Meta Interview 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.