Meta Software Engineer Interview (questions, process, prep)

We’ve helped candidates (like Eric H) land software engineer offers at Meta, and here’s one of the first things you’ll want to know:

Array and string questions are BY FAR the most common coding questions asked by Meta, so you’ll want to make sure that you’re ready for them.  

Now let’s dive in (thanks to Pranav, ex-engineering manager at Meta, for helping us write this guide)

• Process and timeline
• Example questions
  • Coding interviews
  • Design interviews
  • Getting to know you interview
• Preparation tips

Note that if you're applying for an engineering manager role, this guide will be more relevant to you. We also have specific guides for the roles of data engineer, front-end engineer and production engineer.

Click here to practice 1-on-1 with ex-Meta SWE interviewers

1. Meta Software Engineer Role and Salary

Before we dive into the interview process and questions, let’s quickly cover some basics about the role you’re applying for.

1.1 What Does a Meta Software Engineer Do?

Software engineers within Meta have varying functions and roles that revolve around coding, creating, innovating, and solving problems. Each engineer contributes meaningfully to Meta’s mission of empowering individuals to build communities and foster global connections.

As Pranav, ex-engineering manager at Meta explained to us, "Meta is an engineering-driven company and engineers make most of the technical decisions".

Meta software engineers are often involved in developing and maintaining the company’s array of products and platforms, which include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Meta Quest, and more. They specialize in constructing, analyzing, and enhancing the scalability, efficiency, and stability of Meta’s various systems. Their responsibilities also include product development, data security, data analysis, coding, programming, synchronizing and coordinating server clusters.

“Engineers at Meta get a lot of say regarding the roadmap and wear multiple hats - project roadmapping, project management, data analysis, prototyping, etc., on top of the core coding expectations.” Yangshun Tay, Engineering Lead at Meta

Another thing that makes Meta unique is the speed at which projects happen. The "move fast, break stuff" motto still holds true to a large extent and engineers should be able to adjust to changing circumstances and priorities very quickly.

1.2 Meta Software Engineer Salary and Compensation

Meta's competitive salary is among the numerous factors that draw software engineers to the company.  Below are the average salaries and compensations for the different software engineer levels at Meta. This is based on the reported data from Levels.fyi.

Meta software engineers generally have a higher base salary and compensation than the software engineers of other big tech companies. According to Glassdoor, the average salary of Meta SWEs is 46% higher than the average salary of other software engineers in the US. 

Among the Big 5 tech companies (Meta, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Google), Meta pays the second-highest entry-level salary for software engineers, behind only Google. However, for senior level (L4-L9) software engineers, Meta offers the highest base salary and total compensation. It's also worth noting that Meta’s promotion cycle is faster compared to other companies. 
 

The average salary of Meta Software Engineers also varies depending on location or region. For example, a Level 6 Meta SWE in the US has a much higher annual salary than a Level 6 Meta SWE in India. 

While we presume that you already know which specific SWE level you are applying for, it’s still good to double-check this with your recruiter. Your recruiter should be able to advise you on which level you’re being evaluated.

2. Interview process and timeline

The good news is that Meta is great at sharing how its interviews work, so there's not much mystery. That doesn't mean it's going to be easy though!

2.1 What interviews to expect

What's the Meta software engineering interview process and timeline? It takes four to eight weeks on average and follows these steps:

1. Resume, cover letter, and referrals
2. Recruiter phone screen: one interview
3. Technical phone screen: one or two interviews
4. Onsite: four or five interviews

Let's look at each of these steps in more detail below:

2.1.1 Resume, cover letter, and referrals

First, recruiters will look at your resume and assess if your experience matches the open position. This is the most competitive step in the process—we’ve found that ~90% of candidates don’t make it past this stage.

So take extra care to tailor your engineering resume to the specific position you're applying to.

If you’re looking for expert feedback, get input from our team of ex-FAANG recruiters, who will cover what achievements to focus on (or ignore), how to fine tune your bullet points, and more.

2.1.2 Recruiter phone screen

In most cases, you'll start your interview process with Meta by talking to an HR recruiter on the phone. They are looking to confirm that you've got a chance of getting the job at all, so be prepared to explain your background and why you’re a good fit at Meta.

You should expect typical behavioral and resume questions like, "Tell me about yourself", "Why Meta", or "Tell me about your current day-to-day as a developer."

If you get past this first HR screen, the recruiter will then help schedule your first technical screens with a Meta engineer.

