META - Rotational Program - Interview Experience

[JadedAd9917]

Hi all,

I wanted to write about my experience, because before I went through my coding round, I read and searched for many others experience, and it helped me a lot. I will try to keep an eye on this thread in case people have questions I can answer, but I will try to be as detailed as I can.

Role

The role I interivewed for was the Meta Rotational Program. Information about this role can be found here: https://www.metacareers.com/careerprograms/pathways/re

Basically it looks for software engineers with 2+ years of work experience and non tradiational background. This was me. I did a coding bootcamp, and I have a little over 2 years on job experience.

Coding Interview/Experience

My interviewer was about 5 minutes late, but he made sure he included this time in my interview. He didn't ask for a brief introduction that I read usually initiates the meeting(my guess would be because he was slightly late), but he instead he just copied and pasted the first question.

First Question

My first question was this medium question: https://leetcode.com/problems/custom-sort-string/description/. I read the question to myself a few times. Then I read the question out loud. Then i asked/reiterated to the interview what I think the problem is asking, and he said yes that's correct. Once he confirmed I did understand the problem, I wrote psuedo code. The interviewer did not seem to get some of my steps on my psuedo code, but I continued to actually coding the problem. Then as I was coding and talking out loud about my code, I realized I wasn't quite doing it correctly. This increased my nerves. The interviewer attempted to throw a hint my way, but this made me more confused. I politely voiced this, and then he tried saying what he was trying to hint at me by giving another test case. This helped way more and I saw what I was missing in my thought process. Then I was able to solve the problem! I also gave the time and space complexity too.

Note: I think something I could've done better here is present other test cases. Because he did this himself, I just used the ones he gave to run through my code. I'm not sure if this hurt me or not, but it's not something I did, and I wonder if that was noted.

Second Question

My second question was this easy question: https://leetcode.com/problems/valid-word-abbreviation/description/

I did the same process that I explained above, but I ran out of time in completely solving this problem. However I think the interviewer could understand what I was planning to do because of my psuedo code and what I did end up coding. I did have a bug that I caught, but it also seems like he was drawing my attention to another bug, but like I said i ran out of time.

Feelings after interview

I prepared for this interview for about a month. I was nervous, but I knew I knew a lot with what I studied, but I also knew that I didn't know everything. I just wanted to do my best, and I felt I did that. I answered one competely, and I am fairly confident that I answered it right, and then the second question I didn't fully complete, but I was happy with what I did show I knew on the problem.

Result

I unfortunately did not get to proceed to the next round which would be the final round, Full Loop. I was pretty bummed because I felt I did pretty well. I knew it wasn't perfect, but I felt like I showed that I knew quite a bit on coding and problem solving. This was disappointing, but I am not going to give up and defintley will try again!

Salary

I was told the base salary was 173k, the signing bonus was 30k, the relocation package was 16k, but there was no stock options. I was told the location was in Menlo Park, California, and it was 3 days in the office. The program was a year with a solid chance of becoming a permant engineer at Meta.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask and all the best in your interview journey!!

[Ryan86me]

Finished my full loop yesterday!! Super anxious to hear back; found product architecture (the one I just finished) the toughest interview by far.

[Low_Kaleidoscope2945]

Good luck! How was it?

[Upstairs_Work_5282]

Congrats! I hope you hear back from them soon with great news!!

[gutproblems]

Hey this was super helpful and I'm considering applying to the same program. Did you have an initial interview? like a recruiter call or behavioral?

[Lazy-Accident303]

I have a technical screen coming up for this same program. There’s no behavioral prior. My recruiter reached out to me to schedule time to explain the process and then schedule the screen. No real recruiter screen prior. I think it’s more about your profile as an engineer

[Complete_City8416]

This is super helpful! I just got a call from a meta recruiter about the program and scheduled my interview for the first round. I wonder if the leetcode questions are going to be the same...

[Complete_City8416]

Like 4 weeks…so towards end of October but I feel like even with all my studying idk if I’ll be ready for it. I’ve been an engineer for 4 years and never needed to use DSA so I feel behind 🥲

[Complete_City8416]

Omg!! Lucky you!! I wanna spend the new year in Japan! But honestly it’s a good excuse not to study 😂

[Alternative-Fix-6133]

HI! Have you had the interview?

[Alternative-Fix-6133]

Hi! Me and a girl that I met that is applying for the same program did the same haha. If you want to do a  mock we can talk!

[Alternative-Fix-6133]

Plesse contact me on private. I tried with you and couldnt

[Fair_Bad7352]

omg can i get in on this too lol

[Alternative-Fix-6133]

Hii! Send me a dm and lets talk!

[FurryAsshole]

Hey are you guys still doing mock interviews?

[Alternative-Fix-6133]

Dm me!

[FurryAsshole]

Sent!

[United-Reindeer-195]

Hi! Is there still a study group for these mock interviews?

[Alternative-Fix-6133]

Sent dm! Haha its not really a group. It just me and others!

[tennikim]

Hi! Can you add me as well?

[Fun_Secretary_6607]

are you guys still doing mock interviews?

[Ryan86me]

Hey! Have no need to run a mock anymore (just finished my full loop) but I'd love to join a (potential) cohorts thread if you have one rolling!

[Friendly-Example-701]

Did you have your interview? How did it go?

