Facebook Product designer interview - Whiteboard challenge examples
Hey guys, I’m preparing for my virtual “onsite” at Facebook for Product Designer role. Could you please give me some examples of a whiteboard exercise (Problem solving) that they might ask? Thanks! #design #interviews #facebook
You can simply google "Facebook product designer interview questions" and the glassdoor reviews have most of the whiteboard questions we ask! I'm just picking a few from there - redesigning an ATM or a TV remote or a calendar app. Whiteboard questions are pretty high level and generic so its really up to you as the candidate to narrow it down in 45 mins by asking questions. Hope this helps!
What does Facebook look for in resumes? Also is it possible if you can review my resume?
I’d say at least 3/4 years professional industry experience with strong process/outcomes. Whatever that means on a resume. Sometimes you can read between the lines.
Thanks!!!
Does anyone have any idea which tool they will use for the virtual whiteboard design challenge?
ATM is a popular one. Make sure you think pretty blue sky of the solution. Spend a good amount of time defining the problem and don’t just jump straight into wires. Speaking as a rejected candidate, don’t underestimate the behavioral. That’s probably more difficult than the whiteboard. Gluck!
Sorry you didn’t make it. Better luck next time. Don’t stop and keep interviewing. What kind of behavioral questions did they ask? Any tips you could share? I have one coming up this week.
Agreed on this. I feel that’s what got me based on the feedback.
All good! It was a good learning experience for me and probably prepped me to do better next time. Pretty standard behavioral in terms of what your strengths and weaknesses are, how you could do things better, why you pushed for certain solutions, how you measure impact, etc. The thing that shot me in the foot was that I leaned too heavy on playing up my EQ and collaboration vs. not going into enough details about my process. I just sort of assumed that the interviewer didn’t need to hear about the obvious steps of whiteboarding, flow charting, wireframing, etc but I was wrong. Make sure you’re able to speak about what the early stages of the project looked like. How certain decisions were made based off your collaboration with research, product, and devs. How you netted out on certain design solutions and how you discovered that it was the right direction. Hope that helps!
Want to join Salesforce? Your self-awareness and articulation would be deeply appreciated by me and the few competent leaders we have in the design org...
Let’s chat! DM me :)
Thank you for advices. If ATM exercise is a popular one - how bad it would be to use the same solution that is suggested in Solving Product Design Exercise book? Are interviewers already sick and tired of this solution? Should I come up with something different from the one in the book?
I don’t think it’s necessarily bad but the main focus should be how you defined the problems to get there. They don’t really care about the end solution, they care how you got there. On top of that, they’re seeing if you’re somebody they can imagine working with, so make sure you play up your collaborative skills.
Also, I want to point out that make sure you enjoy yourself during this exercise. Really be yourself and just have fun with it. The interviewer isnt trying to back you up into a corner or trick you in someway. Unfortunately there’s an element of luck during this part of the interview, imho. You may get someone who’s super nitpicky or someone who’s pretty laid back, but as long as you feel like you were able to be yourself then I feel like the interviewer would appreciate that.
I got the door lock, i’ve heard the tv remote is popular as well
I’ve had two different whiteboard sessions (two interviews at different times). The first time I was asked to design a remote. No other prompts which meant I needed to make assumptions and decisions up front. The second time I was asked to design an app for gift giving. Again, no other prompts.
Thank you everyone for your answers! ”Solving Product Design Exercises” book was very helpful as well. I’ve got “Redesign a smartlock” during my exercise this week. I’ve got an offer for Product Designer IC4 (no open roles currently, though...) I wonder if it’s possible to reevaluate the level, because IC4 feels like a downgrade for me... Was interviewing for IC5 one. I also have an L6 offer from Amazon.
Read the book “solving product design exercises” by artiom dashinsky. It will be similar to the examples in the book.