I applied through an employee referral. I interviewed at Meta in May 2014
Interview
First there are two rounds of phone interviews, followed by five rounds of interviews at MPK headquarter. The recruiter is super helpful and recommend books like 'Data Science Interviews Exposed' to me. During the phone interview, I was asked to answer some SQL questions in codedit website. So be prepared. The onsite visit is more casual. Only two rounds of technical questions, most of them can be found in the book the recruiter recommended.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Three ants are sitting at the three corners of an equilateral triangle. Each ant starts randomly picks a direction and starts to move along the edge of the triangle. The probability that none of the ants collide = [ ? / ? ] Follow-up: k ants are sitting at the k corners of an equilateral polygon. Each ant starts randomly picks a direction and starts to move along the edge of the triangle. The probability that none of the ants collide = [ ? / ? ]
Count how many trailing 0 in (100!)
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.
