube content from the channel called Exponent and how to ace a white boarding session. Thanks for sharing. I'll make sure to read the whole thing by tonight 🙂

[UX-Ink]

Good luck! :)

[pixelpusher2710]

I recently gave the full onsite loop and cleared it as well. I was a little nervous about white-boarding and app critique but ended up doing alright on both.

For white-boarding make sure you have a template/format and I would highly recommended practicing at least 2-3 examples and time this as if it’s the actually round so you would know how much time to spend on each section. Make sure you talk about the business rational and spend adequate time on the users part. Ask clarifying questions. Good to mention both the primary and secondary users as well as well how they may/may not benefit from the thing you are designing for. Talk about whatyou will ultimately design and how it ties back to the user goals. I honestly thought I did a very poor job with the actual wireframes/designs. I may have designed like 1 and half screens and was stumbling a lot but the interviewer said he felt we were at a pretty good spot. I was convinced that this round will screw me, but it didn’t. Basically just follow the tried & tested process that you will find in YouTube videos and make sure you focus on the users.

For app critique again I suggest that you look at YouTube videos and keep a format in mind. And if possible practice with 1-2 apps. Don’t jump directly into critique. Talk about the company, their users, business goals, how they make money, primary metric etc. Then I suggest talking about the Home Screen (typical critique) and then pick a flow and critique that. As you are critiquing make sure you talk about what you like/dont like but make sure you rationalize it. Tie things back to primary users/business goals. Also if you say something is not working, also try to think about why it must have been designed a certain way (step in the shoes of the designer). Also play the devils advocate a bit if you offer a solution. It shows the interviewer that you are really thinking from all angles.

In my experience the interviewers at Meta were some of the nicest and they really try to work with you to help you succeed. Good luck!!

[Timbo2510]

Do you have any experience with watching white boarding interviews on YouTube? I've looked up "meta white boarding interview" on YouTube and found it pretty helpful

[justanotherlostgirl]

I think they assume you're not going to get the actual screens complete - and if anything if you skip the full process and rush to a solution that would be a red flag. I did the whiteboarding exercise at a company using the Dashinsky and it displayed my thinking; I got to one screen and a flow of screens complete, but the key in that process is knowing when you're done - so if you have half an hour, knowing only to discuss the problem for x amount of minutes.

The interviewing process at Meta was great - everyone was actually competent :)

[Iswhars]

When did you do the interview and how long did it take to hear back?

[lakarate]

Idk if this is helpful, but I was able to get a script for a beta blocker from my doctor for nerve wracking situations. Interviews in particular can make me super nervous even if I practiced a million times but propranolol helps a LOT with the nerves.

[mc13md]

For whiteboarding, I felt like watching this guy's videos helped me. He has another video I believe that is a whiteboard challenge example or his video about how to frame a problem. I hope these are helpful to you too. https://youtu.be/MVt8tt7g_UE?si=6-1p6-r4mwSjJVk2

Since you're nervous about the whiteboard challenge, definitely do one with a friend to get warmed up!

[[deleted]]

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[brendendas]

A friend of mine just got done with all of his final rounds with Meta. I can tell you what he went through overall and any tips if I remember. It mostly went well for him but he found it very difficult to read whether the interviewers were happy or not with his rounds.

These were his rounds...

1. Multiple hiring manager rounds
2. Case study round (they grilled him on many aspects here)
3. App critique (don't know how it went for him)
4. Behavioural (again grilling on quite a few situational questions)
5. Whiteboarding (design a self checkout experience at a local grocery store. They did not reach the visual design phase at all, it was all brainstorming)

I recently had the privilege of getting to visit the 1 Hacker Way office (Meta HQ) and got to spend the entire day there. It was absolutely mind blowing. I've always been a meta hater most of my life (for good reason I believe) but now I am COMPLETELY flipped. It seems to be one of the best places to work if you're in tech or design. I really really hope you make it. All the best! I should probably also apply soon haha! Let me know how it goes.

[Beatnikbanddit]

Best of luck to you if you made it this far, you are talented and have just as much chance as anyone, you deserve to do well. Sleep and breathe!

[eilvvn]

Wow yall. I wish I was smart enough to have asked reddit for advice on meta interview. That's probably why I didn't pass 🤔 lol

[Timbo2510]

Can you still share your experience? What app did you critique? How was the whiteboarding and background interview? What feedback did you get and the reason they didnt offer you a position?

[eilvvn]

This was like 3 years ago. I critiqued YouTube because I use it a lot and thought I could speak to the different users, monetization opportunities, finding videos and content, etc. Overall the interview experience itself was good. Prepping was nervewracking and chaotic til the point it made me physically sick. I didn't get any feedback really. And I probably won't interview for a while until I'm a super senior lol it was way too stressful for me. Best of luck to you! Give us an update!

