Compensation is the biggest pro. Also, unlike other hire to fire companies (most tech companies at this point in 2024), you at least have a chance to prove yourself and are given a couple months to onboard. There are worse tech companies out there such as Amazon and Intuit, but Meta’s culture is still quite terrible. They try and justify the long hours and stress with how much you can make - Meta still pays more than any other major tech company, even in 2024, which is definitely a pro, but the culture is cutthroat and you can’t trust anyone. It would probably be easier to work two remote jobs at “less prestigious” tech or tech adjacent companies to make the same amount at Meta with more stability, better WLB, and less drama.
Pretty much the same as what one would experience at most tech companies in 2024. But some aspects are better or worse than others. Long hours. WLB is highly team dependent. Apparently Meta used to be a lot better in this regard, but now not so much. It is intense, but if you have startup experience, it is at least less intense than that. And again, it is more fair than a place like Amazon. Office politics are a thing at all tech companies, but a little more extreme at Meta. Blame and shame culture is big. People are snakes and are prepared to throw even the newest and most vulnerable employees under the bus to save their own skins. This makes things quite unfair, but as long as you’re proactive and document everything thoroughly, you’re at least given a chance to refute these attacks. A lot of gossip and backstabbing. This is separate from and still related to PSC culture, which everyone complains about. Management is terrible overall. Sometimes there is micromanagement. One of the few companies where it’s possible you’ll have a manager younger than you, even if you’re only 27-31ish. Often ICs seem to be held accountable for things that are way beyond their day-to-day scope - basically things that are ultimately the fault of leadership and management. Management frequently tries to pin things on their employees. Your manager is often trying to screw you, and if they can’t find a way, they are often trying to invent things you did wrong. This isn’t a dealbreaker because as long as you’re doing your job, it is easy to refute, but it creates a ton of work because you have to be extremely well-organized and have documented every interaction with your manager colleagues. I recommend studying employment law / consulting with an employment lawyer early on in your tenure at Meta, so you know what to look for. Because it is a massive tech company, you are there to please your manager and make them look good, so you need to do pretty much whatever they say. there’s a lot of internal conflict because it’s very authoritarian, also fairly draconian, and it’s bottoms up at the same time, every man for themselves. Do everything your manager says and it is somehow still all up to you as an individual employee to make the company successful. To top it all off, your colleagues suck too. People brag about work that YOU did as being THEIR work that THEY did if it is successful. If a project involving multiple people is so much as an hour late, then YOU are blamed, even if you had nothing to do with the lateness. The lateness itself isn’t really the problem because guess what? It’s not anything is broken. Except for when things do break and the whole app crashes for a day because everyone is forced to focus on office politics instead of their actual work. it’s not really about the value you create, so much as it is the PERCEIVED value you create and whether or not your manager likes you. Ergo, a lot of bootlicking charlatans make it to the top.
There are a lot posts asking the difference between product architecture & system design rounds at Meta. To me this is a signal that though there are some helpful answers, what is expected is still vague. I think I figured it out, but please correct me if I’m wrong because I HAVE NOT HAD THIS INTER...Read more
My product architecture interview involved only api design for the whole time, is this normal? Most of it involved around the response and request structure. I tried to move the interviewer in other direction like db schema design etc but they kept on coming back to API design increasing the scope e...Read more
Meta interviewers, what is the best way to prep for those? Are there any online courses or books that you recommend? I found this version of the Grokking course: https://www.educative.io/courses/grokking-the-api-design-interview. Do you think it’s helpful? This is for a SWE E6 loop, any pointers a...Read more
I think I figured it out the difference between Product Architecture and System Design interviews, but please correct me if I’m wrong because I HAVE NOT HAD THIS INTERVIEW YET. It seems to me the difference between the two happens during the “deep dive” portion. —— interview structure —— 1. FR/ N...Read more
I need to a do a mock with someone at Meta that actually conducts these. Will Venmo $100. (Not marginally taxed so its like $200/hr income for you :D )
Could somebody please guide me as what should we cover as part of Product Architecture round in Meta. I was checking for old messages in Blind and doing Google search but couldn’t come up with final template. My interview is for Software Engineer, Product TC: 200k YOE: 15
Can someone please explain the difference between System Design / Product Architecture round at Meta and what was the focus of discussion in the interview?? Recruiter says API is the main focus. But I see people posting comments that it is just like a regular interview. It is so confusing. Need so...Read more
Seems like there’s a bunch of people on here doing Meta Product Architecture interviews. Anyone want to do mocks together? I’m interviewing for E6 and have 12 YOE as a full-stack eng and manager. Would prefer people who have similar level of experience or targeting E6. DM me.
I had my IC5 loop for Facebook about two weeks ago and overall did well. Figured I botched one of the coding second questions and wasn't sure on the design interview so wasn't really shocked to hear I have a follow up, 1 code and 1 product architecture. Not worried about the code but what is expect...Read more
Have a video onsite coming up and am confused with this product architecture round. Does anyone know what that would be about? Can I just follow what grokking suggests and talk about load balance / cache / database? Or shall I focus on something else? YOE: 2 Apply for E4 SDE
Anyone at meta willing to give one of these in the next couple of days for me? Willing to pay $100 an hour. I have my onsite end of next week and I do not have a ton of XP with that style of interview.
I've got a Meta interview in a few days, and I'm a bit confused as to what exactly I'll be asked. Given the choice between the System Design interview and the Product Design interview, I picked Product Design. The Interview Prep PDF gave example questions like "Design a service or product API" and ...Read more
I have a product design round coming up as part of my full loop for SWE role. I've searched through Blind and understand that product design focuses on API design, DB schema and yes, high level design but not necessarily dig into infra details like sharding, availability etc. What kind of tradeoffs...Read more
Can Anyone who attended Meta Product Architecture / Design round comment on what was the focus of discussion in the interview? Recruiter says API is the main focus. But I see people posting comments that it is just like a regular interview. I saw the video in the prep section. It was basically the...Read more
2 of my on-site scheduled interviews use whiteboard…1 is a system design and other says architecture/design. Is this the job specific round? I.e, if interviewing for AI, they ask AI specific questions? Blind tax Yoe 6 140
I can find many resources for System Design interviews but nothing for Product Architecture Design, can someone explain how should I prepare? I know the questions are similar, but I don’t get which parts in System Design aren’t necessary here and which additional topics I should cover. TC: $260K, L...Read more
I am expecting an offer from Meta FRL Architecture group. Interviews went solid Any feedback what should I expect in terms of TC? Also how is the morale at Meta, particularly in FRL? Is E7 a safer place? Current TC: 🥜YOE 20.
Can anybody advise on the design and architecture module at Facebook interview? I was given three to choose, web-oriented, mobile oriented, backend distributed system/servers. I chose web and mobile oriented since I am not a backend developer. Do the web / mobile oriented design and architecture mod...Read more
I've been preparing for system design interviews with other companies by going over grokking and DDIA. I've read that there's a big focus on APIs and client/server communication on FB product architecture interviews. Any advice on specific areas to focus on before the interview?
Anyone could share some light on how is this different from a normal System Design round? What is the expectation? Thanks! TC: 170k