I asked a friend for a referral and was contacted by a recruiter within two days. The recruiter quickly scheduled a tech screen, which was essentially a mini-ninja interview. After that, I proceeded to the on-site loop.

The on-site loop consisted of:

• 2 ninja interviews
• 2 pirate interviews
• 1 Jedi interview

While I cannot share specific questions, many others have already done so. Unlike Google (with whom I also interviewed), Facebook appears to have a smaller question pool. For example, I encountered a system design question that I had previously seen on Glassdoor.

I recommend thoroughly reviewing the interview preparation materials provided by recruiters. Given that Google and Facebook utilize very similar interview processes, "Stevey's Blog Rants: Get that job at Google" is also a highly relevant and useful resource.

Ensure you have a strong grasp of data structures and algorithms. Practicing problem-solving for a few weeks should put you in good shape.

For system design questions, you'll be asked to design Facebook-scale systems. Think about data far beyond the scope of a single machine, handling billions of items and thousands of requests per second. Hands-on experience with such systems is, of course, paramount. In the absence of direct experience, studying distributed NoSQL systems, MapReduce, and similar technologies should prepare you well.

Overall, I was very happy with the on-site interviews and the level of support provided by Facebook recruiters and engineers. It was likely the best interview experience I've ever had.

Having a competing offer can certainly help you negotiate better compensation. Facebook seems to have an excellent culture, and deciding to reject their very generous offer for another was not an easy choice. Ultimately, one can't go wrong by joining Facebook.

Facebook is the only company I know that provides interview feedback. Regardless of whether you pass or not, I recommend asking for it, as it will undoubtedly help you improve.

Data structures, sorting, Big-O notation, large system design.