This interview was Relatively obscure - not a typical interview process that I’ve taken part in. The interview was Not too difficult but also not very easy. Recruiter seems to be very nice and understanding.
I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Meta (Sunnyvale, CA)
Interview
Pretty straightforward. I interviewed for the PE University Grad role. The first round was mainly a basic coding round and a PE basics round. Once I passed that, there was a loop of 3 interviews - System round (focussed on OS concepts), another coding round and a behavioral round.
Overall, the whole interview process took about three weeks, which felt longer than I expected given the urgency for the role. The technical round was challenging, featuring a problem on valid parentheses that required a single-pass stack approach. As I discussed edge cases, I remembered similar patterns I had been practicing on PracHub just days prior, and those hours definitely paid off. After a couple of behavioral interviews, I was thrilled to receive an offer, which I happily accepted.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Given a string s containing parentheses and letters, remove the minimum number of parentheses so that the resulting string is valid (Minimum Remove to Make Valid Parentheses). Walk through a single-pass stack approach to mark unmatched opens, then a second pass to drop unmatched closes, with O(n) time and O(n) space. Discuss edge cases like all-letter strings, deeply nested groups, and whether multiple valid answers exist.
Overall, the process took a little over two weeks, which felt a bit longer than I anticipated. After a quick screening, I went through two technical rounds focusing on coding and DSA concepts. One of the questions was a classic palindrome check; mid-way through, I realized it was something I had practiced on PracHub just days earlier. The final step was a casual behavioral interview. I was relieved to get an offer shortly after, which I happily accepted.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Given a string, determine if it is a valid palindrome considering only alphanumeric characters and ignoring case.