Meta Software Engineer L4 Interview Experience

Sharing my experience in case it helps someone who’s preparing for Meta or similar SWE interviews.

A little about the role

Position: Mid-Level Software Engineer L4
YOE: 2.5 years

Interview Process

The process looked like this:

• Phone Screen: 2 LeetCode problems in 45 mins

• Final: 2 LeetCode rounds (same format as the phone screen) + 1 behavioral round + 1 system design round

• Total Time: 5 hours

From the initial contact to signing the offer, the whole process took around 2 months.

The Framework That Worked for Me

The biggest thing I realized is that with 2 problems in 45 minutes, you basically have only ~22 minutes per problem.

So, I followed this structure:

1. Understand the problem first — 3 mins

Before jumping into the solution, I would restate the problem in my own words, walk through the examples, and ask about the constraints.

This helped make sure I actually understood what I was solving before touching the code.

2. Don't code immediately — 5 mins

I would first talk through different approaches.

Start with the brute-force approach, explain why it isn't good enough, and then move towards the optimal solution.

DO NOT IMPLEMENT THE BRUTE FORCE SOLUTION.

You simply don't have enough time for that.

3. Get buy-in — 10 mins

Before coding, make sure the interviewer is on the same page with your approach.

I usually write out pseudocode comments first as an outline and then start filling in the actual code.

One common mistake I noticed is starting to code an approach that the interviewer doesn't fully understand. Getting buy-in first makes the rest of the discussion much smoother.

4. Wrap up — 2 mins

Once the solution is done, explain the time and space complexity.

Then offer to write tests for edge cases, or move on to the next problem if there's no time.

How I Prepared

Blind 75

I used Blind 75 for preparation. It has pretty good coverage across different types of problems.

LeetCode Premium

I did NOT buy LeetCode Premium.

My view is that if you actually understand the patterns and practice properly, it doesn't really matter which specific problem you get.

Overall Experience

The process was definitely intense, especially because of the time pressure in the coding rounds.

The biggest thing that helped me wasn't trying to memorize hundreds of problems, but being comfortable with problem-solving patterns and communicating my approach clearly.