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Meta E4 (Mid Level) Software Engineer Interview Guide
A complete guide to the Meta mid level interview process.
Meta's E4 software engineer interview process has 5 rounds total. You start with a recruiter screen, then do one technical phone screen, followed by a 4 interview onsite loop. The onsite includes 2 coding rounds, 1 design round, and 1 behavioral round. After you pass the interviews, you go through team matching before getting an offer. The entire process takes 4 to 8 weeks from start to finish. Team matching can extend this timeline if Meta doesn't have immediate openings that match your skills.
Your choice between product and infrastructure track determines which design interview you get. Product track candidates get a Product Architecture interview focused on user facing systems, API design, and full stack thinking. Infrastructure candidates get a classic System Design interview that emphasizes scalability, distributed systems, and backend architecture. The behavioral and design rounds carry the most weight for level determination at E4. Strong performance in these areas is essential since this is the first Meta level that includes a dedicated design interview. Weak performance in either round can result in down leveling to E3 or rejection, even if your coding rounds went well.
Meta changed their process in 2023 to require team matching before extending offers rather than their old Bootcamp system. This means you have informal conversations with potential teams as part of the hiring process rather than after joining.
The interview consists of 6 total rounds:
- Online Assessment (OA)
- Recruiter Phone Screen
- Technical Phone Screen (Coding)
- Onsite (Usually virtual)
- Coding (2 rounds)
- System Design or Product Architecture
- Behavioral
If you pass, you'll move onto team match and finally, offer negotiation.
Interview Rounds
Online Assessment (OA)
Meta's online assessment is the first screening step. CodeSignal administers it with full video and microphone monitoring throughout the 90 minute session. This is a new addition to Meta's process as of 2025. You need to pass this before moving to the phone screen stage.
The assessment has a single complex problem divided into 4 progressive stages that unlock sequentially. Recent examples include designing an in memory database with key value operations or implementing a cloud based file storage service. Each stage builds on the previous one:
- Stage 1: Basic core features (simple get/set operations) tests fundamental correctness and corner case handling
- Stage 2: Additional constraints (TTL expiration mechanism) introduces new functionality
- Stage 3: Advanced capabilities (point in time queries or data versioning) more complex features
- Stage 4: Performance intensive operations (deletion with concurrency handling) the most challenging
You can see high level overviews of all stages at the start, but detailed requirements and method signatures are only revealed when you unlock each stage by passing the previous stage's tests. The problems focus on practical system implementation rather than traditional algorithm puzzles. Think designing working systems with multiple components.
You can open reference tabs for programming syntax but cannot search for solutions or use AI tools. The platform provides viewable unit tests (which you cannot modify) and includes a separate scratch area where you can write debug code or print statements to test your solution.
Minor inefficiencies are acceptable as long as your solution is correct for each stage's requirements. Environment constraints are provided mainly to prevent extremely slow solutions, but efficiency isn't the primary concern. Meta considers your OA performance alongside your phone screen, so doing poorly here means you need to excel in the phone screen to compensate.
Recruiter Phone Screen
The recruiter phone screen is your first real conversation with Meta. While it's not technically challenging, it sets the tone for everything that follows. This 30 minute call happens with a Meta recruiter who's trying to figure out if you're worth moving forward and, crucially, which track you should be on.
The conversation feels pretty casual at first. They ask you to walk through your background, focusing on your most impactful projects from the last few years. Don't just list technologies you've used. They want to hear about what you built, the problems you solved, and the impact you had. If you improved performance by 40% or helped your team ship a feature to millions of users, mention those numbers. The recruiter is gauging whether your experience aligns with Meta's E4 expectations.
The most important decision you make in this call is choosing between product and infrastructure track. This determines whether you get a Product Architecture interview or a System Design interview later. If you say product, you design user facing systems with APIs and client server interactions. If you say infrastructure, you design distributed systems focused on scalability and backend architecture. Think about which type of work you actually want to do at Meta, not just which interview you think you'd perform better in.
