Contacted by recruiter on LI for a contract position (remote). First round: self serve coding similar to leetcode (dynamic programming question). Second round: in-person coding using my language of choice (C++) on topics of sparse linear algebra and image processing. Perhaps, I am not used to this type of interviews, but I found it a bit hard to communicate and understand how my solution needs to be delivered and what are the given requirements; the interviewee seemed to be distracted throughout the whole time, obviously switching between the windows; that made it a bit difficult to fully focus. At the end I could not answer on how to further optimize my final solution; it was only 2 minutes left. Was ghosted by the recruited afterwards. Even an automated reply would be nicer.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Coding of sparse vectors operations; 2d convolution followed up by optimization questions (you need to know the underlying math for all and ready to think fast).
The entire process usually takes 3–8 weeks, depending on scheduling and the specific role. Coding interviews heavily emphasize common DSA topics such as arrays, strings, trees, graphs, BFS/DFS, heaps, hash maps, and dynamic programming. System design becomes increasingly important for E4+ positions.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Given an array of integers and a target value, return the indices of two numbers that add up to the target
Unexpectedly, the first question in the technical round felt familiar. It was about finding a subset of strings with unique character concatenation — same problem I had worked through on PracHub a few days earlier. The interview included a recruiter screen followed by a rigorous pair of technical interviews where I tackled data structures and algorithms alongside system design concepts. After successfully answering a few more challenging DSA questions, I received an offer. The entire experience was intense but ultimately rewarding, and I happily accepted the position.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Given an array of strings, pick a subset whose concatenation contains no duplicate characters, and return the maximum possible length of that concatenation.
Standard cookie cutter interview with a coding interview, a system design interview and culture interview. The coding part is basically leetcode. The system design is what you can find on many youtube videos. The culture one is more tricky as they want to see that you fit Meta's culture, not that you were doing great at your existing company. So skills like dealing with conflict without calling in managers is sought after.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
coding: I forgot, sorry
system design: design ticketmaster
culture: talk about past project; when you disagreed with a peer; how I resolved dissagreements, etc.
