Meta (Facebook) Senior Software Engineer Interview - Messaging Platform Systems Design Challenge
E6 Senior Software EngineeratMeta (Facebook)
The interview process for a Messaging Platform Engineering role at Meta focused intensely on systems design and handling complex technical challenges at massive scale. The interviews were structured to test the candidate's ability to design robust, scalable messaging infrastructure while demonstrating strong problem-solving skills under ambiguous conditions. Interviewers were particularly interested in understanding how the candidate could architect solutions that could handle 100 million daily active users while maintaining system reliability and performance.
The technical interviews went beyond traditional coding challenges, emphasizing architectural thinking and distributed systems design. Candidates were expected to articulate detailed approaches to complex problems, demonstrating not just technical knowledge but also strategic thinking about system components, potential failure modes, and scalability considerations. The behavioral component focused on assessing the candidate's decision-making process, particularly their ability to make critical choices with limited information.
Related Interview Questions
Design a real-time chat service. Support 100M daily active users. How do you manage load?
A systems design challenge testing candidate's ability to architect a scalable messaging platform. Key considerations include distributed architecture, load balancing, message routing, and handling concurrent user interactions at massive scale.
Implement message deduplication across services under concurrent delivery.
A technical design problem focusing on ensuring message integrity in distributed systems. Requires understanding of concurrent processing, unique message identification, and preventing duplicate message transmission.
Behavioral: Tell me about a complex decision you made with incomplete data—how did you proceed?
A behavioral question assessing problem-solving approach, decision-making under uncertainty, and ability to navigate ambiguous situations with structured reasoning and strategic thinking.