Interview Experiences

Real candidates, real loops: every round, what was asked, and how it ended.

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138 stories

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MetaSoftware EngineerSenior+
May 2026

Strong Everywhere Except System Design

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RejectedOnsiteXP0
MetaSoftware Engineer
Apr 2026

Five Rounds Including AI Coding and a New Agentic System Design Round

The full loop has a new format now — five rounds, and I got the rejection letter a week later. Round one, behavioral (BQ). Went pretty well — the usual how-do-you-resolve-conflict stuff, plus some talk about impactful projects, especially AI projects. Round two, AI coding: a card game — find three cards that sum to 15. Split into three steps: find the bug, implement the algorithm, optimize the al…

RejectedOnsite0
MetaSoftware EngineerSenior+
Apr 2026

Passed a Four-Round AI-Enabled Onsite, Team Match Still in Limbo

Position: Software Engineer, Product Result: Target E5 Pass The OA was pretty old at this point, but the questions are in the forum's question bank. The recruiter waived my phone screen and put me straight into the onsite. The onsite was 4 rounds total. AI-Enabled System Design Billed as "AI-Enabled," but the interviewer seemed to be doing this format for the first time — his question bank wasn't…

In progressOnsite0
MetaProduct Growth AnalystSenior+
Apr 2026

Rejected After a Recruiter Screen Over 'Strategy Analysis'

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RejectedHR ScreenPremium0
MetaSite Reliability EngineerSenior+
Apr 2026

Two Phone Screens and an Inexplicable Rejection

Two phone screens for Meta PE (the SRE-equivalent role there), 45 minutes each. Round 1, System (full-loop troubleshooting): same prompt as another thread posted on this forum, but the interviewer didn't seem to have a specific answer in mind. They asked a bunch of pretty open-ended things — how do you make sure everything keeps running smoothly during the days you're on call? If something breaks…

RejectedTechnical Screen0
MetaSoftware EngineerSenior+
Apr 2026

E5 Full Loop with a Card-Deck AI Coding Round

Recruiter reachout came in late February. After that, every step got scheduled about a month out — the whole process moved at a pretty relaxed pace. Phone Screen LC 65 (medium; also the second question from a 12/4 compiled coding list on the forum). VO (virtual onsite) Coding: LC 121; LC 199 AI coding: a card deck problem BQ: favorite project (scope/complexity) / conflict resolution / moving fast…

Onsite0
MetaSoftware Engineer
Apr 2026

OA for a Brand-New AI Native Team

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In progressOnline AssessmentXP0
MetaBackend Engineer
Apr 2026

Interviewed for E5, Downgraded to E4 After the Onsite

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In progressOnsiteXP0
MetaEngineering ManagerSenior+
Reported Apr 2026

Passed the Screen, Then the Full Loop Was Cancelled

This one began well. A recruiter contacted me first, and she was friendly, professional and really helpful. In this market it is hard to even get a recruiter to notice you, so that alone felt like a big deal. They were flexible about scheduling, and I booked my screening for the EM1 role about two weeks out. To get ready I used an online interview prep course. I worked through all of the top syst…

Technical Screen0
MetaProduction Engineer
Apr 2026

Recruiter Screen, Two Coding Problems, and a Failed Outage Troubleshooting Round

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RejectedTechnical ScreenXP0
MetaSoftware EngineerSenior+
Reported Apr 2026

Bombed Coding, Strong Design Rounds, Follow-ups Before E6 Team Matching

Meta had been on my wishlist ever since it began hiring in Bangalore in February 2025. An old colleague, now an E7, gave me a referral, and through all of 2025 I applied to a wide spread of openings without once checking the level requirements. Job alerts were on, and any new posting got an application from me right away. At some point a recruiter hiring for an E6 role based in London reached out…

