Meta Interview Experience
Summary
I interviewed for an E4 position at Meta in London, completing a behavioral round and two coding rounds. My system design interview is scheduled for next week. I felt demotivated after the first coding round due to a challenging question I didn't fully solve optimally.
Full Experience
My interview journey for an E4 role at Meta in London started with a behavioral round where I tackled standard questions, ensuring my answers were backed by real-life examples and could handle follow-up questions effectively.
The first coding round presented two problems. First, I was asked to find the Closest BST Value. After discussing BST properties, I provided and coded an optimal solution. The second question, Longest Continuous Subarray With Absolute Diff Less Than or Equal to Limit, was unexpected. I proposed a two-pointer approach, coded it, and dry-ran it. The interviewer seemed satisfied, but post-interview, I discovered the optimal solution involves two deques, which left me feeling a bit disheartened.
In the second coding round, the first problem was to find the Kth Largest Element in an Array. I initially described a brute-force solution and then optimized it using a min-heap. A follow-up explored how the approach would change with many reads and memory constraints. The second problem was Peak Element. I started with a brute-force approach and struggled slightly with explaining the binary search solution before coding the optimal one. A minor bug in my conditions was subtly hinted at by the interviewer during a follow-up.
My System Design round is scheduled for next week, and I will update once it's completed. Overall, the unexpected difficulty in the first coding round's second question has left me quite demotivated given Meta's expectations.
Interview Questions (3)
Find the longest continuous subarray where the absolute difference between any two elements is less than or equal to a given limit. I initially proposed a two-pointer approach, which I explained and coded, and then dry-ran. Although the interviewer seemed satisfied, I later realized the optimal solution requires two deques.
Find the Kth largest element in an unsorted array. I initially gave a brute-force approach, and when asked for optimization, I suggested the min-heap approach. There was a follow-up about how the approach would change if there were many reads and the array could fit in memory.
Find a peak element in an array. A peak element is an element that is strictly greater than its neighbors. I first described a brute-force method. I struggled a bit while explaining the binary search approach. I coded the optimal solution, and the interviewer gave a hint about a minor bug in my conditions through a follow-up question.