Rotational Network Engineer (RNE)

Interview Preparation Guide - Screen

Team Overview:
Who we are
The Network Engineering team at Meta builds the end-to-end distributed network system of software and
hardware to support our global community. Network Engineering is a diverse organization with different focus
areas that require a variety of talent and experiences.

What we do
Our team is responsible for the deployment and support of all network infrastructure across the globe at Meta.
We have entered into a new era of unprecedented opportunities to re-think traditional networking and iterate
quickly in an area that was previously very closed to innovation.

As a member of the team, you will work alongside experienced Backbone, Data Center, Production Engineers
(Network) on a large-scale global network. You will help ensure that the network and its related services are
reliable, robust and can scale to meet the challenges that serving over a billion users presents. Automation and
continuous improvement are the keys to meeting our demands; you will be responsible for developing and
deploying network designs, automation systems and network performance improvements into our production
network.

Accommodations:
Before you get started, it's important to note that Meta is committed to providing reasonable
support (called accommodations) in our recruiting processes for candidates with disabilities,
long term conditions, mental health conditions or sincerely held religious beliefs, or who are
neurodivergent or require pregnancy-related support. If you need support, please reach out to
[email protected] or your recruiter.

First Round Interview Process:

The first round consists of two interviews that will be conducted over video conference (VC).
●​ One - 45 Minute Coding Interview
●​ One - 45 Minute Networking Interview

In general, our interviews are 45-minutes in length. You will be with an employee one-on-one
and answer questions. Discussion with the employee is encouraged throughout the interview!
If you have specific questions related to next steps or our decision timeline, please direct those
to your recruiter.

Interview Best Practices:

●​ Make sure you're in a quiet environment.
●​ Double check that you have a reliable internet/phone connection.
●​ It's okay to ask the person you're speaking with to speak slowly if you can't catch what
they're saying.
●​ You'll need a laptop with a webcam, speaker, and mic. We recommend using a headset or
headphones with a mic for better quality audio, but this is optional.

What to Expect - 1st Round Interview: Coding

Introductions: The interviewer will first introduce themselves, explain what they do at Meta,
and explain the job opportunity.

Experience: If applicable, the interviewer will ask questions about your prior internship
experiences for the next 5-10 minutes.

Coding:

●​ The next 30-35 minutes will be spent on coding

●​ The questions we ask require skills used every day by Network Production
Engineers. They can be a real problem, or something contrived which could
include:
○​ File handling
○​ Data structure
○​ BigO notation
○​ Common algorithms
●​ Be prepared to show your work on CoderPad/shared coding workplace and be as
concise and efficient as possible with your answers.
●​ We welcome you to code in any language that you are most familiar with.

○​ Whichever language you choose, be sure you’re familiar with the built-in
libraries and functions in that language.
○​ It may also help to study your strongest coding language, algorithms,
design patterns, core CS concepts and topics related to the scale of our
environment before the interview.
 ●​ Take hints from the interviewer and be open to other solutions as you go.

●​ Efficiency, structure, syntax/language familiarity, bugs and correctness of code

will be the criteria as to how the interviewer will assess your abilities.
●​ You could be asked to solve a problem in multiple ways. The interviewer could
add further constraints or requirements to the problem.
●​ You are encouraged to adjust and work through the problems with the
interviewer to show your thought process and problem-solving ability, so be sure
to communicate your thought process throughout the interview.

Ask Us Anything: The last 5 minutes is for questions. This is a great opportunity to express your
interest in Meta as well as ask questions about the job opportunity, the broader team, and the
wider Meta

Other Tips and How to Prepare:

Interviewers can only assess your skills and abilities based on what you show them during your
interview, so it’s important to plan and prepare to best showcase your strengths. As you begin
preparing, please reference your Career Profile for additional role-specific prep materials, if
available.
●​ Your primary goal in the interview is to obtain a working solution to each problem in a
reasonable amount of time. We don't expect you to come up with the most optimized
solution on the first attempt. It's okay to first take a naive approach and optimize it
later.
●​ Take some time after hearing the problem to ask clarifying questions and plan out your
solution, rather than jumping right into its implementation. Defensive coding is
important, but don't focus on details (such as error handling and corner cases) to the
detriment of the overall solution. If you're not sure if a given error handling or edge
case is important, ask the interviewer.
●​ Don’t get hung up on syntax. If you can’t remember the order or arguments to a
function or its name, just say so, leave a placeholder and move on.
●​ While you don’t need to provide a play by play of your thought process throughout the
interview, it’s best to let the interviewer know why you are making certain decisions.
This will also help with any course corrections that may be needed while you are
solving the problem.
●​ Take hints from the interviewer and be open to other solutions as you go. It's totally
fine to present a rough solution in the beginning and iterate as you go along.
 ●​ Use the language you are strongest in. Don't use a language you’re unfamiliar with just
because it's trendy or you think it will please the interviewer. If the interviewer doesn't
know your strongest language, they will figure it out later.
●​ Don’t be afraid to change your mind. If you think you’ve started your solution in the
wrong way, or even in the wrong language, it’s OK to admit it and change tack (and the
sooner you do it the better).
●​ The best way to prepare for coding interviews is to practice under similar
circumstances by yourself or with a friend, using sample questions. A coding interview
is an unnatural event, even if you are used to coding regularly for your job. The
problems are different, the environment is different, and you are under time pressure.
●​ .Be prepared to explain your motivation for pursuing this opportunity and answer the
question “Why Meta?”

