Meta Interview Questions

Meta Data Manipulation (SQL/Python) Interview Questions

Practice 1,159 real Meta interview questions for 2026. Covers top categories — Coding & Algorithms, Analytics & Experimentation, Data Manipulation (SQL/Python), Behavioral & Leadership, and System Design — across Software Engineer, Data Scientist, Machine Learning Engineer, Data Engineer, and Product Manager roles. Real questions from actual interviews with detailed solutions. Expect a software-engineering-heavy loop: timed algorithmic coding (trees, arrays, graph/maze problems, delimiter/CSV parsing), system-design prompts like leaderboards, flight search and online-judge architectures, and an increasingly common AI-assisted coding round that mirrors real workflows. Data Scientist rounds emphasize product analytics and experimentation—designing tests, diagnosing spend drops and bots, evaluating unconnected content, and writing SQL for multi-account, seller, and vehicle metrics. Machine Learning Engineer questions skew toward recommender and ranking work (place and friend recommendation, sparse-matrix ops, linear-regression derivations, newsfeed dislike models). Data Engineers focus on data modeling, ETL, capacity calculations, reservations/utilization queries, and production SQL/Python tasks. For interview preparation, prioritize timed coding practice, system-design templates, rigorous SQL drills (joins/CTEs/aggregation), clear A/B-testing frameworks, and concise STAR behavioral stories tied to measurable impact.

1.2k Questions 1 Company07.06.2026
Showing 20 results
Role
Meta logo
Meta
Medium
Software Engineer

Find balanced subarray and increasing tree path

You are given two coding problems. Problem 1: Longest balanced subarray (0/1) Given an integer array nums of length n where each element is either 0 o...

Coding & Algorithms
5
0
61 people solved
Nov 2, 2025
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Meta
Easy
Software Engineer

Implement Multi-Level In-Memory Services

Implement the following independent multi-level in-memory service simulations. In an interview, you may receive one scenario and unlock the levels seq...

Coding & Algorithms
0
0
10 people solved
Apr 4, 2026
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Meta
Easy
Data Scientist

How would you compare Facebook vs Instagram Stories?

You work on short-form ephemeral content. Both Facebook Stories and Instagram Stories exist, and leadership asks: Which product should we invest in, a...

Analytics & Experimentation
11
0
98 people solved
Nov 1, 2025
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Meta
Easy
Data Scientist Locked

Compute CTR for peak vs non-peak hours

This question evaluates a candidate's ability to compute time-based click-through rate metrics using SQL and data manipulation techniques, including j...

Data Manipulation (SQL/Python)
9
0
63 people solved
Feb 16, 2026
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Meta
Easy
Analytics Engineer Locked

Detect fake accounts and measure their impact

This question evaluates competency in fraud detection, causal impact measurement, experimentation design, and operational analytics for product and ad...

Analytics & Experimentation
3
0
30 people solved
Feb 15, 2026
Meta logo
Meta
Hard
Data Engineer

Model entities for feed content and shares

Scenario You are designing the data model for a social app’s News Feed that shows multiple content types (text, image, short video). Users can interac...

System Design
22
0
153 people solved
Dec 1, 2025
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Meta
Medium
Software Engineer Locked

Implement fast power and k-palindrome

This question evaluates numerical algorithm design and string algorithm skills, focusing on efficient exponentiation with negative exponents and deter...

Coding & Algorithms
5
0
44 people solved
Apr 1, 2026
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Meta
Medium
Data Scientist Locked

Evaluate a new-listing notification feature

This question evaluates product analytics, causal inference, experimentation design, metric definition, and business-impact estimation competencies fo...

Analytics & Experimentation
3
0
28 people solved
Feb 15, 2026
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Meta
Medium
Data Scientist

Evaluate new-product notification feature

A marketplace team is considering building a feature that notifies buyers when new products relevant to their interests are listed. How would you dete...

Analytics & Experimentation
4
0
33 people solved
Jan 5, 2026
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Meta
Medium
Machine Learning Engineer Locked

Design concurrent expiring job registry

This question evaluates understanding of concurrent data structures, synchronization primitives, time-based expiration semantics, and efficient cleanu...

Software Engineering Fundamentals
2
0
29 people solved
Nov 28, 2025
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Meta
Medium
Data Scientist

How investigate a brand-ad spend drop?

Meta has a video ads product with two ad types: - Direct ads: optimized for in-platform actions - Brand ads: users click the video ad and are sent to ...

Analytics & Experimentation
3
0
25 people solved
Jan 3, 2026
Meta logo
Meta
Medium
Software Engineer

Implement an in-memory key-field-value DB with TTL

In-Memory DB with TTL + Scan + Backup/Restore Implement an in-memory database storing records by (key, field) -> value with optional TTL. Data model /...

Coding & Algorithms
10
0
128 people solved
Feb 11, 2026
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Meta
Medium
Data Scientist

How would you validate a driving simulator’s realism?

You work on autonomous driving evaluation. You have two datasets for the same set of driving scenarios: - Real-world logs collected from vehicles (gro...

Analytics & Experimentation
5
0
41 people solved
Nov 24, 2025
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Meta
Medium
Data Scientist

How would you predict a car’s turning intention?

