Meta E5 SWE Interview Experience (Reject)
software engineer • senior level • 2026-07 • Remote
Felt good about the coding rounds, but the system design round was brutal. The interviewer wanted very specific database schema details that I struggled with.
Rounds
Round 1: Phone Screen
Quick 45-minute screen. Standard array and string problems.
Questions Asked
- Valid Palindrome II
- Merge Intervals
Round 2: Coding
On-site Round 1. Two coding problems in 45 minutes.
Questions Asked
- Binary Tree Maximum Path Sum
- Subarray Sum Equals K
Round 3: System Design
On-site Round 2. Designing a news feed. Stumbled on scaling the fan-out service for users with millions of followers.
Questions Asked
- Design Facebook News Feed