One great thing about Meta is that they are very transparent about their recruiting process. Your HR contact will therefore walk you through the remaining steps in the hiring process, and will also share with you a helpful email, listing resources you can use to prepare.

2.1.3 Technical phone screen

You'll go through one or two initial 45mins technical screens which usually happen over the phone. Your interviewers will start with a few behavioral questions but most of the time will be spent on typical coding questions (e.g. data structures, algorithms, etc.)

You'll use a simple online code editor without syntax highlighting or auto-completion for these phone interviews (e.g. CoderPad) and it's a good idea to get used to using one of them beforehand.

Finally, if you live close to a Meta office and are really motivated to join the company you can ask to come onsite for the initial screens. Your recruiter will usually be happy to organize this for you as it's a better experience both for you and your interviewers.

2.1.4 Onsite or "Full Loop" interviews

Onsite interviews are the real test. You'll typically spend a full day at a Meta office and do four or five interviews in total. Each interview will last about 45 minutes. There are three types of onsite interviews.

1. 2 x Coding interviews, where you'll solve general coding questions which will typically be harder than in the initial technical screen.
2. 1 or 2 x Design interview, where, depending on your background, you'll be asked a system or product design question
3. Getting to know you interview, where you can expect behavioral questions as well as questions about your experience and your motivation to work at Meta.

In addition to these interviews, you'll also have lunch with a fellow engineer while you are onsite. The lunch interview is meant to be your time to ask questions about what it's like to work at Meta. The company won't be evaluating you during this time, but we recommend that you behave as if they were.

And as a note, sometimes the onsite step of the interview process is done virtually instead of in-person. Your recruiter can give you more information when you reach this stage. 

Click here to download the official Meta Full Loop software engineer interview guide

2.2 Differences between levels and roles

The process we have described above will vary slightly depending on what level and role you're interviewing for. Here are some of the most common differences you should expect.

2.2.1 Junior vs senior software engineers

The expectations for junior and senior engineers are different.

If you're an entry-level / junior engineer you'll be expected to do extremely well in your coding interviews. But you'll usually only have one design interview where the performance bar will be lower than for more senior candidates.

If you're a senior engineer then you'll both need to do extremely well in coding and design interviews, and you'll probably face two of each.

2.2.2 Individual contributors vs managers

Meta has two career tracks. You can either grow into a manager where you end up leading teams of engineers (management track). Or you can stay very hands-on technically and specialize as you become more senior (individual contributor track).

If you're interviewing as an individual contributor then you should mainly expect technical interviews and will typically only have a single behavioral interview.

If you're interviewing as a manager, director, or above then you may face more than one behavioral interview. Be prepared to answer questions about how you develop people, work with cross-functional teams, execute on projects, grow an organization, etc.

2.3 What happens behind the scenes

3. Example questions

Here at IGotAnOffer, we believe in data-driven interview preparation. 

We've analyzed 170+ software engineer interview questions reported by Meta candidates on Glassdoor, to identify the types of questions which are most frequently asked. 

And below, we've provided a curated list of real example questions and free solutions.

For coding interviews, we've broken down the questions you'll be asked into subcategories (e.g. Arrays / Strings, Graphs / Trees, etc.), so that you can prioritize the most common ones in your preparation.

For system design and behavioral questions, we've listed 10 example questions that were frequently reported on Glassdoor.

Let's get into the questions!

3.1 Coding interviews

Meta software engineers solve some of the most difficult problems the company faces with code. It's therefore essential that they have strong problem-solving skills. You'll face two coding interviews and you'll need to show that you think in a structured way and write code that's accurate, bug-free and fast.

Judging by reports from candidates on Glassdoor, the typical difficulty level is "Leetcode medium" although this may increase you're interviewing at a higher level.

Here are the most common question types asked in Meta coding interviews and their frequency. Please note the list below excludes system/product design and behavioral questions which we cover in the next sections.

1. Arrays / Strings (38% of questions, most frequent)
2. Graphs / Trees (29%)
3. Dynamic Programming (18%)
4. Search / Sort (9%)
5. Linked lists (4%)
6. Stacks / Queues (2%, least frequent)

We've also listed common examples used at Meta for these different question types below. To make these questions easier to study, we've modified the phrasing to match the closest problem on Leetcode or another resource, and we've linked to a free solution.

Finally, we recommend reading this guide on how to answer coding interview questions and practicing with this list of coding interview examples in addition to those listed below.