At an intersection, there are n vehicles stopped or approaching. For each vehicle, you have a short history (e.g., last 3–10 seconds at 10 Hz) of: - P...

Machine Learning
7
0
54 people solved
Nov 24, 2025
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Meta
Medium
Data Scientist

Describe Handling Cross-Functional Projects and Changing Priorities

Describe Handling Cross-Functional Projects and Changing Priorities This behavioral prompt evaluates how you collaborate across functions, respond to ...

Behavioral & Leadership
52
0
84 people solved
Jul 12, 2025
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Meta
Medium
Data Scientist

Evaluating a 15 % reduction in post‑card height

Evaluating a 15 Percent Reduction in Post-card Height You own the feed UX for a social app. Designers propose shrinking each post card's height by 15 ...

Analytics & Experimentation
147
1
111 people solved
Jul 12, 2025
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Meta
Medium
Machine Learning EngineerIntern AI Locked

Derive Linear Regression Solution

This question evaluates understanding of one-dimensional linear regression estimation, the statistical derivation of the mean squared error objective ...

Machine Learning
8
0
58 people solved
Feb 8, 2026
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Meta
Medium
Software EngineerSenior+ Locked

Solve Tree Diameter and Palindromic Counts

This two-problem prompt evaluates proficiency in tree algorithms and recursion for computing longest paths in binary trees, along with string processi...

Coding & Algorithms
1
0
15 people solved
May 21, 2026
Meta logo
Meta
Medium
Software EngineerSenior+ AI Locked

Solve Tree Columns And Maze Variants

This question evaluates tree traversal and column-based grouping skills along with grid-based graph search, state modeling, and handling dynamic maze ...

Coding & Algorithms
2
0
20 people solved
May 21, 2026
Meta logo
Meta
Medium
Data Scientist

Propose an ads recommendation model for shop ads

You need to propose a modeling approach for recommending/ranking shop ads (i.e., which shop ads to show and in what order) for a marketplace app. Desc...

Machine Learning
5
0
42 people solved
Oct 14, 2025

Frequently Asked Questions

How difficult are Meta interview questions?
Meta interview questions span a wide difficulty range because they must screen candidates from entry to senior levels across many functions. Expect coding rounds to map to medium-to-hard algorithmic problems that appear in top 100 problem lists for software engineers, and expect data roles to face challenging SQL, experiment diagnosis, and product-analytics problems that require clean metric definitions. Machine learning roles emphasize recommendation and ranking tradeoffs and model complexity, while data engineers encounter large-scale ETL and modeling puzzles. Difficulty scales with level: entry hires see clearer, bounded problems; senior hires face ambiguous tradeoffs and system-wide thinking.
What is Meta's interview process and where do these questions appear?
Meta typically runs a multi-stage process: recruiter screen, one or two technical screens or an online assessment, a full loop of onsite-style interviews, then debrief, committee review, and offer. The full loop mixes coding, system or product design, role-specific technical rounds, and behavioral interviews. Software-engineer candidates spend most time on coding and design; data scientists focus on SQL, experimentation, and product analytics; machine-learning engineers see modeling and recommendation design; data engineers handle SQL, data modeling, and pipeline questions; PMs get product-design and analytics probes. In 2025–2026 some teams pilot AI-enabled coding rounds.
How should I structure a preparation timeline for a Meta interview?
A focused six-week plan works well: weeks one and two cover fundamentals—data structures, algorithms, SQL basics, and experiment design; weeks three and four emphasize timed problem practice, mock phone screens, and role-specific cases (A/B diagnosis for data scientists, model design for MLEs, ETL modeling for data engineers); week five concentrates on system or product design and behavioral storytelling; week six is for full mock loops, timing, and refining communication. Practice with realistic tools, simulate loop pacing, and schedule a debrief after each mock to iterate on clarity, edge-case handling, and time management.
Which technical subtopics are most commonly tested for each role at Meta?
For Data Scientist interviews the recurring technical themes are product-metric definition, diagnosing experiment and spend drops, counting multi-account interactions, SQL for multi-entity metrics, and ranking or recommendation evaluation such as shop ad ranking. Software-engineer questions frequently focus on timestamped state and versioned systems, leaderboards and ranking, maze/graph traversal and tree/array transforms, delimiter and CSV parsing, and scalable search or flight-search style designs. Machine-learning engineers see place and friend recommendation design, sparse-matrix operations, ranking/loss choices, and feed dislike or personalization models. Data engineers repeatedly face entity modeling for feed and booking data, SQL analytics for utilization and reservations, and capacity-aware aggregation challenges.
What standout tips and common pitfalls should I watch for in Meta interviews?
Start interviews by clarifying requirements and expected outputs, then propose measurable success metrics; this prevents misaligned solutions. For coding, think aloud, handle edge cases, state complexity up front, and write a couple of quick tests. In design rounds quantify load, storage, and tradeoffs rather than vague features. Data roles must define metrics, guardrails, and experiment assumptions before jumping to analysis; common pitfalls are ambiguous metric definitions, peeking at tests, and ignoring instrumentation limits. For AI-assisted coding rounds, use the assistant to accelerate boilerplate but validate logic and corner cases yourself. Finish each answer with a concise summary of impact and tradeoffs.

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