I'm currently an L5 SDE at Amazon, TC 220k YOE ~10. This last week I interviewed at Google for an L5 and Meta for an E4 (I know it's different levels). Google interviews were what I expected, tough but fair. Friendly, but focused. The recruiter told me I'm moving to team fit and he's working on an offer. The meta interviews on the other hand got weird. I genuinely think one of the interviewers fell asleep. I'm not kidding, I looked at his video and he was slumped over, leaning on his arm. I asked him a clarifying question and it was 25 seconds before he responded. Then he seemed to forget his answers - I asked if I should handle null inputs and he said yes, then halfway through adding some basic input validation he snapped at me to stop and took the conversation in a different direction. The behavioral interview wasn't nearly as bad, but the interview came off adversarial, pointing out details I had simplified, then telling me to "just move on" when I tried to clarify. At the end he was dismissive of the questions I asked about Meta, literally telling me to go read marketing material in response to, "How do you contribute to meta's impact on the world?" The rest of the interviews were pretty standard. After the interview day my wife asked how it went and all I could think to say was, "It was weird." So now the Meta recruiter messaged saying they're not interested in moving forward, and all I can think is, "Fine by me." Is this a normal interview experience for Meta? Or is the stock crunch really hitting them? At this point any feedback I give is coming from a guy they didn't make a job offer to and I can't imagine that'll carry much weight. But if anyone from Meta sees this, I'd suggest 1. Tell your interviewers they're the face of the company - I walked away uncomfortable and not interested in Meta or the products 2. Don't have junior people assessing leadership skills, it's not an easy thing to do 3. Tell your interviewers to... Stay awake? Update: recruiter just confirmed I'm getting a Google L5 SWE offer, haven't heard the money side yet but I'm through hiring committee. Do I email the meta recruiter to tell him and see if he has any perspective on the miss at Meta? Or does that come off petty? #meta #google #interview
They’re coached to rush you along if you’re running out of time, but they’re also told to give you a warning at the beginning that they will do it just for the sake of keeping you on pace. Without the warning, it’s a bit jarring to suddenly be told “that’s enough on this topic move on please”.
I'm sorry you had a negative experience. Please share your feedback with your recruiter if you can. They will speak with the interviewers and keep this incident on record. I hope that despite this experience, you'll reconsider interviewing with us in the future
Thanks for the perspective, is there a way to provide this feedback that doesn't come off as bitter that I didn't get an offer?
Happened to me. I provided my feedback in the survey they sent post-interview, and also I talked to the recruiter, who apologized. I ended up having a follow-up interview. They seriously consider the feedback.
you are bullshiting. No one interviews g5 and m4 at the same time. Next time try better
Lol
At the end of last year I had also weird interview experience with Meta. Interviewer was a junior DS, I can tell. They were stuck in syntax errors, asked questions that I already explained before so maybe they weren't listening that much. In the suggestions, I would definitely add to your suggestions: 1) listen to candidates 2) maybe assign a little bit more senior people for the screening or people who spend more time in Meta
Could you please share your interview preparation?
If this really turned you off Meta why wait until you got rejected to post about it? Seems like a cope
Yeah there's a level of that. I talked to my wife and friends, but part of me is venting here
Also how did you let amazon get away with paying you 220k with 10 yoe? That seems like highway robbery
Sorry to hear that. Typically I will tell recruiter right away. They can add additional rounds.
Yes, I am not entirely surprised. When I interviewed at Meta, while most of the interviews were well structured and pleasant, one of the interviewers was walking around in his room during the interview. It was really odd and a terrible experience. This particular interviewer did not even know the position I was interviewing for.
Good luck with the Google team match. Feel free to DM if you need help with evaluating the offer and negotiate with the recruiter.
I'm going into the 2nd round of Meta interviews soon, will let you know how it goes.
Good luck! Hopefully you have a better experience. Maybe I just got the wrong 2 interviewers
Update us back here