Meta - interview guide

Meta interview questions - a complete guide

According to reports, Meta's coding rounds ask you to solve two problems in 45 minutes - so you need both speed and clean code. Here is complete preparation for coding, design and behavioural.

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About Meta

Meta runs Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads, and also works on AI (the Llama models) and VR/AR (Quest). Meta has offices in India, but its engineering hiring there is reported to be limited and team-specific - many Indian candidates take the same interview for London, Singapore or US roles.

This guide covers 13 Meta interview questions with answers - what each question checks and how to answer it - plus the Meta interview process, round by round, a 7-day preparation plan for freshers, tips and the mistakes to avoid.

Meta hiring process

  1. Recruiter screen

    A short call on your background, the role and the timeline. Some reports mention an online assessment (such as CodeSignal) after this.

  2. Technical screen

    About 45 minutes - usually 2 coding problems in a shared editor. The code isn't run, so you must dry-run it yourself.

  3. Virtual onsite

    Several rounds: coding (usually 2 problems each), behavioural, and system or product design for experienced roles. Recent reports also mention an AI-assisted coding round.

  4. Team matching

    After the onsite there is often team matching, then the offer.

Meta does not publish its India fresher interview process in detail (as of our check). This is based on candidate reports - many of them for experienced roles, so the fresher process can differ. Confirm with the recruiter.

Sources (checked 16 October 2026): Meta Careers. Hiring processes change - read the official notice before you apply.

Meta interview questions and answers

Coding round

About 20 minutes per problem - so fix the approach in the first 2-3 minutes, then write clean code straight away.

  1. 1.Print a binary tree's vertical order traversal - nodes by column.

    What they're checking
    Using BFS and a hash map together.
    How to answer
    In BFS, keep each node's column (root 0, left -1, right +1). Add nodes to a map by column, and print from the smallest column at the end. O(n) if you track the min/max column.

  2. 2.Can a string become a palindrome by removing at most one character?

    What they're checking
    Two pointers and edge cases.
    How to answer
    Move pointers from both ends. At the first mismatch check two options - skip the left one or the right one - and see whether the rest is a palindrome. O(n).

  3. 3.The K points closest to the origin (0,0).

    What they're checking
    A heap or quickselect.
    How to answer
    Keep a max-heap of size K by distance; if a new point is closer, remove the top. O(n log K). No square root needed - compare x*x + y*y.

  4. 4.How many subarrays sum to exactly K?

    What they're checking
    Prefix sum + hash map - a very common pattern at Meta.
    How to answer
    Keep a running prefix sum and count in a map how many times each prefix has appeared. At each step add the count of (prefix - K). Start the map with a count of 1 for 0.

  5. 5.Pick a random index by weight (weight 3 should appear three times as often as weight 1).

    What they're checking
    Prefix sum + binary search.
    How to answer
    Build prefix sums of the weights. Take a random number from 1 to the total and binary search for the first prefix greater than or equal to it. Pick is O(log n).

  6. 6.The intersection of two sorted arrays - when one is a thousand times bigger.

    What they're checking
    Changing the approach to fit the constraints.
    How to answer
    If they are similar in size, two pointers in O(m + n). If one is much smaller, binary search each of its elements in the big one - O(m log n), which is better here. Tell the interviewer both.

AI-assisted coding and design

  1. 7.In the AI-assisted coding round, how would you check the code the AI tool gives you?

    What they're checking
    A new round in recent reports - checking that you don't trust the AI blindly.
    How to answer
    Read the code line by line, run it on edge cases (empty input, one element, large numbers), write tests, and change or write yourself any part you don't understand. Keep saying what you are checking.

  2. 8.Give a high-level design of News Feed.

    What they're checking
    Product/system design - common for experienced roles.
    How to answer
    Push posts to followers' feeds when written (fan-out on write) or assemble them when read (fan-out on read). Read time for celebrities, write time for ordinary users - a hybrid. Mention ranking, caching and pagination too.

Behavioural

Meta's values include things like 'Move fast' and 'Be direct and respect your colleagues' - keep your stories around them.

  1. 9.When did you give direct feedback to a teammate or a senior?

    What they're checking
    Both directness and respect.
    How to answer
    The situation, how you gave the feedback (in private, with facts), their reaction, and the result. Show that you talked about the work, not the person.
    Example answer
    “In a hackathon, our lead kept changing every feature at the last minute. I spoke to them separately and showed that we had rebuilt the UI three times in two days. We agreed to freeze features 6 hours before - and the demo was ready on time.”

  2. 10.Tell me about work you shipped very fast - how did you protect quality?

    What they're checking
    'Move fast' doesn't mean careless.
    How to answer
    What you made smaller and shipped first, which tests you kept, and what you monitored after release. Say what you improved later.

  3. 11.You depended on another team and the work got stuck - how did you move it forward?

    What they're checking
    Ownership and collaboration.
    How to answer
    Understood their priorities, made a small ask, built a workaround or escalated the right way - and the effect on the deadline.

  4. 12.What mistake changed the way you work?

    What they're checking
    The habit of learning.
    How to answer
    Admit the mistake plainly, give its impact, and the process or habit you changed (such as a test with every PR now) - that is the most important part.

  5. 13.Which Meta product would you like to work on, and why?

    What they're checking
    Motivation and product sense.
    How to answer
    Pick a product you really use, name one of its problems and how you would improve it - specifically.

7-day preparation plan for the Meta interview

  1. Day 1: Arrays, hashing and prefix sums - six problems, 20 minutes each.
  2. Day 2: Two pointers and strings (palindrome variants).
  3. Day 3: Trees - BFS, vertical/level traversal, LCA.
  4. Day 4: Heaps, intervals and binary search.
  5. Day 5: Graphs and an AI-assisted mock (review and fix AI-written code).
  6. Day 6: Behavioural stories around Meta's values.
  7. Day 7: Two full mock rounds - 45 minutes, two problems each.

Preparation tips

  • Aim for ~20 minutes per problem - practise with a timer.
  • The code isn't run, so dry-run it yourself on an example.
  • Prefix sums, two pointers, BFS/DFS, heaps and binary search are the most useful.
  • Prepare 6-7 STAR stories for behavioural - conflict, mistakes, fast delivery, feedback.

Mistakes to avoid

  • Spending 35 minutes on one problem and never starting the second.
  • Calling code 'done' without a dry run.
  • Pasting AI code you don't understand in the AI round.
  • Taking behavioural lightly - it counts in the decision too.

Frequently asked questions

How many problems come up in a Meta coding interview?

According to reports, usually two problems in a 45-minute round.

Does Meta hire freshers in India?

Meta's engineering hiring in India is reported to be limited and team-specific. Many Indian candidates apply for roles in other countries.

What is Meta's AI-assisted coding round?

A round in recent reports where you can use an AI tool - it checks whether you use its output by understanding, testing and improving it.

Do Meta interviews ask freshers about system design?

Usually for experienced roles; new-grad loops are reported to be more coding and behavioural.

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