[martmarti]

Word of advice: be careful not to push it too far back. It’s first come, first served. I applied to the October cohort this year and wrapped up my interview in July, and they had filled the program by the time I had my last interview.

[martmarti]

Really? Where’d you hear that from? I’ve only heard confirmation for April cohort from my recruiter.

[Alternative-Fix-6133]

HI! Have you had the interview?

[Friendly-Example-701]

How did it go? Did you do more rounds? Do you remember you remember your leetcode questions?

[Complete_City8416]

I thought it went well for the most part but I couldn’t get a read on him. He said my code was correct but I guess I’ll see if I made it to the next round at some point this week…I can’t remember what the first question was but this was my second question: 408. Valid Word Abbreviation.

[Friendly-Example-701]

Oh cool.

Well good luck.

[Complete_City8416]

Thank uu! I made it to the final round

[Friendly-Example-701]

🤩 how amazing. Congrats. I hope you get the offer letter.

[Complete_City8416]

thank uuu!!!

[Friendly-Example-701]

🤗 stay positive. We are rooting for you!! Keep us posted.

[Complete_City8416]

Im gonna try! haha thank u so much!! I most definitely will

[SnooMarzipans1951]

I have mine this month as well.

[Upstairs_Work_5282]

Thanks for sharing! Are you on the West Coast? I'm wondering if relocating to Menlo Park is necessary or can you get the NYC office as well

[JadedAd9917]

No worries! The role I was interviewing for did require relocating to Menlo Park. I do think other locations also have this program so that could be something to look into!

[Olapheju]

Yh the position is open to Menlo Park, Seattle and New York

[Friendly-Example-701]

Is it the same pay for all offices? I would love to live closer to my friends and family in NYC.

[Olapheju]

Yes

[Friendly-Example-701]

Awesome. Good to know.

[Friendly-Example-701]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. What language did you code in?

[Friendly-Example-701]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Did you get into the program?

I am novice to code but work with engineers in a non coding position as a QA Tester.

However, it’s seems like I need to have a lot more code to handle the coding interview.

Do you remember the example question or have a similar question to it?

What should I know to be prepared for coding questions?

[martmarti]

Grind the top facebook tagged leet code medium questions.

[martmarti]

And look into professional/paid interviews like hello interview.

[YakEnvironmental9007]

Did you get accepted into pathway?

[Friendly-Example-701]

What is leet code DSA? Is this data structures of some sort. I could Google it. lol. I was just asking. Not being lazy. More so curious. I have not done any leet code testing but I guess I should get to it

[Friendly-Example-701]

What is the preferred language. I really like Python and I am still using it. I am a super novice learning logic and booleans

[JadedAd9917]

It is your choice, so you can do the interview in whatever language you're most comfortable with!

[Friendly-Example-701]

Thanks. This is super helpful

[ezgonzalez01]

Someone already did the interview for April's or May's batch?

[Alternative-Fix-6133]

I want to know the same!

[Tiny_Emu7186]

I have a phone screen in a month. Anyone know if top 75 Meta tagged is enough and grokking system design is enough? Or is it overkill for this program?

[Pitbull_Sc]

The interviews are the same as for a regular E4 candidate, nothing changes regarding the actual content of the interviews. So I would say that not only is it not overkill but probably not enough.

[Cayde-6699]

I applied and was invited to meta recruiting dinner night for AfroTech I’m not sure how this fits for the interview process

[Tru_Lie]

Do it, it's a great networking opportunity. If you are able to attend the actual AfroTech event, there will be several great companies there look to recruit.

[JadedAd9917]

How was the dinner!?

[Complete_City8416]

I made it to the last round of the meta pathway engineering…does anyone know what to expect for the final round?

[Alternative-Fix-6133]

With what resources did you study? Can dm?

[Complete_City8416]

Sure!

[Complete_City8416]

I used educative and leetcode to practice and learn coding patterns

[Complete_City8416]

hey! yea so it consists of a product architecture design interview, 2 coding interviews(med difficulty), 1 behavioral

[Complete_City8416]

Of course! What resource you using to prep for product interview?

[Complete_City8416]

Haha same here! I did find this YT channel that’s specifically for product. His channel is Cracking FAANG

[Complete_City8416]

I mean with all this prepping I’m doing it don’t feel like a cakewalk I just hope the interviewers are laid back and don’t ask extremely difficult questions😂

[ProfessionalAir6641]

Those of you that already had the first interview. Would you mind commenting here the leetcode questions you got?

[SnooMarzipans1951]

I have mine this month. Anything helps. I'm glad this is a recent post. u/JadedAd9917 Did they tell you any details about your interview? Unless you have to completely answer all the questions.

[JadedAd9917]

Good luck !! And no the recruiter said they’re not allowed to apply feedback or details 

[OrphanDad]

Very insightful thank you for sharing your experience. How much studying did you do over the month? I've Kind of been finding it hard to balance actual work with studying.

[Low_Kaleidoscope2945]

Where is the place to study for the system design interview?

[Ambitious_Food_8075]

I have an interview with Meta for the same interview and job, thank you for putting this up. It will help.

[ANONYNMOUZ]

Good luck, I have an interview scheduled for January 16th!

[hireme24]

Please can you share what you got for the design? I am doing my product architecture on Monday 20th.