Interview Experiences

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

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125 stories

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MetaData ScientistIntern
Oct 2025

A Monetization Case Built Around a Messenger P2P Payments Feature

This was for the Data Science, Analytics (PhD) summer intern position. The interviewer's background was in monetization. His questions followed pretty much the standard pattern you see on the forum — business goal / metric / experiment — and then he dug into specific points based on what I said. Roughly, he asked: Do you think it would be worth adding a Venmo-like peer-to-peer money transfer feat…

Onsite0
MetaData Scientist
Oct 2025

Four-Part Onsite, a Mismatched SQL Round, and IC4 Despite 5+ Years

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In progressOnsiteXP0
MetaData ScientistNew Grad
Oct 2025

Group Video Call Onsite With SQL, AE, AR, and BQ Rounds

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In progressOnsiteXP0
MetaData Scientist
Oct 2025

Onsite Loop with a SQL Live-Coding Slip

AR (Circle): A lot of the questions had already shown up in earlier interview reports, but the interviewer followed up heavily based on how I answered, and I'm honestly not sure whether I actually landed on what she was looking for. AE (Ads in Feed): Most of it was also questions from prior interview reports. The interviewer had a fairly strong accent and her questions weren't always clear, so it…

Onsite0
MetaData Scientist
Oct 2025

Recruiter Flagged a Red Flag on My SQL Metric

AE: The euro-chat question — there's a chatbot used for B2C customer service, and the question was how you'd define success, testing, etc. Behavioral: Standard questions. SQL: The shop visibility question. Overall pretty standard questions, and the last part asked me to define my own metric to prove whether new shops are more active. Afterward the recruiter's feedback said I had a red flag on thi…

Onsite0
MetaData Scientist
Oct 2025

Offer on Christmas Eve After a Screen and a VO

Got the offer on Christmas Eve — sharing it back with the forum. Timeline: Oct 29 — a university recruiter reached out Nov 19 — screening interview with the interviewer Dec 19 — VO (virtual onsite) with the interviewer Dec 24 — offer I was genuinely swamped at the end of the year, and on top of that I knew nothing about product case questions or SQL, so I ended up dragging this whole process out.…

OfferOnsite0
MetaData Scientist
Oct 2025

A Notification Launch Case Built From Adversarial Follow-ups

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Technical ScreenXP0
MetaData Scientist
Oct 2025

Two SQL Questions on Post Success Rate

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Technical ScreenXP0
MetaData Scientist
Oct 2025

AR, AE, SQL, and BQ Onsite Rounds, No Offer

Honestly, way too many people have been copying interview notes over to Xiaohongshu lately, so I've set some limits on mine — I don't want to be scrolling xhs and suddenly run into my own interview notes, lol. AR: Felt like a new question — hadn't seen it in recent interview notes. The question was: suppose you're on the ads team and you built a new ad recommendation model, how would you go about…

RejectedOnsite0
MetaData Scientist
Oct 2025

SQL and Product Sense in a 45-Minute Screen

Giving back to the forum. I scheduled this interview in late March for early April. The interviewer was very nice and patiently gave me hints — maybe a few too many hints, so I'm not sure how it'll turn out. I didn't hear anything within 24 hours, so I'm probably out, but I don't think I could have done any better. While it's still fresh in my memory, let me share it with everyone. Round 1: Techn…

Technical Screen0
MetaData Scientist
Oct 2025

Three-Day Onsite, Rejected Over Shallow Stats Depth

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RejectedOnsiteXP0
MetaData Scientist
Oct 2025

SQL, Behavioral, and Analytics Execution Rounds

The behavioral round was also some classic questions. For this round I also prepared one example for each question mentioned on the forum — when I got something similar in the actual interview I just tweaked the answer slightly. For the result, it helps to state it clearly, so the interviewer understands exactly how your action solved the problem well and got a good outcome. The questions I got w…

Onsite0
MetaData Science Analyst
Oct 2025

Four VO Rounds (SQL, Stats, Product, BQ) and an Offer

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OfferOnsiteXP0
MetaData ScientistSenior+
Oct 2025

Onsite Case on a New Chat App, Ending in a Spaghetti-Chart Slide Critique

The interviewer had many years of experience and had a friendly, easygoing demeanor. Overall I felt our conversation flowed pretty smoothly, back and forth, and I was able to quickly follow up on a lot of the points he raised and give balanced, two-sided answers. Structurally I stuck to the standard framework (clarify, goal, pros/cons, hypothesis, data points, ...). Maybe because this was L5, the…

Onsite0
MetaData Scientist
Oct 2025

Onsite Went Easier Than Expected, Landed an Unexpected L5 Offer

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OfferOnsiteXP0
MetaData Scientist
Oct 2025

A Full List of Probability and Stats Questions

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OtherXP0
MetaData Scientist
Oct 2025

SQL, Stats, and an Instagram Shopping Tab Product Case

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OnsiteXP0
MetaData Scientist
Oct 2025

SQL and a Group Call Product Case in the Phone Screen

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Technical ScreenXP0
MetaData Scientist
Oct 2025

Rejected on the Phone Screen After a Third Attempt

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RejectedTechnical ScreenXP0
MetaData Scientist
Oct 2025

Three of Four Onsite Rounds Done, Technical Session Pushed Two Weeks

I finished 3 out of 4 rounds of my VO (virtual onsite) yesterday, and while it's still fresh in my memory I wanted to share the experience. The reason I only got through 3/4 is that right after my third round, the recruiter told me the final Technical session would need to be rescheduled — it ended up getting pushed two weeks out, which feels like such slow torture (I originally wanted to knock o…

In progressOnsite0

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.

Share your experience to earn XP