System design
Meta system design is product-flavored: feed, chat, ads, stories. Know the read/write ratios and caching strategy for each reference architecture.
Meta coding interview — the patterns you should actually drill.
TL;DR
Meta's loop is two coding (45 min each, two problems per round), one system design (IC5+), one behavioral, and one architecture round at E6+. The coding density (four problems across two rounds) is the highest in FAANG.
Top 5 patterns at Meta
These patterns show up most often in publicly-reported Meta loops. Master the first three before you move on.
- #1Graph BFS / DFS
Breadth-first for shortest unweighted paths; depth-first for exhaustive traversal.
- #2Sliding Window
Maintain a contiguous range and slide its boundaries to avoid recomputation.
- #3Dynamic Programming
Break an overlapping-subproblem problem into a recurrence and cache results.
- #4Backtracking
DFS through a decision tree with pruning and state restoration.
- #5Heap & Priority Queue
A data structure that returns the min or max in O(log n) per operation.
Behavioral
Meta's behavioral round weights impact narrative and disagreement stories. 'Tell me about a time you disagreed with your manager' comes up frequently.
Meta quirk
Meta expects you to finish both problems in each coding round. Strong candidates aim for ~18 minutes per problem including dry-run, leaving buffer for follow-ups.
Frequently asked questions
- What patterns does Meta ask in coding interviews?
- Most-reported patterns in Meta loops: Graph BFS / DFS, Sliding Window, Dynamic Programming, Backtracking, Heap & Priority Queue. These 5 patterns cover the majority of the coding rounds.
- How long is a Meta interview loop?
- Meta's loop is two coding (45 min each, two problems per round), one system design (IC5+), one behavioral, and one architecture round at E6+. The coding density (four problems across two rounds) is the highest in FAANG.
- What is unique about Meta's interview?
- Meta expects you to finish both problems in each coding round. Strong candidates aim for ~18 minutes per problem including dry-run, leaving buffer for follow-ups.
- What does system design at Meta look like?
- Meta system design is product-flavored: feed, chat, ads, stories. Know the read/write ratios and caching strategy for each reference architecture.
- How should I prepare behaviorally for Meta?
- Meta's behavioral round weights impact narrative and disagreement stories. 'Tell me about a time you disagreed with your manager' comes up frequently.
- How many weeks of prep do I need for a Meta onsite?
- Most candidates benefit from 8–12 weeks of structured prep: 4 weeks on pattern fluency, 4 weeks on timed practice, and 2–4 weeks on mock interviews and Meta-specific topics.
Drill the Meta pattern distribution.
Start with the diagnostic. We'll weight your loop toward the 5 patterns above.