Meta Production Engineer Interview Guide
Preparing for a Meta Production Engineer interview? This guide covers everything you need to know—from the interview stages to the type of interview questions you can expect. This unique role combines software and systems engineering, demanding versatility across infrastructure and troubleshooting challenges. We’ve also developed a comprehensive course and offer realistic mock interviews to help candidates prepare effectively. Read on to optimize your prep.
Understanding the Production Engineer Role at Meta
Production Engineers (PEs) at Meta are hybrid software and systems engineers. They work closely with various engineering teams to ensure the reliability, scalability, performance, and security of Meta's production services. This role bridges infrastructure and software. In a nutshell, PEs “keep the lights on”—heroes when things go wrong and unsung heroes when things go smoothly.
Overview of the Meta Production Engineer Interview Process
The Meta Production Engineer interview process typically spans 3-4 hours.
As a general rule, it's strongly recommended to spread out interviews across multiple days rather than doing them all in one day. The sustained mental load and stress response can impact performance after several rounds, and fatigue will creep in. You're more likely to be at your best during interview 1 on day 2 than interview 3 on day 1.
The process generally includes these stages:
Screening Stage
- Production Engineering Basics (45 mins): Covers foundational skills needed in production engineering, such as OS fundamentals, networking basics, and troubleshooting (e.g., explaining what happens from the moment a URL is entered in a browser until the page is rendered).
- Production Engineering Coding (45 mins): Assesses technical problem-solving skills with practical coding tasks. Here’s an example:
Coding Exercise Example:
You will be supplied with two data files in CSV format. The first file contains statistics about various dinosaurs. The second file contains additional data.
Given the following formula:
speed = ((STRIDE_LENGTH / LEG_LENGTH) - 1) * SQRT(LEG_LENGTH * g)Where g = 9.8 m/s² (gravitational constant).
Write a program to read in the data files from disk, then print the names of only the bipedal dinosaurs from fastest to slowest.
Example data:
$ cat dataset1.csv NAME,LEG_LENGTH,DIET Hadrosaurus,1.4,herbivore Struthiomimus,0.72,omnivore Velociraptor,1.8,carnivore Triceratops,0.47,herbivore Euoplocephalus,2.6,herbivore Stegosaurus,1.50,herbivore Tyrannosaurus Rex,6.5,carnivore $ cat dataset2.csv NAME,STRIDE_LENGTH,STANCE Euoplocephalus,1.97,quadrupedal Stegosaurus,1.70,quadrupedal Tyrannosaurus Rex,4.76,bipedal Hadrosaurus,1.3,bipedal Deinonychus,1.11,bipedal Struthiomimus,1.24,bipedal Velociraptor,2.62,bipedalFinal Stage
- Behavioral Interview (45 mins): Focuses on Meta’s core values. Be prepared to discuss conflict resolution, collaboration, and how you "move fast."
- Systems Interview (45 mins): Tests OS fundamentals, troubleshooting, and real-world problem-solving. Expect questions on broader OS topics beyond Linux, resource management, and networking. You could be presented with an architecture diagram for a Meta-like service (e.g., Instagram, WhatsApp) and asked to troubleshoot issues, such as identifying why a service might be processing requests slowly.
- SWE Coding (45 mins): Similar to SWE LeetCode-style coding rounds but with more leniency. Here’s what to expect:
- Some candidates successfully completed rounds despite not deriving an optimal algorithm, but they were able to implement the algorithm correctly when given one.
- Minor bugs or one missed edge case may not necessarily disqualify you.
More Info on Interview Rounds
Networking and System Interactions
Questions may cover OSI layers, TCP/IP, DNS, and HTTP protocols. Here are some examples of questions you might encounter:
- Where is DNS information stored on the system?
- What's the difference between TCP and UDP?
- Describe in detail what happens when a URL like https://facebook.com is entered into a browser, covering DNS resolution, TCP handshakes, routing, backend server processing, and DOM changes in the browser.
To test and improve your readiness for questions like these, consider attempting our AI mock interviews & diagnostic tests, which are based on real questions Meta Production Engineer candidates have encountered:
Systems Interview and OS Knowledge
Expect questions on areas like virtual memory, swapping, page faults, segmentation faults, as well as kernel processes, resource management, and the networking stack. Example questions include:
- What is a zombie process, and can it be terminated?
- What is the difference between a symlink and a hardlink?
For hands-on practice and to benchmark your knowledge, try our AI mock interviews & diagnostic assessments based on past Meta interview questions:
- Meta Production Engineer AI Mock Interviews
- Operating Systems Diagnostic Test 1
- Operating Systems Diagnostic Test 2
Coding Exercises
- Coding will be on CoderPad, so practice using their sandbox.
- You'll typically be able to code in your preferred language; just make sure you’re familiar with the built-in libraries and functions.
- Some questions may include helper functions to use when solving the problem. Avoid implementing something that already exists—pay attention to these details.
Behavioral Interview
Behavioral questions will revolve around Meta’s core values, such as “Move Fast,” “Focus on Long-Term Impact,” and “Be Direct.” Topics may include:
- Adaptability and Learning:
- Share an experience where you had to learn a new technology or tool quickly. How did you manage it?
- Describe a time when you had to adapt to significant changes at work.
- Navigating Conflicts and Lessons Learned
- Teamwork and Collaboration
- Handling Failure and Resilience
- Motivation and Cultural Fit:
- Why do you want to work at Meta?
- What excites you about the role and the company?
Team Matching
During team matching, you should expect a direct call with a hiring manager. Technical questions are usually not expected at this stage; typically, the manager is trying to assess mutual fit, and candidates can specify team preferences. Offers are sometimes made very quickly, within a matter of days.
Need help getting interview-ready?
Our Meta Production Engineer Interview Course is designed from the ground up to help you succeed. With round-by-round breakdowns, insights, and targeted practice questions, it's your end-to-end roadmap to offer success.
Combine it with mock interviews (AI & human-led) to test your readiness under realistic conditions.