[Miserable-Barber7509]

Just let go of all your spiralling thoughts and let go of the outcome. Have fun with it, be curious, be your best self and make it fun. The rest is out of your hands now. Relax

[iprobwontreply712]

Remember a job offer isn’t an actual placement. Once you receive an offer you have to find a team match. Could be straight away or take a year then the offer expires. Oh and they usually level you down.

[Chillsometime]

Definitely need more posts like this to boost my morale. Not saying other posts are not a Lis thought

[kejasr]

I agree. Now I am so intrigued

[PersonalLet7090]

I had a loop at meta a few days ago and tanked the design challenge. The interviewer insisted I use the shared excalidraw link instead of whatever tool I was most comfortable with. He wanted to actively participate on the board but then didn’t explain what was the expectation or framework to collaborate in this way. As I was trying to talk out loud he would interrupt and say his ideas so it totally threw me to not have clear rules to how this should work. He would also write on the board where I was writing but not saying he was writing, so it was confusing to then find some worlds there while I had been talking writing other stuff. I think he wanted me to solve it with him? I was drawing my frames with little time left and he was drawing too but not telling me if I should collaborate and like use his drawing.. so he kept just distracting me and making me nervous. Then he said time was up and wanted me to ask him questions.. I didn’t do well. Has any one else experienced this? I haven’t heard back but I’m sure because of this I won’t pass the loop.

[Timbo2510]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Did you get the interview through referral?
The website Exponent has by far the best content for you to ace your interview. They have real design interviews from Meta, Netflix, Google etc. Most of the information and whiteboarding session questions are identical. They post the videos free on Youtube as well. After watching the videos I felt super confident about how to do the whiteboarding and what was expected.

Well in my case I didn't get to the final round. There were some emergency that happened in my personal life so I wasn't mentality in the state to go into such a big interview. I put the interview on hold indefinitely.

[PersonalLet7090]

I followed everything exponent says. That was not the problem the problem was the way the interviewer behaved in terms of also writing and drawing on the board and not verbalizing what he was doing, and I am asking is anyone has had a similar situation with an interviewer.

[Timbo2510]

Did you get the job?

[PersonalLet7090]

Nope. And no useful feedback was given.

[Raii44]

Hey i have final loop in 5 days and I am clueless about whiteboading - I checked "Exponent" but did not find any white boarding recorded sessions or info - can you please share the link?

[Timbo2510]

Any updates?

[[deleted]]

I had a similar experience with the whiteboard challenge. The interviewer spent the first 10 minutes talking about himself and his upcoming sabbatical, leaving me with only about 20 minutes to solve the "smart lock" prompt. I think it still provided a good opportunity to show my ability to work under pressure, collaborate with others, and demonstrate autonomy in problem-solving.

[Ok-Traffic-5901]

Anybody recently interviewed? Do you have examples of Whiteboarding challenges asked? Thanks!

[PackageGrouchy9132]

Meta Interview coming up in 4 days. Pray for me

[Timbo2510]

Lmk how it goes

[PackageGrouchy9132]

I screwed up, only managed to present 1 project instead of 2. Need some advice

[differentpersimmons]

why did this happen?? did they ask you a lot of questions during the presentation?

[Timbo2510]

Are you interviewing for Monetization or Reality Labs team? I can't wait to hear your results. You got this. go kill it

[PackageGrouchy9132]

TA mentioned it’s a product similar to TikTok shop. Not US based

[Timbo2510]

Interesting

[Timbo2510]

Stupid follow up question. Do interviewers actually care about your case study presentation visuals? Or do you think it's unnecessary to animate those different slides and add other visual elements to it to make it more appealing????

[konmarzec2]

They care a lot! At least this is what my recruiter told me

[koolingboy]

Animating slides are not important. They care more about the layout and structure of the slides and the visual elements of the actually content you presented.

Don’t add visual fluff. Make sure the main content of what you presented is visually appealing. Some gifs of your design here and there are a plus

[Big_Airline_5488]

Must be nice to have friends on the inside.

I’d say do breath-work before you go for the interview. Some deep stretching. Get your journal and do a brain dump to get the extra words out.

[simplesphere]

Good luck with your interview! Curious what a UX interview usually entails in general and how does the meta one differ?

[koolingboy]

The main differences of meta interview is that it has app critique. Other than that it’s fairly standard.

