When to schedule Meta onsite approaching holiday season?

I would choose to interview in November. Think about interviews like money. In the same way that "money now is better than money later," locking in interviews now is better than scheduling interviews later.

The world changes rapidly (and tech cos in particular). As you alluded, headcount might change, the presidential election might change priorities, or anything else could derail your entry into the company.

The other benefit is that you likely have a clear deadline for hearing back since all hiring will stop by mid-December at Meta. You'll be able to wrap up the process before the holidays.

[Side note: If you were a new grad, I would absolutely choose the earlier option. There are a limited number of slots for interns or new grads, so you need to interview ASAP. Since you're a senior engineer, it's a bit more complicated, but I still think November is better.]

You still have more than a month before you enter the dangerous slowdown from holidays. In that time, I recommend:

• You schedule the Meta interview and aggressively study for it
• Schedule many (3+ companies) other interviews as well to be before Meta
• Communicate to companies that you are making a decision by mid-December about which company to join.

You attitude should be "I will have an offer I'm excited about by mid-December." (Even if it's not Meta) That confidence will put you in a stronger position when talking to companies and you'll be able to make it happen!

I talked with the recruiter - and she informed me they will have to put my application on hold if I push it out more than 6 weeks. So I m targeting early December for the interview - i think that's a balance between having a few weeks to prep and not dragging it on for long. Thanks everyone for the insights!

Getting into Meta now is 100% better than getting into Meta later. The problem is getting in.

I have a different opinion to Rahul in that waiting until January seems like a good option, and I think I'm leaning towards it (but not by much). Here's why:

• The Meta interview is extremely hard, especially for E5. 60% prepared still has a 40% gap. Keep in mind that the Meta bar is substantially higher now with "year of efficiency". Back when I was a Meta interview, I saw people with "Weak Yes" (and even that is hard to get as a score) get an offer. This isn't happening anymore
• Team matching will be way better in January as most teams are effectively half brain-dead in late November and most of December
• Meta does E5 hiring perennially, so headcount will definitely still be open by January 2025. Meta is unique here, similar to Google, in that it does central hiring

I don't think there's a competition angle. The bar will not be lower in November/December. If anything, it could be higher as if you interview during the holidays, the people remaining at the office could be super hardcore. I had a workaholic teammate at Instagram who stayed around during the holidays, and he was pretty brutal in interviews (I never saw him pass anybody and he gave a ton of hard "No's").

That being said, Meta recruiting (like all recruiting) can be kind of derpy and leaving a thread open for 2 months is risky. The energy will die down, and your packet could be lost in the shuffle.

Anyways, I hope these help:

• [Course] Master The Behavioral Interview As A Software Engineer
• [Course] Master The Data Structures And Algorithms Interview
• "How does the Meta interview work?"