I applied through a recruiter. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Meta (Menlo Park, CA) in Feb 2014
Interview
Facebook reached out to me via... a facebook message. I wasn't actively looking, but decided to go through the interview process because why not? Maybe they could offer me something my current employer couldn't. The interview process started with two phone interviews. The first was just information and some fact checking. The second was a bit more technical and I had to show the ability to code and answer statistical questions online as one (or more) people watched me type. Then they flew me out for a day/night and I went through 5 interviews in a row (30 minutes each). Facebook has a beautiful Menlo Park campus. Throughout the interviews, only one simple bayesian stats question was asked. Everything else was business questions and computer science questions. I think my training is much more stats/machine learning oriented, so I struggled with a few questions. I signed a NDA, so I can't disclose the exact questions. They asked me on optimal algorithms, standard SQL coding, and business problems. It was very interesting and they did a good job letting me work through things on my own. I think they were looking for someone with more computer science/programming experience than I had.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Again, I can't talk about the specific question, but after I wrote up a simple algorithm, the interviewer asked me for a more efficient solution. I really struggled with that.
Tough interview overall—definitely not what I expected. The technical rounds were intense, particularly when they had me design an A/B test for the News Feed ranking algorithm. I had to discuss metrics and sample sizes in detail. Lucky for me, the time I spent on PracHub right before the interview helped me nail that deep-dive question as it mirrored what I practiced. The behavioral questions felt standard but were still challenging. After a whirlwind process, they extended an offer, which I happily accepted.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Design an A/B test to evaluate a new ranking algorithm for the Facebook News Feed. Walk through metric selection (engagement, time-spent, MSI, well-being), unit of randomization given network effects between friends, sample size and power calculations, how you'd detect novelty effects vs. true lift, and how you'd handle a guardrail metric regressing while the primary metric is up.
Total 7 rounds: first round for resume screening, second for technical screening, then for on-site virtual with 4 interviews back to back, then hiring manager round after team matching and then salary negotiation with HR
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Meta’s evaluation rubrics focus heavily on "Product Thinking over Fancy Math". Interviewers want to see if you can operate like a product owner with an analytical mindset, navigating messy scenarios affecting billions of users
The Interview Process is very structured -
First Tech Screening round - 45 mins (usually can extend a bit depending on the interviewer)
- 2 SQL Questions ( Medium to Hard ) - based on Joins
Full Loop - 4 rounds 45 mins each.
- SQL
- Behavioral
- Analytical Execution - stats & prob, A/B testing, case study
- Analytical Reasoning - Case study
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Questions on Bayes Theorem, Probability distribution, etc.