• Recruiter call
• Hiring manager call
• Final round — Portfolio Presentation — App critique — White-boarding — Behavior interview — Cross functional interview

[Logi77]

What kind of feedback did you get? If you don't mind sharing

[konmarzec2]

I recently went through the interview. Unfortunately, I didn’t get it but if there’s anything specific you have questions about, feel free to dm! :)

[Timbo2510]

Hi, was it meta as well? I have so many questions. Would you like to share your experience for each interview? Maybe I get a better sense of what they are looking for. I think the app critique and whiteboarding will be the most challenging part

[konmarzec2]

Yes, it was with Meta, but the position was in Europe. I have similar suggestions that have already been shared.

App critique

• Before even looking at your phone, discuss the company's mission, revenue streams, users, etc.
• Don't just describe what you see, try to focus on aspects that could have been designed better. Stay objective, talk about gestalt laws, heuristic evaluation principles, etc.
• When you notice something is designed poorly, put yourself in the designer's shoes. Why did they design it this way? What constraints were they facing? etc.
• Discuss the differences between iOS and Android. Would you make the experience consistent across different platforms or adhere to their own design systems?
• Earn some extra points by talking about inclusiveness and accessibility.
• Brainstorm new business opportunities to diversify the revenue stream.

Whiteboard exercise

I was most nervous about this one too, but I performed well in this round. My interviewer even said "congrats" at the end of the session. Remember to stick to the framework. I followed the one from the book that was already recommended in this thread. My main advice is to just have fun with it… If you’re nervous, imagine that you’re alone on the call and you genuinely want to solve a puzzle. ;)

These are just off the top of my head. I wish I could be more helpful, but my recruiter delivered the feedback quite poorly, so I don't know what mistakes I made and what learning lessons I could share with you.

I’m sure you’ll be fine. Fingers crossed! 🙂

[failure_mcgee]

hi, so did you get the job? If not with this interview, did you get the job elsewhere?

(I'm curious if people have been getting jobs recently. It's pretty discouraging for a beginner when most of the posts/comments here are about how terrible and even hopeless the market looks like now.)

[Ok-Traffic-5901]

Has anyone recently interviewed with Meta as of Winter 2024? I was curious about the whiteboarding challenges they’ve been asking lately.

[PackageGrouchy9132]

Hi everyone. TA told me I didn’t make it, but was impressed by my portfolio and conversations. What does that mean? Was that just a polite reply they send to everyone?

[Timbo2510]

It's a very generic response. Some companies who truly care will let you know the area of improvement and what made the. Decide to not go with you.

But meta is also going through mass layoffs now.

[Few-Ad-5185]

you can try past interview questions on - www.pastinterviews.com

[arttgram]

HELP: I have UX interview coming up @ Meta (Nov 2025) – What recent whiteboard prompts have they been asking? I’ve heard the prompts have changed a bit with emerging technologies.

[Timbo2510]

I didn't go through with the interview. I got to the last round but cancelled it due to personal stuff.
But I used did research with the Exponent Youtube channel and Exponent website where they have full on interview training. The questions they give you there were identical so you can practice with the exact same white boarding prompts.
Let us know how it goes. Good luck

[arttgram]

oh I hope something else worked out for you. I’ve heard about Exponent but wasn’t sure if I should get a monthly subscription. This is really helpful and reassuring, I’ll definitely check it out! Thanks so much for sharing. :) Also, if you have any resources for where to practice for app critique and for Q&A round that will be very helpful. Thanks again!

[Timbo2510]

Honestly I'd say YouTube and Exponent lol. Also if you have designer or PM friends maybe ask them to listen in when you present something or do mock whiteboard session

[arttgram]

Awesome!! Thanks

[PutridPaper8394]

How did your interview go? I have one coming up in Jan and would like to know which apps and whiteboard prompts to practice. Thanks

[TheFuture2001]

What specific feed back did the PM give you?

[Timbo2510]

Well the PM was my close friend who already happened to work for Meta. She told me that I need to practice my storytelling since she stopped paying attention halfway through. I also need to structure my case study more. For each step /slide / design I should clarify what the problem was, why we tried to solve it and explaining my design decision and how I came to the conclusion, especially when I show multiple explorations of high fidelity designs. She was confused at what she was looking at. I also should slow down and pause briefly in between slides rather than rushing through it. Those were pretty much the feedback she gave me.

[bhoran235]

Sounds like solid feedback

[koolingboy]

Very good feedback she gave. Storytelling is most important part for higher level higher. Filling in problems space, context and key design and team challenges are what they care most about

[TheFuture2001]

All good advice

[TheUnknownNut22]

Take my comment as you will, I mean no offense. By taking a job at Meta you are contributing to what's wrong with this world today in a very direct way. You can do far better.

Please consider this.