CrackingWalnuts
Checked 3 August 2026. Meta states the overall timeline and the broad stages. Round names, counts and durations are commonly reported by candidates, not published. Source: metacareers.com/hiring-process.
| Round | Duration | What it tests |
|---|---|---|
| Phone Screen (Ninja) | 45 min | Two easy-to-medium problems in 35 min plus follow-up. |
| Ninja 1 (Coding) | 45 min | Two mediums in 35 min. Same format as E5 but lighter expectations. |
| Ninja 2 (Coding) | 45 min | Different problem space. Trees, graphs, or hash maps common. |
| Pirate (Light System Design) | 45 min | Conversational design. Basic reasoning, no deep dive required. |
| Jedi (Behavioral) | 45 min | Project stories, learning, curiosity. Lighter than E5 Jedi. |
E3 is the entry-level engineering role. New grads, career switchers, and engineers with up to about 18 months of experience target this.
Targeted guidance per round in this loop. Each section links to the matching track on the site. There is no shortcut list, the bar moves loop to loop, so build the pattern recognition and the stories from real practice.
Work the pattern templates until the recognition is instant. Trace one mock problem per pattern. Practice stating time and space complexity out loud before you write code.
Meta E3 (Software Engineer, Entry) has one design round: Pirate (Light System Design) (45 min): Conversational design. Basic reasoning, no deep dive required.. Bar is structure and clarity. Walk through requirements, a simple design, and at least one well-reasoned trade-off. Pick problems from the track at the scale this loop tests and rehearse the structure: requirements, numbers, high-level design, data model, API, deep dive on one part, trade-offs.
Fresher / new-grad bar. Build 4-6 strong stories from internships, capstone projects, hackathons, or side work. Lead with a clean 90-second career story, one project you owned end to end, and one failure you can defend honestly. Meta's framework (Move Fast, Build Awesome Things, Focus on Long-Term Impact, Live in the Future) is what stories should map to.