Meta coding interview prep
Two 45-minute coding rounds, and the clock is the real opponent.
What the loop actually looks like
Meta's coding loop is famously time-boxed: typically two problems in a 45-minute round, which leaves roughly 15–20 minutes each. The bar is less about exotic algorithms and more about producing a clean, correct, optimal-on-the-first-try solution while narrating your reasoning.
What they reward
- Speed on mid-difficulty problems rather than depth on hard ones
- Getting to the optimal approach without a long brute-force detour
- Clean code you can write once and not debug
- Talking through trade-offs while you type
Patterns to drill first
Problems worth your time
In priority order. Open one to read the approach, or generate an interactive lesson and watch it run.
Valid PalindromeConverge from both ends, skipping non-alphanumerics.
Easy
Minimum Window SubstringExpand to satisfy the requirement, then contract to minimize.Hard
Subarray Sum Equals KA subarray sums to k when a previous prefix equals current prefix minus k.Medium
Binary Tree Level Order TraversalBFS a level at a time by draining the queue's current size.Medium
Merge IntervalsSort by start, then merge any interval that overlaps the last one kept.Medium
Kth Largest Element in an ArrayA size-k min-heap keeps exactly the k largest seen so far.Medium
Product of Array Except SelfEach answer is the product of everything to its left times everything to its right.Medium
Clone GraphMap original nodes to their clones as you traverse.Medium
Tips specific to this loop
- — Practice with a timer. If you can't state the approach within 3 minutes, drill that pattern more.
- — State your complexity before you write code — it signals you've chosen the approach deliberately.
- — Handle the edge cases out loud rather than silently adding guard clauses at the end.
Drill these with interactive lessons
Generate a step-by-step lesson for any problem above — trace every variable and watch the pattern move until it clicks.
Start a free lessonPrepping for other companies
Our own editorial read on this loop, based on publicly reported experiences — not leaked or current question banks.