The recruiter will also ask why you want to join Meta specifically. Generic answers about "connecting people" or "technology" won't cut it. Think about what genuinely interests you about Meta's products or engineering challenges. Maybe you're excited about working on systems that serve billions of users, or you want to tackle problems in AR/VR, or you're drawn to their approach to open source.
You get a chance to ask questions too, and you should use it. Ask about team structures, what the day to day looks like for E4 engineers, or how the team matching process works. This shows you're thinking seriously about the role beyond just getting an offer.
The recruiter evaluates two main things: whether your experience matches E4 expectations and how well you communicate about your work. They're not looking for perfect answers, but they want to see that you can clearly articulate your contributions and show genuine interest in Meta. If you pass this screen, they schedule your technical phone screen and send you preparation materials for the coding rounds ahead.
"If you can, pay for the mock interviews from Hello Interview. The interviewers will often give you different ideas from what is taught in the videos. One of my interviewers were extremely generous with his time and went above and beyond with his guidance."
— Recent Meta E4 candidate
Technical Phone Screen (Coding)
The technical phone screen is your first real test at Meta, and it sets the tone for everything that follows. This 45 minute coding interview happens with a Meta engineer over video call using CoderPad. Meta designed it to verify that you can actually code at the level your resume suggests.
The format is straightforward but unforgiving. After a brief introduction, you get one or two algorithmic problems to solve in real time. The interviewer can see everything you type, and you need to talk through your approach as you code. Importantly, you can't run your code. No compilation, no testing, no debugging output. You write it, explain it, and hope it works.
Most candidates get two problems: typically one medium difficulty question followed by an easier follow up, though sometimes you see an easy starter and a harder second problem. The key is managing your time effectively. You have roughly 35 minutes of actual coding time, so spending 25 minutes perfecting the first solution leaves you scrambling on the second.
Meta's coding problems tend to be heavy on edge cases and practical scenarios. You might get a string manipulation problem with tricky input validation, a tree traversal with multiple constraints, or a classic algorithm with a Meta specific twist. They're not trying to stump you with obscure competitive programming tricks, but they do want to see that you can handle the kind of messy, real world coding situations you'd face on the job.
The interviewer evaluates four main things: your problem solving approach, your coding implementation, testing and debugging, and how well you communicate your thinking. They want to see you break down problems systematically, write clean code that handles edge cases, and explain your reasoning clearly. Don't just code in silence. Walk through your logic, mention potential optimizations, and test your solution with sample inputs out loud.
This round is essentially a gatekeeper. You need to pass it to get to the onsite loop, but a strong performance here doesn't guarantee anything later.
"I was prepared well for phone screen (at least that's what i thought) and my recruiter and many other lc discuss posts said that in the phone screen, they don't generally ask hards, and this was the only hard (making a large island) that i was going to study at the last moment before the interview but just didn't. These questions are very much such that if you know you know, else you cannot figure them out on the spot, esp with 15 mins limit."
— Recent Meta E4 candidate
Focus on demonstrating solid fundamentals and clear thinking rather than trying to impress with overly clever solutions.
Live, up-to-date
Most commonly asked Coding questions
Meta
Mid-level
Onsite
Coding Interviews (2 rounds)
The two onsite coding rounds are where Meta really tests your programming fundamentals under pressure. Each 45 minute session follows the same format as your phone screen. You solve problems in CoderPad without being able to run your code, but the expectations are higher and the problems often trickier.
You typically get two problems per round, and the difficulty mix varies. Sometimes it's one medium and one easy, other times it's two mediums, and occasionally you might see a hard problem if you're cruising through the earlier ones. The key difference from your phone screen is that these problems tend to be more edge case heavy and require more careful implementation. Meta loves questions where the obvious solution has subtle bugs or where you need to handle multiple corner cases gracefully.
