How I got a job at Meta London from India

Main ideas / lessons from the video

• Purpose of the video: The speaker shares a complete timeline of how they obtained a Meta London job as a software engineer from India, including a recruiter call, interview stages, visa process, and relocation.
• Context: In March 2025, while working at Uber India, the speaker applied for Meta London after a recommendation and then went through the full hiring pipeline.
• Key theme: Success depends heavily on structured preparation, especially for:
  • Coding speed
  • Systems design trade-offs
  • Behavioral interview strength
  • Plus a smooth visa/relocation process.

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Methodology / process described (detailed steps)

1) Application + recruiter outreach

• Applied to Meta after a recommendation from a senior college colleague.
• Two days later, the recruiter contacted the speaker to:
  • Schedule the initial interview
  • Learn about their experience
• During the recruiter call:
  • The recruiter explained the overall process
  • The speaker asked questions about interviews, visa, and expectations for each stage

2) Initial phone screen (selection gate)

• A phone interview served as a screening/selection stage:
  • If the speaker failed, they would be eliminated and there would be no further stages
• Format:
  • Coding stage
  • 45 minutes
  • Two tasks
  • Tasks were LeetCode-style, medium/high difficulty
• What the speaker did during coding:
  • Wrote code
  • Performed a dry run
  • Did complexity analysis
  • Explained approach
  • Discussed trade-offs (typical for coding interviews)
• Outcome:
  • After two days, the recruiter informed them they passed
  • Next interviews were scheduled

3) Preparation window (2–3 weeks)

• The speaker had 2–3 weeks to prepare, but studying was difficult because they were still working.
• They often studied until 2–3 AM.
• Focus areas:
  • Data structures
  • System design
• Resources used:
  • Alex Xu’s systems design book
  • Hello Interview articles
  • Several GitHub repositories related to systems design
• Additional practice:
  • Mock interviews with a friend
  • Emphasis on evaluating trade-offs (e.g., between databases and API types)

4) Scheduled four rounds across two days

The next rounds were:

1. Two coding rounds
   • 45 minutes each
   • Two tasks per round
   • LeetCode-style data structures + algorithms
2. One high-level design round
3. One behavioral round

Coding round guidance emphasized by the speaker

• Speed is the most important factor
  • Must solve two tasks in 45 minutes per stage
• Must have clear understanding of:
  • Temporal complexity
  • Spatial complexity
• Must:
  • Write clean code
  • Dry run/test before declaring completion
• Practice advice:
  • Don’t rely on random practice problems
  • Prefer virtual competitions on LeetCode or Codeforces
  • Train to solve under time limits (considered very important)

High-level system design round guidance emphasized by the speaker

• What it involved:
  • Designing a real-system solution
  • Requirement gathering
  • Designing:
    • API
    • database
  • Analyzing trade-offs
• How to perform it:
  • Ask questions
  • Be proactive
  • Voice thoughts and assumptions while working through the solution
• Biggest mistake called out:
  • Don’t immediately list components like:
    • “Use REST API / GraphQL…”
    • “Use this database…”
• Core principle:
  • In systems design, what matters is why you choose something
  • You must justify and weigh trade-offs between technologies
• Personal strategy:
  • Wrote evaluated trade-offs into an Excel spreadsheet so the interviewer could see what they considered

Behavioral round guidance emphasized by the speaker

• Focus:
  • Past projects and experiences
  • How they worked on them
  • How they handled conflict situations
• Importance:
  • The speaker warned many people ignore behavioral rounds
  • They observed eliminations at this stage
  • They noted large companies like Facebook and Google treat these rounds as very important

5) Results + offer

• After interviews, the speaker waited two weeks for results.
• During the wait, they continued preparing for other interviews.
• When selected:
  • Confirmed they passed all stages
  • Shared the news with friends and family
  • Described it as a major and emotional moment for their family

6) Hiring manager calls + team assignment

• A few days later:
  • Calls with hiring managers to discuss team goals, plans, and current projects
• They were assigned a team.
• Start time:
  • Second week of August
• Received:
  • An offer letter

7) Visa and relocation process (UK)

• After the offer:
  • The company began visa and relocation processing
• Paperwork/tasks described:
  • Filled out forms
  • Submitted documents
  • Completed required medical examinations
• Language requirement / test:
  • Needed an IELTS-like test because they lacked a language certificate from undergraduate
  • Advice:
    • If you don’t have a bachelor’s language certificate, handle it in advance to avoid last-minute problems
• Where it happened:
  • In Hyderabad, so they didn’t have to travel for visa/biometrics
• Visa interview (described as simple):
  • Asked why they wanted to move
  • Who was sponsoring them
  • Requested job offer letter and other documents
• Timeline:
  • Passport with visa delivered in 2–3 days
  • Used premium services to speed up processing
• Relocation support:
  • Relocation team arranged:
    • Flight to London
    • Accommodation for the first 30 days
• Travel:
  • Emirates flight from Hyderabad to London
  • Company provided a business class ticket
• Personal adjustment:
  • Returned home / stayed in India for about a month before moving
  • Uber team allowed working from home during notice period
  • Moved with mixed emotions (excitement + sadness + worry about independence)

8) Arrival and early reflections

• Total travel time:
  • About 13 hours
• Early takeaways in London:
  • Learned a lot in the office
  • Learned a lot about living independently
• Closing intent:
  • Plans to continue sharing experiences about technology, travel, and life

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Speakers / sources featured

Speaker(s)

• Primary speaker: The YouTube narrator (the applicant describing their journey to Meta London)

Sources mentioned

• Alex Xu (systems design book)
• Hello Interview (systems design resources/articles)
• GitHub repositories (systems design-related)
• LeetCode (coding practice, competitions)
• Codeforces (coding practice, competitions)
• IELTS-like test (language assessment referenced)
• Facebook and Google (examples of companies that value behavioral rounds)