Systems Software Engineer Interview Experience - Menlo Park, California
September 1, 2018
Positive ExperienceNo Offer
Process
I was initially contacted by a recruiter. Several months later, the recruiter got back to me as the hiring manager was interested in my profile. Following that, there was a standard phone screen (coding).
After the coding round went well, I was asked to appear onsite to meet four people for interviews:
- One system design
- One behavioral
- Two coding
I believe this is a standard Facebook process. I thought I did well in three rounds but struggled with one coding (ninja) round. I suppose one must ace all rounds and all coding questions to get through.
I received a rejection email after a week. I felt it was a very fair process, and I acknowledge that I struggled in one coding round. When a company interviews so many people and can afford to pay well, why would they compromise on talent? It was fair on their part.
Questions
LeetCode hard problems and some variants on the same.
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 1 interview experience for the Meta Systems Software Engineer role in Menlo Park, California.
Success Rate
0%
Pass Rate
Meta's interview process for their Systems Software Engineer roles in Menlo Park, California is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.
Experience Rating
Positive100%
Neutral0%
Negative0%
Candidates reported having very good feelings for Meta's Systems Software Engineer interview process in Menlo Park, California.
Meta Work Experiences
5.0
Software Engineering Intern
Software Engineer Intern • Current Employee
Menlo Park, California, United States
October 17, 2022
Pros: Get to work around the best engineers.
Get to learn about the best engineering practices.
Cons: Too much work gets assigned to an intern, and the expectation is very high.
2.0
Not the worst, but that's a low bar
Production Engineer • Current Employee
Menlo Park, California, United States
August 12, 2023
Pros: Working at a global scale, Meta has to solve some unique problems few other companies have the opportunity to see. Meta will often be at the forefront of new technology, or sometimes is creating that new technology, for solving problems. Smaller companies often have to settle for commercial off-the-shelf products that half-work or don't actually properly work, but Meta can do it properly. Your managers will most likely care about you and do their best to support you in whatever you need. Base pay is probably a bit lower than other similar companies, but overall benefits are incredibly hard to beat.
Cons: Upper management doesn't care about you at all. Your immediate managers do; their managers probably do. Beyond that, it's uncertain, and by the time you get to the VP level, they don't care about the individual person.
Diversity support is a joke. You're supported as long as you fit one of these very specific, predefined Silicon Valley molds. Otherwise, you get support for what fits in that rather small space.
Talking about what's wrong is strongly discouraged. There's even a policy that people have fallen afoul of just for criticizing that same policy's impact on discussions about how to improve life at the company.
Career progression is less about what you actually do and more about how much a bunch of people think you do. I've done some huge things, well-received by people and still talked about today as a good example of a company-wide, high-impact project, but I got a bad rating. And I've very recently had a year where I did basically nothing all year but made a bunch of upper managers happy and got a great rating.
The way multiple layoffs have been handled has left us not knowing whether it's even worth working hard for a great rating anymore, since we've seen high performers fired and low performers safe. At first, layoffs were held dishonestly, but then subsequent layoffs were handled in possibly one of the worst ways to respond to those criticisms.
4.0
Great Team, High Workload
Software Engineering - Machine Learning • Former Employee
Menlo Park, California, United States
June 14, 2024
Pros: Great company with great colleagues.
Cons: Too much work in a short amount of time.
- 5.0Software Engineering InternSoftware Engineer Intern • Current EmployeeMenlo Park, California, United StatesOctober 17, 2022Pros: Get to work around the best engineers. Get to learn about the best engineering practices.Cons: Too much work gets assigned to an intern, and the expectation is very high.
- 2.0Not the worst, but that's a low barProduction Engineer • Current EmployeeMenlo Park, California, United StatesAugust 12, 2023Pros: Working at a global scale, Meta has to solve some unique problems few other companies have the opportunity to see. Meta will often be at the forefront of new technology, or sometimes is creating that new technology, for solving problems. Smaller companies often have to settle for commercial off-the-shelf products that half-work or don't actually properly work, but Meta can do it properly. Your managers will most likely care about you and do their best to support you in whatever you need. Base pay is probably a bit lower than other similar companies, but overall benefits are incredibly hard to beat.Cons: Upper management doesn't care about you at all. Your immediate managers do; their managers probably do. Beyond that, it's uncertain, and by the time you get to the VP level, they don't care about the individual person. Diversity support is a joke. You're supported as long as you fit one of these very specific, predefined Silicon Valley molds. Otherwise, you get support for what fits in that rather small space. Talking about what's wrong is strongly discouraged. There's even a policy that people have fallen afoul of just for criticizing that same policy's impact on discussions about how to improve life at the company. Career progression is less about what you actually do and more about how much a bunch of people think you do. I've done some huge things, well-received by people and still talked about today as a good example of a company-wide, high-impact project, but I got a bad rating. And I've very recently had a year where I did basically nothing all year but made a bunch of upper managers happy and got a great rating. The way multiple layoffs have been handled has left us not knowing whether it's even worth working hard for a great rating anymore, since we've seen high performers fired and low performers safe. At first, layoffs were held dishonestly, but then subsequent layoffs were handled in possibly one of the worst ways to respond to those criticisms.
- 4.0Great Team, High WorkloadSoftware Engineering - Machine Learning • Former EmployeeMenlo Park, California, United StatesJune 14, 2024Pros: Great company with great colleagues.Cons: Too much work in a short amount of time.
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