Time management becomes critical here. You have roughly 35 minutes of actual coding time per round, so spending 25 minutes perfecting your first solution leaves you scrambling on the second. The interviewers want to see you complete both problems with working code, not just discuss approaches. If you're stuck on the first problem for more than 15 minutes, outline a partial solution and move on rather than risk leaving the second problem untouched.
The problems often involve classic data structures with Meta specific twists. You might implement a variation of an LRU cache, solve a tree traversal with additional constraints, or handle string manipulation with complex validation rules. They're not trying to stump you with obscure algorithms, but they do want to see that you can handle the kind of messy, real world coding situations you'd face on their teams.
Both coding rounds are evaluated independently, but consistency matters. A strong performance in one round can't completely offset a weak showing in the other. The interviewers look for clean, bug free code that handles edge cases, efficient algorithms, and clear communication throughout your problem solving process.
These rounds won't typically determine your level. That's more influenced by your design and behavioral performance, but you need to clear a solid baseline here to move forward. Focus on demonstrating consistent coding competency rather than trying to impress with overly clever solutions.
"Meta almost only asks questions from their recently asked questions list. Prepping Leetcode is a great idea, but you can work smarter by drilling the top frequency questions. I practiced the top frequency questions multiple times rather than doing random LC questions, and it paid off."
— Recent Meta E4 candidate
Live, up-to-date
Most commonly asked Coding questions
Meta
Mid-level
System Design or Product Architecture Interview (1 round)
This 45 minute interview is crucial for E4 level determination and you get to choose between two types: System Design or Product Architecture. Both use Excalidraw as the standard whiteboarding tool, so practice with this platform beforehand.
There's significant confusion about these two interview types, even within Meta itself. Many interviewers don't fully understand the distinction, and you might get similar questions in both formats. Here's what actually happens:
Product Architecture
Product Architecture is almost always a user facing product question. You design systems like Ticketmaster, Uber, Instagram, or Facebook News Feed. Complete products that users directly interact with. The focus is more so on API design, user experience flows, data modeling, and client server interactions but you still design the full backend of the system in the majority of cases.
Live, up-to-date
Most commonly asked Product Architecture questions
Meta
Mid-level
System Design
System Design can go either way. In theory, System Design focuses more on infrastructure and backend components like distributed caches, rate limiters, ad click aggregators, or data pipelines. But in reality, you often get asked to design user facing products too. The difference is that when you get a user facing product in System Design, the discussion tends to focus more on the backend architecture, scalability challenges, database design, and system internals rather than user experience flows.
"My second system design interview felt more hands off than I expected as an E4. It felt like I was leading the discussion. I'm not sure if this was positive or negative (I asked my recruiter for specific interview feedback)."
— Recent Meta E4 candidate
Live, up-to-date
Most commonly asked System Design questions
Meta
Mid-level
Both interview types evaluate the same four competencies: problem navigation, solution design, technical excellence, and technical communication. The main practical differences are around team matching. Product Architecture interviews are for "SWE, Product" (fullstack engineer) positions, while System Design interviews are for "SWE, Infrastructure" (backend engineer) positions.
The competency breakdown is as follows:
- Problem Navigation: Effectively identifies and understands the core challenges and requirements of a system. Prioritizes and focuses on the most critical aspects of the problem.
- Solution Design: Crafts scalable, efficient, and robust system architectures. Balances trade offs between performance, scalability, maintainability, and cost.
- Technical Excellence: Demonstrates a deep understanding of various technologies, tools, and best practices. Stays updated with the latest trends and innovations in system design.
- Technical Communication: Clearly and effectively communicates design decisions, trade offs, and the rationale behind them. Can explain complex technical concepts in a way that is accessible to both technical and non technical stakeholders.
"Practice speaking your thoughts out loud when prepping for all your interviews, will make it easier to actually talk during the actual interview."
— Recent Meta E4 candidate
This choice affects team matching since different teams look for different skill sets. If you get a user facing product question in System Design, expect deeper technical discussions about scalability, database sharding, caching strategies, and handling millions of concurrent users. If you get the same question in Product Architecture, expect more focus on API design, user workflows, and feature implementation.
