Practice your Algorithms, while talking through them:)
Was approached by a Facebook internal Recruiter on Linkedin
first, the TL;DR:
Good experience overall. TOUGH challenges. I made silly mistakes & didn’t emphasize the right things; this is why below I’m sharing these learnings in detail :)
Anyway everybody I worked with was super nice and I certainly may apply again*. (Got a lot of technical candid feedback & was invited to apply again within ~6-8 months rather than 12… probably because I was super friendly but persistent in showing interest in the company itself)
DETAILS:
Got to Screening Interview.
2 easy/medium algorithm questions. 1st was harder (involved a more complex data structure); 2nd was easier (just arrays / stacks / queues type stuff). Overall went somewhat OK, BUT, I was very nervous and made silly mistakes. Interview was VERY short too: 45 mins scheduled; error with Zoom causing a late start, but interviewer did NOT let us go over(!) So, was actually ~37 mins and I rushed and fumbled things. Also for me, MAIN CHALLENGE was, it was hard to think clearly AND TALK through my solution WHILE being watched. I was verbalizing the concepts / solutions decently well, but I felt a pressure to ‘keep talking’/‘avoid awkward silences’ which threw me off. I would have much preferred if I could have simply worked in silence & submitted solutions when done (but that’s not how this stuff works).
TIP: While it’s true you should always ask questions as you go, e.g. “does this assumption make sense?” etc., (as they advise)… NEVERTHELESS keep in mind: the interviewer probably CANNOT tell you how important certain things are, that is, whether what you’re doing “IS GOOD ENOUGH” . YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT - e.g.. whether something should be done the more efficient way rather than the naive/safer/less efficient way (it probably should!)
*DISCLAIMER:
Above I said “Everybody I worked with was super nice and I certainly may apply again.” (SO: While I should disclose my "positive biases" here — the fact that I may apply again, incentivizes me to say nice things! — Still, Swear to God, I'm being completely candid about the fact that everyone was really friendly to me. I think it’s fair to say Facebook has a reputation for treating engineers well - even those who apply then work elsewhere.)
