Behavioural - rs-hash/GETTHATJOB GitHub Wiki

S - SITUATION

T - TASK

A - ACTION

R - RESULT

1. Tell me about a time you failed

2. Best collaboration experience

3. Tell me what former colleague would say about you

4. Describe a time when you completed a task under pressure

1. Tell me about a time when you made a hard decision to sacrifice short-term gain for something that would create long term value for the business. What was the outcome? Knowing what you know now, would you have done anything differently?

"At a previous role, we were working on launching a new feature for a high-traffic user dashboard. There was pressure to ship quickly because of a marketing campaign, and the backend APIs were not yet optimized for the new design. To meet the short-term goal, I could have added logic directly into the front end to handle complex data transformations and fallbacks."

"Instead, I proposed a different approach. I worked with the backend team to define proper API contracts and pushed to build a clean abstraction layer on the front end. This delayed our delivery by a couple of sprints, but it significantly reduced our technical debt. We created reusable components and data hooks that later accelerated development for other teams building similar features. The outcome was a more maintainable codebase and faster time-to-market for future projects."

"Looking back, I’d still make the same call. However, I would have communicated the long-term benefits more proactively to stakeholders to better manage expectations and get earlier buy-in. It taught me the importance of aligning tech decisions with business goals and investing in long-term velocity over short-term optics."

Tips to tailor this: Pick a real project where you led or strongly influenced the technical direction.

Be honest if the decision was controversial or not understood at the time—this shows leadership.

Emphasize collaboration with cross-functional teams (PM, backend, design).

Highlight metrics or outcomes, e.g. “reduced bugs by X%,” “cut dev time for similar features by Y%,” “improved Lighthouse performance score.”

2. What's the most challenging work you ever did?

Two months into a persistent CDN data overage issue, our team hadn’t identified the root cause, and my lead was on leave. We started getting urgent pressure from upper management to reduce file sizes, assuming that was the cause. I stepped up, analyzed file size versus data consumption patterns, and found that even though vendor.js hadn’t grown, its data usage had spiked by 300%, hitting 2.5TB across 3.27 million requests. This indicated it wasn’t a size issue, but a caching problem. Using SUMO, I identified broken cache headers and worked with the backend team to fix them. In parallel, I optimized and reduced the vendor bundle, saving ~2GB per KB reduced. This combination not only resolved the overage issue but also improved site performance and cost efficiency significantly.

3. If there’s one thing you wish you’d improve, what would it be?

One thing I continuously work to improve is communicating technical decisions in a way that aligns with business impact. Earlier in my career, I focused heavily on code quality and performance, but sometimes under-communicated the “why” to non-technical stakeholders. I’ve gotten better at this by tying improvements to metrics like load time, user retention, or infra cost savings, but I still see room to grow — especially as I take on more cross-functional and leadership responsibilities.

4. Describe a time when you faced a conflict inside your team or a disagreement with your boss

S: In one project, the UX team proposed a design where a button looked visually disabled but still triggered an error message when clicked. T: I was responsible for implementing the UI, but I saw a potential accessibility issue — a "disabled-looking" button that was still interactive could confuse users, especially those using screen readers. A: I raised the concern respectfully, explaining how this approach violates accessibility standards and could harm UX for people with disabilities. I demonstrated how assistive technologies would treat the button as active, creating misleading interactions. I proposed an alternative: keep the button truly disabled, but show contextual guidance near it to explain why it’s disabled. R: The UX team agreed after reviewing the accessibility implications. We aligned on a more inclusive design that improved usability and met WCAG standards. It also helped raise awareness in the team about accessible design principles.

5. How does teamwork come into play in your current role?

Teamwork is central to my role. As a senior front-end engineer, I collaborate closely with designers to ensure accessibility and performance are baked into UI decisions early. I work with backend engineers to align on efficient API contracts and with PMs to scope features realistically. I also mentor junior devs through code reviews and pair programming, helping raise the overall quality bar. Recently, in a cross-functional effort, I led a performance audit that involved coordination across infra, backend, and analytics teams — the outcome reduced page load by 40%. I see teamwork not just as collaboration, but as multiplying impact through shared ownership.

6. Give me an example of a calculated risk you’ve taken where speed was critical. What was the situation and how did you handle it? What steps did you take to mitigate the risk? What was the outcome? Knowing what you know now, would you have done anything differently?

S: Just before a major release, I noticed a memory leak caused by a third-party visualization library. T: Fixing it properly meant replacing the library — a high-risk change days before launch. A: I took the calculated risk of swapping it out with a lighter native implementation. I wrote regression tests, kept the fallback version behind a feature flag, and got a peer to co-review under pressure. R: Not only did we eliminate the leak, but page load improved by 22%, and there were zero reported issues post-launch. In hindsight, I’d document edge-case behaviors better for future devs.

7. How do you handle setbacks

I handle setbacks by first stepping back to assess the root cause without rushing to blame or react. Whether it's a failed deployment, a missed deadline, or a bug in production, I focus on understanding what went wrong and what we can learn. I communicate transparently with stakeholders, prioritize damage control if needed, and then work on a long-term fix — whether it’s improving test coverage, adjusting scope, or reworking the process. For example, after a caching misconfiguration caused a huge spike in CDN costs, I not only helped fix it quickly but also initiated a performance audit process that now prevents similar issues. Setbacks are inevitable — I treat them as feedback loops for improvement.

What’s your most recent invention?

Why Meta.

How do you learn?

META QA

  1. What are some of the best things you’ve built?
  2. What are you most proud of?
  3. What could you have done better?
  4. What were some excellent collaborations you’ve had?
  5. Tell me about a time when you advocated for and pushed your own ideas forward despite opposition.
  6. How do you deal with conflict?
  7. How do you like to give and receive feedback?
  8. What kinds of technologies are you most excited about?

META BEHAVIORAL

  1. Why do you want to work for Meta?
  2. Tell me about a time you led your team or took extra responsibilities
  3. Tell me about a time when you had to work under pressure or a tight deadline.