Reference Materials

Coding Exercises:
●​ https://leetcode.com/
●​ Problem #1
●​ Problem #2
●​ Problem #3
●​ Problem #4
●​ https://www.interviewbit.com/facebook-interview-questions/
●​ http://www.careercup.com/page
●​ http://www.glassdoor.com/Interview/Facebook-Interview-Questions-E40772.h
tm

Books:
●​ Cracking the Code Interview
●​ The Pragmatic Programmer

Videos:
●​ Cracking the Facebook Coding Interview: The Approach
●​ Cracking the Facebook Coding Interview: Problem Walkthrough
What to Expect - 1st Round Interview: Networking
Introductions: The interviewer will first introduce themselves, explain what they do at Meta,
and explain the opportunity and project.

Experience: If applicable, the interviewer will ask questions about your prior experiences for the
next 5-10 minutes.

Networking Knowledge:

●​ The next 25-30 minutes will be spent on understanding your knowledge of high-level
Network Engineering concepts necessary for this role.
●​ Be prepared to speak about at least two protocols in depth, the pros/cons and
comparison to other protocols.
●​ The interview will focus on networking fundamentals (such as ARP, DNS, DHCP, NAT,
IPv4, IPv6), TCP (fundamentals, troubleshooting, packet loss on the network), and
BGP (or other routing protocols).
●​ You are encouraged to adjust and work through the problems with the interviewer to
show your thought process and problem-solving ability, so be sure to communicate
your thought process throughout the interview.
●​ If you are unsure of the answer to a specific question, let the interviewer know. You are
also welcome to share an educated guess and your thought process behind it.

Ask Us Anything: The last 5 minutes are for questions. This is a great opportunity to express
your interest in Meta as well as ask questions about the role, the broader team, and working at
Met.

Other Tips and How to Prepare:

●​ Remember that we’ll be looking for you to communicate your thought process
throughout the interview.
●​ Ask questions to make sure you understand what the interviewer is asking.

●​ If you make any assumptions make sure to list them out before beginning on your
solution so the interview can follow along and be prepared to explain.
 ●​ If you don’t know or remember something, let the interviewer know. Making an
educated guess and letting the interviewer know your thought process is better than
no answer.
●​ Be prepared to speak in great detail. The interviewer will let you know when they've
gotten enough signal.

Reference Materials
Open-Sourced Projects:
●​ Open networking advances with Wedge and FBOSS
●​ Introducing data center fabric, the next-generation Facebook data center network
●​ Introducing “6-pack”: the first open hardware modular switch
●​ Building Express Backbone: Facebook’s new long-haul network

Articles / Videos:
●​ An Inside Look at Facebook’s Approach to Automation and Human Work
●​ NetNORAD: Troubleshooting networks via end-to-end probing

Tech Talks:
●​ Scaling the Facebook Backbone through Zero Touch Provisioning by David Swafford
●​ Optics Scaling Challenges by Katharine Schmidtke & Mark McKillop
●​ IPV6 Measurements @ Facebook by Sarah Chen & Paul Saab
●​ Edge Fabric: Steering Oceans of Content to the World by Niky Riga
●​ Layer 4 Load Balancing at Facebook by Nikita Shirokov
●​ Secure Reliability: Tales from Mysterious Platforms by Jade Auer & Jose Leitao
●​ Operating Facebook’s SD-Wan Network by Shuqiang Zhang & Palak Mehta
●​ BGP++ Deployment and Outages by Jingyi Yang
●​ Enforcing Encryption @Scale by Ajanthan Asogamoorthy & Mingtao Yang
●​ Network Reliability: Where we have been and where we are going by Najam Ahmad
●​ Self-Organizing Mesh Access (SOMA) by Derek Schuster
●​ Enforcing Encryption @Scale 2019 by Kyle Nekritz
●​ Monitoring, managing and troubleshooting large scale networks by Peter Hoose