In progressOnsite0
MetaSoftware EngineerSenior+
Reported Mar 2026

Bombed Algorithmic Coding, Got a Retry and Reached Team Match

Background A recruiter cold-emailed me about an E5 position at Meta two years ago. I was already half-looking to leave my job, so I went for it. I made it to the last round, but the product architecture round and one of the coding rounds went badly for me. I'm back this time because layoffs look likely where I work now, and I wanted to prepare differently. My prep came down to three things: an on…

In progressOnsite0
MetaSoftware Engineer
Mar 2026

the OA Was Basically the Same as a Study Article

The Meta RS OA wasn't too hard. I'd previously studied from an article that turned out to basically be the exact same questions. Q1: You need to find the index computed from rating divided by prices. If two entries tie, keep the one with the smaller index. When comparing, you don't need to compute the actual decimal — just cross-multiply to compare the two fractions directly. Q2: You need to comp…

Online Assessment0
MetaSoftware Engineer
Mar 2026

Two AI Coding Rounds, a LeetCode System Design, and an AI-Enabled Design Round With No AI

Two AI coding rounds, one traditional system design, one AI-Enabled Design round. AI coding 1: Max Unique Character Subset — given a list of words, find a subset of words where no two words in the subset share any repeated letters, and the subset covers the largest possible total number of unique letters. AI coding 2: Kind of a mess. This round the interviewer opened by telling me he hadn't reali…

In progressOnsite0
MetaSoftware EngineerSenior+
Mar 2026

Strong E6 Onsite, Rejected at Hiring Committee

A while back I interviewed for an E6 INFRA role at Meta. Every single interview felt positive, but I ultimately got cut at the hiring committee round, with no specific feedback. Pretty frustrated, but nothing to do except move on. Phone screens: I got "Er Liu" and "Odd Mutant" — aced both. Onsite coding: "Commander" and "Yao San San" — also aced both, and the follow-up edge cases the interviewer…

RejectedOnsite0
MetaData Scientist
Mar 2026

Same Forum-Famous Questions, Completely Different Numbers

SQL: Active Ads AR: Ads algorithm AE: Fake account Behavioral: Breakthrough project, disagreeing with someone, reporting to someone new to the team, how to make others feel welcome These are all old questions from the forum — really grateful to everyone who shared before me. Though it might be because they're old questions, the interviewer had changed them. The SQL one especially — same framework…

In progressOnsite0
MetaSoftware Engineer
Mar 2026

Weak Signal on Coding 2 But the Offer Came Anyway

I feel really lucky, I got a great recruiter. From the initial reach out all the way to finalizing the offer they were thorough about everything, kept emphasizing "I'm on your side." In the debrief they told me Coding 2 had a weak signal, but the quorum still generously let it through. The interviewers were all nice too — when I interviewed for an intern role before I ran into people who were dis…

OfferOnsite0
MetaMachine Learning EngineerSenior+
Mar 2026

New AI-Coding Round on Compiler Optimization

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In progressOnsiteXP0
MetaData Scientist
Mar 2026

SQL, AE, AR, and BH Rounds, Still Waiting to Hear Back

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In progressOnsiteXP0
MetaData Engineer
Mar 2026

Tech Screen Into a Four-Round Full Loop

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OnsiteXP0

What are interview experiences?

An interview experience is a candidate's own account of a hiring loop — not a question bank entry. It tells you the shape of the process: how many rounds there were, what each round actually tested, how long the gaps between them ran, and what the recruiter said at the end. That context is the part a question list cannot give you.

How to read them

Weight recent write-ups more heavily — interview loops change, often within a year. Read several for the same company and role rather than one: a single account tells you what one interviewer asked, while five tell you what the bar is. Note the outcome badge too, since a rejection write-up usually explains the gap far more precisely than an offer one.

Share your own

Every published experience earns 50 XP, and each of the first 3 likes it receives in a day earns you 10 XP more. Likes must come from established accounts; like-for-like swaps and likes from your own second account are not paid. Write it while the details are fresh — the round order, the exact prompts, and how much time you were given are what the next reader needs.

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