For more details on the differences and which to choose, read our complete guide.
Behavioral Interview (1 round)
The behavioral interview is where Meta really tests whether you can operate at the E4 level, and it's arguably the most important round for determining your final level. This 45 minute conversation with an engineering manager or senior engineer feels deceptively casual, but it's actually where many candidates get down leveled or rejected despite strong technical performance.
Unlike the coding rounds where you're solving algorithmic puzzles, this interview is all about your past experiences and how you've handled real workplace situations. You get questions like "Tell me about a time you disagreed with a teammate's technical approach" or "Describe a project where you had to work with unclear requirements." The interviewer isn't just listening to your stories. They're evaluating whether your examples demonstrate the scope and impact expected of a mid level engineer at Meta.
What makes this round tricky is that Meta has specific leadership principles they're looking for, even though you're not applying for a management role. They want to see that you can take ownership of problems, drive initiatives forward, and influence others when needed. If your examples are all about following instructions or implementing features someone else designed, that signals E3 level work. E4 engineers are expected to identify problems, propose solutions, and see projects through to completion.
The interviewer will dig deep into your examples, asking follow up questions like "What specifically did you do to convince the team?" or "How did you measure the impact of that change?" They're trained to spot rehearsed or inflated stories, so authenticity matters more than having perfect examples. It's better to discuss a genuine challenge where you learned something than to fabricate a story that sounds impressive but falls apart under scrutiny.
Time management is crucial here too. You typically cover 4 to 6 questions, so aim for 5 to 7 minutes per story including follow ups. The interviewer wants to see breadth across different situations, not just one amazing project you talk about for 20 minutes.
You are evaluated on five main aspects:
- Resolving Conflicts: Handles conflicts and challenging relationships appropriately. Addresses conflicts rather than trying to avoid it. Approaches difficult conversations or situations with empathy for others perspectives, needs, and goals.
- Driving Results: Drives progress towards results by balancing analytics and decisive action. Pushes self and others to deliver against objectives. Is self directive and proactive in making progress with the most critical work despite obstacles or roadblocks.
- Embracing Ambiguity: Maintains effectiveness operating in ambiguous and quickly changing situations. Comfortable making decisions and sustains high levels of productivity, despite missing information or lack of clarity.
- Growing Continuously: Seeks out and values opportunities to grow and learn, even when it comes from failure or mistakes.
- Communicating Effectively: Provides timely, clear, concise information with others and adjusts communications to be appropriate for the audience.
Live, up-to-date
Most commonly asked Behavioral questions
Meta
Mid-level
1. What project are you most proud of?
2. Tell me about a time you had a conflict with a coworker. How did you resolve it?
3. Tell me about a project where the requirements were not clear or kept changing. How did you adapt and maintain productivity?
4. Give me an example of a tough or critical piece of feedback you received.
5. What was a situation where you didn't agree with your manager or superior's decision?
What to Expect
Based on feedback from candidates who've been through Meta's E4 interview process, here are key insights about what you'll actually experience.
What Surprised Candidates Most
The depth and technical specificity of system design interviews caught many candidates off guard. While most prepared for high level architectural discussions, several found themselves diving into implementation details like "how quad trees and geohashing work" and writing SQL queries during the interview. One candidate noted their system design "went much more in depth than I was expecting" and felt they couldn't showcase all their large scale systems preparation because the interviewer focused on "nitty gritty" details rather than broad architectural concepts.
The hands off nature of some system design rounds also surprised candidates. Multiple people mentioned interviewers who provided minimal guidance, with one noting their interviewer's only input throughout the session was asking "what else" repeatedly. This requires candidates to be prepared to drive the entire conversation and recall all potential improvements and bottlenecks from their preparation without prompting.
