I had an onsite interview with Google a month ago. Since I am a new grad I was not asked system design questions. Just 5 coding questions. 3 mediums and 2 hards. on the 2 hard ones, I had to get a hit from the interviewer to solve them optimally and I missed a few edge-cases in one of the mediums. The other two went very well. So, I definitely have room for improvements in coding. I will have an onsite Facebook interview in a month and it would have 1-2 system design interviews. If you have an interview experience with G and FB, I appreciate if you could answer these questions. Is it true that the coding interviews are easier at FB? How do you think I should divide my preparation time between coding and system design? (considering my performance at Google interview) What are the differences between these two companies in terms of interview?
Yes, coding interviews are relatively easier and usually less surprises. Do fb tagged questions, all Medium and may be top 10 hard. System design, just be strong on the basics, not sure if you'll have 2 as a new grad
I am doing fb tagged ones but there is no time to do all of them. Should I spend more time on system design or on coding?
I don't know why should it be a OR. Focus more on coding and have strong system design. I had 2 design rounds, but I doubt as a new grad you'll have two
FB coding interviews expect you to basically regurgitate out perfect solutions, while Google does not, speaking from experience.
What do you mean by perfect? You mean optimal or bug free? Also, are the questions easier than Google?
That’s more or less true for FB from my experience. Gave optimal solutions for 2 coding questions at phone, but had minor bug that was fixed later. Was rejected. While for similar experience at other places, passed all.
Just five coding questions for a Google onsite? That definitely changes after 2 YOE... I had five interviews and 2-3 questions a piece. Facebook likes perfect bug free code. So memorize everything and get the perfect solution
I meant 5 interviews. Would it be easier than Google? If the interviewer point out the bugs before you're finished, is that a negative point?
I definitely got the problem and solution solved optimally for my Facebook phone screen but the interviewer pointed out an edge case i missed in both problems, they were obscure :(
I just left Google and had a fb interview which I passed. Google interview had more difficult problems for SURE. I am not sure if it was just because of normal variance, but I had a fb coding interview which felt like a medium google interview and then a fb coding interview that felt like an amazon coding interview. Then the behavioral interview and then system design. One hypothesis is that fb are really looking to see if you can completely master the problem you’re given and explain with perfect logic why your soln works.. not sure. I spent the day before reading the system design section of cracking the coding interview, but what was really helpful was looking at the system design GitHub resource they emailed me. Let me know if they didn’t email you the same resource and I can get it for you maybe
I left google as an L3 and got an offer from fb as an L4 btw, but it sounds like your interview will probably be similar at fb
Also since you’re fresh out of college, maybe spend more than a day on system design, maybe spend half a week
Maybe because I'm phd grad? My Amazon interview was 70% system design!!
No
recently left google for fb. fb code interview rounds were one warm up and one medium. there was also one lc hard but that was a shadowed interview
How do you like it? I have a standing offer from fb in nyc and considering going for it
Do you think shadowed interview is less important? I had a shadowed interview at google and it was a hard question. That was the one that she gave me hints to solve the question
1-2 yoe here and I had G interview with 5 algorithms rounds. I also just recently did FB and I can tell you that I had 2 algorithms rounds and both of them were an easy and then a hard. I thought I did rather poor on the FB interview but still got an offer, so I would say maybe they have lower standards...
Youre just selling yourself short. Congrats on the offer man!
Thanks I appreciate it but I do really mean I didnt kill it. I didnt finish on one of the interviews and yes it was a leetcode hard but a pretty iconic one.
YMMV