#Chance me for Meta SWE NG pls did final
last copper
Hello, I recently had my Virtual Onsite for Meta SWE New Grad (Menlo Park, CA, USA). I know that it's out of my hands now and I can't change anything but out of curiousity, can you chance me based on what you see here? Please be honest, no need to be nice if you think my chances are low.
Coding 1: solved 2/2 optimal
- Question 1: I started suboptimal then derived optimal solution. He would bring up edge cases and I would instantly fix the error. Then I did dry run successfully. I was a little shaky on time/space complexity and gave an educated guess. He asked a follow up on it, but when I wasn't sure, he said it's ok we can move on for time's sake.
- Question 2: recognized the pattern/concept very early and was able to create optimal solution. I didn't fully read problem and ended up overengineering the solution. After he pointed it out, I scaled it down to the constraints of the problem. Did successful dry run and got time/space complexity correct. He pointed out another edge case and I was able to resolve that issue too.
- Had 5 minute talk at the end about Meta culture/work.
Behavioral:
- At the start, he laid out how he wanted this to go, said he would preempt me on to the next question to keep us on pace. Said to not stall since if they don't get enough information it's possible that they schedule another behavioral (happened to him as well when he joined).
- First question he asked a tell me a time when... I gave an answer, and he asked many folloup questions. After this, he said he wasn't satisfied with my answer, mentioning it didn’t reflect enough personal sacrifice. Asked if I had another example, I said need a second to think and he said it's ok we'll revisit it at the end if we have time.
- The rest of the interview was intensive, with multiple follow-up questions and challenges on design choices. He would ask me specifically about what the other alternatives were for my intern project choices and then made me explain the cost/efficiency/etc and why I chose what I did over those alternatives. I think I somewhat successfully defended my design decisions and received mixed feedback; he would summarize what he took away from my answers and I felt my explanations were somewhat successful in getting my point across.
- Successfully answered 2-3 other behavioral questions about scenarios, etc and they went alright, much better than the first at least haha.
- I tried incorporating meta's core values indirectly throughout the interview, such as Moving Fast and designing long term solutions that are built to last over short term ones.
- However, the guy was hard to read, and didn't give any feedback about how he felt at the end, so I don't know if he got everything he wanted. I was rather surprised that for new grad they would go into such deep dive over every technical detail.
Coding 2 - solved 2/2 optimal
- Question 1: Problem was fairly straightforward so I derived optimal solution quite easily and explained myself well throughout. He would bring up edge cases and I fixed them instantly as well. I did successful dry run and got correct time/space. He was very satisfied with solution.
- Question 2: Recognized the pattern and came up with optimal solution fairly quickly, explaining myself well again. I dealt with edge cases from the start, did proper dry run, and got correct time/space complexity. Got followup correctly easily after since the code was modularly designed to handle changes in variables like in the followup. He was impressed and satisifed.
- We had 15 minutes left, with which I then had an insightful talk about him about Meta's culture, what it's like working as a new grad, some tips for starting out, and his favorite project at work and what he learned from it. He even offered to connect on linkedin after. 10/10 interview.
Overall:
Coding went overall really well I'd say. Hopefully the fact that I got both optimal solutions is enough for Coding Interview 1, even though I messed up time complexity on one question. Coding Interview 2 went as good as I could have hoped so I'm fairly confident I'll get strong hire from that round.
Truthfully and probably obviously I'm most worried about that behavioral round. Do you think based on what I've said here I did well enough to make it? Please give me your honest opinions.
Notes:
Coding questions 2/4 tagged 30d, 1/4 variation on tagged 30d, 1/4 non tagged.
Please don't ask for specific questions as I had to sign an NDA, so I won't give it out.
static acorn
your behavioral performance leaves a lot to be desired, but i think your coding will take you to the win. hopefully you dont end up like yet another 4/4 victim
wintry quiver
U got good chance brodie
topaz creek
were the tagged questions high up on the list
last copper
yea i'd say so i think def in top 30
those problems really are the best return on investment
wintry quiver
were they all medium?
topaz creek
how hard was the non tagged question
last copper
medium
a concept that was covered by other problems in the list so no major curveball
if you did the tagged and understood the problems intuition it would be chill
slender matrix
hey i think your coding went great!
the behavioral is a bit iffy and i’m sorry u got a tough interviewer
i have my behavioral tom, do u have any tips?
i also think it’s really unfair of them to ask design questions during a behavioral as new grads aren’t expected to know system design and it is called a behavioral not a system design lol
last copper
just have your tell me a time stories (multiple) straight and be ready to explain the little details within
try to sprinkle in meta values here and there too
last copper
shoot best of luck
hopefully they go easy on you for the LC hard question round
everything else looks good
slender matrix
thank u!! @last copper