Coding difficulty varied more than expected, with some candidates getting surprisingly easy questions while others faced unexpected challenges. One candidate was "very happy that I studied the top 60 tagged Meta questions" when two of their coding problems came directly from frequently asked questions, while another was caught off guard by a recursive backtracking question that "wasn't a top asked topic" and proved extremely difficult.
The behavioral interview's intensity also surprised many candidates. Unlike other companies where behavioral rounds feel conversational, Meta's behavioral interviewers create a more pressured atmosphere and dig deep into specific individual contributions versus team accomplishments, with one candidate noting they "stuttered so much" due to the pressure and detailed follow up questions.
Most Effective Preparation Strategies
Mock interviews emerged as the single most valuable preparation method across all interview types. Candidates consistently emphasized that "mocks, mocks, mocks" were essential, with one noting "I've done 10 mock interviews on Hello Interview and it really really helped. I think if I didn't, I couldn't have passed the onsite." The Hello Interview mock system design interviews were particularly praised, with candidates finding them "terrific" and helping them feel "overprepared" for the actual interviews.
For system design specifically, candidates found that Hello Interview's AI powered Guided Practice sessions and guided framework were invaluable for building confidence and identifying weak spots. One candidate mentioned "I learned my weaknesses were being slow to generate requirements and move to design and then overcomplicating things" through mock practice, which directly improved their real interview performance.
Timing practice proved crucial across all rounds. Multiple candidates emphasized practicing with strict time limits, with one noting "timing myself while practicing leetcode and system design" was the most valuable preparation because "it helped me get much faster." For coding rounds, candidates recommended practicing on platforms like Coderpad without code stubs to simulate the real interview environment.
Meta specific question focus delivered better results than general preparation. Candidates who concentrated on "Meta tagged LeetCode problems felt significantly more prepared" than those doing random practice problems. The Hello Interview question lists showing past Meta questions were particularly valuable for targeted preparation.
Top Tips from Successful Candidates
Focus on communication and thought process over perfect solutions. One candidate emphasized that "you don't need a perfect set of coding rounds to pass" and was convinced they passed despite struggling with a coding problem because they "talked in depth about the solution at a high level and communicated clearly throughout the interview." The key is helping interviewers understand your knowledge and experience even when execution isn't flawless.
Prepare for depth over breadth in all technical rounds. Multiple candidates noted that "depth beats breadth" was crucial, with interviewers asking detailed questions about how specific technologies and algorithms work. One candidate was asked to "explain how some indexes work" and found that focusing on "understanding how everything worked" rather than just memorizing solutions was what helped them succeed.
Take time to properly categorize problems before jumping into solutions. One experienced candidate advised: "We all prepare and practice a list of questions but I'd suggest to take a minute or two before you put in a category. When asked the question seems like it belongs to a category but in reality it might belong to another. If you pick the wrong one and start build it, you'll end up in a wrong place."
Don't get discouraged by individual mistakes or imperfect rounds. Several candidates emphasized that "you may fumble over words in one of your interviews, that's okay" and that consistency across rounds matters more than perfection in any single interview.
Additional Insights
Meta's evaluation focuses heavily on your ability to handle the unexpected and demonstrate real understanding rather than memorized solutions. Questions often come with "twists" or variations from their standard forms, requiring candidates to adapt their prepared approaches. One candidate noted that "questions were not directly from leetcode but a variant of the same with some added complexity."
The human element of interviews varies significantly between interviewers. Some candidates found their interviewers "very helpful and collaborative" while others experienced more hands off or pressure filled interactions. Preparing for different interviewer personalities and being ready to drive conversations when needed is important.
Team matching conversations after passing technical rounds provide opportunities to learn about specific roles and demonstrate genuine interest in Meta's work. Several candidates mentioned the value of researching interviewers on LinkedIn beforehand and asking personalized questions about their career paths and projects.
The process timeline can extend significantly during team matching, so candidates should be prepared for potential delays between passing interviews and receiving final offers. This phase requires patience and continued engagement with potential teams rather than passive waiting.
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