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Facebook senior software engineer interview

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Re: Facebook senior software engineer interview

#281

Post by lmeyerov »

It's interesting that the same questions apply to both a mid-level + senior-level technical interviews, but the answers+prep can be quite different:

* Mid-level: Mostly topics you can learn in your 2nd/3rd year of college + having worked on 1-2 web data projects. Basically performing recall on textbooks and architecture powerpoints.

* Senior-level: You can always go crazy on the same technical topics, such as by replacing "recite a paragraph from your old CLRS textbook" with "... and here's how that'd look on a multi-gpu/asics cluster". I didn't see anything directly on technical leadership, so maybe rethink the architecture questions from team/HR + product design + company/LOB perspectives. Weirdly, prepping at the CLRS-level seems like you're aiming for a more junior technical role / org, and I'd think more about 'revisit track record' and 'networking' than 'prep'.

Curious how FB folks see that -- I'm probably misunderstanding something as there's a wide spectrum between 'Mostly knows how a production system works' and 'Ready to lead tech for a new team/LOB'.

Re: Facebook senior software engineer interview

#282

Post by tobmlt »

llimllib wrote: post #208
georgeglue1 wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this is off topic, but medical training (at least in the US) is unfortunately about as dysfunctional as you describe. there's are years of inefficient labor from students, residents, fellows, and junior doctors on procedures they'll never do again (because they relatively cheap)

But at least when you're 10 years into your career you aren't judged based on your boards any longer

You do need to take them every so often to stay certified. This cartel isn’t for slackers, come now. (I jest - half my family is in the medical business. I studied economics for a while)

Re: Facebook senior software engineer interview

#283

Post by pc86 »

Mauricebranagh wrote: post #239
mandevil wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For better or worse, when you get to a certain size you absolutely NEED that level of bureaucracy. You can't get 120,000 full time employees plus probably another 100,000 contractors to work together without establishing a clear hierarchy that everyone inside it understands. A smaller company can have different approaches because they will have a dense network of employee relationships, and can work together off of t…

A lot of really big companies have super flat hierarchies when I worked at one we had MPG2, MPG4 then Senior Management U,T,S Promotion was brutal you might have 20 MPG4 slots every 18 Months for the entire Division (60k FTE) - just getting to the Board Stage was tough enough. I think a MPG2 was equivalent to a Captain an S was a Grade 7 (GS15 in US terms I think) Full Colonel

You just proved the GP's point. Whether the hierarchy is flat or not is irrelevant, they still have the bureaucracy around leveling and authority/responsibility.

Re: Facebook senior software engineer interview

#285

Post by xtracto »

avl999 wrote: post #228

While I agree that these interviews can be a bit much but what's the alternative? If I am a job seeker I feel much more comfortable knowing that they expect me to write code and answer DS+Alg questions and prepare for it as opposed to companies selecting based on the the prestige level of the University you went or based on subjective judgments based on the resume and/or company fit. As someone who went to a Universi…

> I also hate the new trend of "take home" tests. That just seems disrespectful of the candidate's time.

And there lies the problem: I would prefer a take home test way more than whiteboard interview. With the take-home test I would feel more comfortable.

As a VP of Engineering in a growing startup, I have to deal with interviewing 2 or 3 candidates every week. We have settled for a process which has given us good results. But for me the key has been to avoid taking tests "literally" but use them more as tools to get to know the candidate.

To give you an example: I have had jr people that did too little in our "onsite" (a 3 hour coding challenge of modifying some source-code) but at the end we took a chance and offered 3-month internship with possibility of becoming full time after that. We have had success with that.

I've had people who just flunk the interviews but I see something in them and we take a chance. Similarly, I have seen people that pass the interview pretty well but it so happens that they are just not cut for a startup culture (I had a guy coming from a"big corp" Tata/HCL/Cognizant/AmDocs kind of culture who struggled to strive in the uncertain and dynamic environment of a startup, after several months, we decided to end it (the nice thing in Mexico is that, by law, we paid him for 3 months severance) because both sides were suffering.

Re: Facebook senior software engineer interview

#286

Post by dragonwriter »

pc86 wrote: post #264
hinkley wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But in the case f doctors and lawyers, they pass it once, not every time they interview for a new job. Software doesn’t have licensing, so we do this bullshit every single time.

We would still do it if there was licensing. Doctors and lawyers still interview for jobs.

> We would still do it if there was licensing. Doctors and lawyers still interview for jobs.

People interview in most jobs, but people in licensed professions don’t generally have exams testing minimal professional competency in interviews because assurance of minimal professional competency is delegated to the appropriate professional licensing body, which implements entry exams, continuing education requirements, professional complaint/discipline processes, etc.

Minimal competency screening is abstracted out to a reusable, memoizing, component.

Re: Facebook senior software engineer interview

#288

Post by _Understated_ »

jyu wrote: post #77
Uberphallus wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I kind of agree with your cynicism, but I'm partial due to having been refused by Facebook, twice. The first time I made the mistake of using Python (because of its whiteboard value) while not being proficient in it. They really didn't like me Googling some basic stuff. The second time I still used Python, but had 5 years experience using it behind. Can't be objective but it was probably the best interview I've ever…

Coding a good solution is necessary but not sufficient to pass an interview. Maybe you asked too many questions or not enough, maybe you solved the problem too slowly. Interviewers for better or worse look for specific signals that clue them into your being a good coworker. It's why even if you're a good programmer you may need to apply multiple times before the right set of interviewers grant you admission into thei…

> It's why even if you're a good programmer you may need to apply multiple times before the right set of interviewers grant you admission into their club.

That would imply to me that their interview process is fundamentally broken.

Re: Facebook senior software engineer interview

#289

Post by mattjp »

avl999 wrote: post #209
sj3k wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I interviewed at FB and Amazon last summer and I asked how long people stay once they are hired. At both companies I was told the average tenure is about 1.5 - 2 years. That was a big yiiiiikes moment for me. People don't stick around long enough to get promoted.

RSUs from your signing bonus vest fully at 2 years (atleast at Amazon). A lot of people bail as soon as that vesting happens.

This is not true. RSUs vest fully after 4 years. They begin vesting (meaningfully) after 2 years.

Re: Facebook senior software engineer interview

#290

Post by pc86 »

driverdan wrote: post #213
spoonjim wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FB pays astronomically well. You don’t have to work there, but if you do, this is what you have to do. Saying that it creates a “monoculture” is like saying that soccer teams only hiring people who can run this fast, jump this high, and kick the ball this hard get to be on the team. Sure, they might miss the occasional great talent who is unathletic but has some great gift for the game, but it’s not a bad set of hiri…

This is a poor analogy. It's like making a soccer / football player answer a test on the history of the sport, how the ball is made, the geometry involved in kicking the ball, the mesh size of the goal net, etc. There may be some relevance but in the end if they're a good player none of that matters. You'd be testing the wrong things to know if they're a good player.

I think this is an equally poor analogy as it assumes Facebook wants to hire all the good people it can, which isn't the case at all. Facebook is trying to limit false positives. They would rather deny 10 world-class developers than hire one person they need to fire 6 months later.

Facebook, who is paying a lot of people to optimize its hiring processes, has found a correlation between the objective of "lower short-term attrition / first-year PIPs" and "quiz people about the mesh size of the goal net." I'm not saying it's the best long-term or that I agree with false positive bit as a business decision, but I find it hard to believe they're doing stuff like this just because they feel like it without any data to back it up.

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