Introduction

This 7-day preparation plan is specifically tailored for Meta OS/Frameworks interviews, which focus on OS/middleware-specific concepts rather than large-scale distributed systems. The interview emphasizes deep discussions on threading models, memory management, IPC mechanisms, and event handling.

Key Characteristics of Meta OS/Frameworks Interviews:

  • Anchored in OS/middleware concepts (not distributed systems)
  • Deep dives into threading, memory, IPC, event handling
  • Architecture diagrams and API design (not live coding)
  • Trade-off discussions (latency vs throughput, modularity vs overhead)
  • Android/AOSP parallels while keeping solutions platform-agnostic

Core Operating Systems Books

1. “Operating System Concepts” by Silberschatz, Galvin, and Gagne

Essential chapters for OS Frameworks:

  • Chapter 3: Processes
  • Chapter 4: Threads
  • Chapter 5: Process Synchronization
  • Chapter 6: CPU Scheduling
  • Chapter 7: Deadlocks
  • Chapter 8: Main Memory
  • Chapter 9: Virtual Memory
  • Chapter 10: Mass-Storage Structure
  • Chapter 11: File-System Interface
  • Chapter 12: File-System Implementation
  • Chapter 13: I/O Systems

2. “Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces” by Arpaci-Dusseau

Key chapters:

  • Part I: Virtualization (Chapters 1-13)
    • Chapter 4: The Abstraction: The Process
    • Chapter 5: Interlude: Process API
    • Chapter 6: Mechanism: Limited Direct Execution
    • Chapter 7: Scheduling: Introduction
    • Chapter 13: The Abstraction: Address Spaces
  • Part II: Concurrency (Chapters 26-36)
    • Chapter 26: Concurrency: An Introduction
    • Chapter 27: Interlude: Thread API
    • Chapter 28: Locks
    • Chapter 29: Lock-based Concurrent Data Structures
    • Chapter 30: Condition Variables
    • Chapter 31: Semaphores
    • Chapter 32: Common Concurrency Problems
  • Part III: Persistence (Chapters 37-46)
    • Chapter 37: I/O Devices
    • Chapter 39: Files and Directories
    • Chapter 40: File System Implementation

Linux Kernel and Systems Programming

3. “Linux Kernel Development” by Robert Love

Essential chapters:

  • Chapter 1: Introduction to the Linux Kernel
  • Chapter 2: Getting Started with the Kernel
  • Chapter 3: Process Management
  • Chapter 4: Process Scheduling
  • Chapter 5: System Calls
  • Chapter 6: Kernel Data Structures
  • Chapter 7: Interrupts and Interrupt Handlers
  • Chapter 8: Bottom Halves and Deferring Work
  • Chapter 9: An Introduction to Kernel Synchronization
  • Chapter 10: Kernel Synchronization Methods
  • Chapter 11: Timers and Time Management
  • Chapter 12: Memory Management
  • Chapter 13: The Virtual Filesystem
  • Chapter 14: The Block I/O Layer
  • Chapter 15: The Process Address Space
  • Chapter 16: The Page Cache and Page Writeback
  • Chapter 17: Devices and Modules
  • Chapter 18: Debugging

4. “Understanding the Linux Kernel” by Bovet and Cesati

Key chapters:

  • Chapter 1: Introduction
  • Chapter 3: Processes
  • Chapter 7: Process Scheduling
  • Chapter 8: Memory Management
  • Chapter 9: Process Address Space
  • Chapter 10: System Calls
  • Chapter 11: Signals
  • Chapter 12: The Virtual Filesystem
  • Chapter 13: I/O Architecture and Device Drivers
  • Chapter 14: Block Device Drivers
  • Chapter 15: Character Device Drivers

5. “Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment” by Stevens and Rago

Relevant chapters:

  • Chapter 3: File I/O
  • Chapter 8: Process Control
  • Chapter 10: Signals
  • Chapter 11: Threads
  • Chapter 12: Thread Control
  • Chapter 13: Daemon Processes
  • Chapter 14: Advanced I/O
  • Chapter 15: Interprocess Communication
  • Chapter 16: Network IPC: Sockets
  • Chapter 17: Advanced IPC

6. “The Linux Programming Interface” by Michael Kerrisk

Essential chapters:

  • Chapter 27: Program Execution
  • Chapter 29: Threads: Introduction
  • Chapter 30: Threads: Thread Synchronization
  • Chapter 31: Threads: Thread Safety and Per-Thread Storage
  • Chapter 32: Threads: Thread Cancellation
  • Chapter 44: Pipes and FIFOs
  • Chapter 45: System V IPC Introduction
  • Chapter 46: System V Message Queues
  • Chapter 47: System V Semaphores
  • Chapter 48: System V Shared Memory
  • Chapter 49: Memory Mappings
  • Chapter 50: Virtual Memory Operations
  • Chapter 51: Introduction to POSIX IPC
  • Chapter 52: POSIX Message Queues
  • Chapter 53: POSIX Semaphores
  • Chapter 54: POSIX Shared Memory
  • Chapter 61: Sockets: Introduction
  • Chapter 63: Alternative I/O Models

Concurrency and Threading

7. “The Art of Multiprocessor Programming” by Herlihy and Shavit

Critical chapters:

  • Chapter 1: Introduction
  • Chapter 2: Mutual Exclusion
  • Chapter 3: Concurrent Objects
  • Chapter 5: The Relative Power of Synchronization Primitives
  • Chapter 6: Universality of Consensus
  • Chapter 7: Spin Locks and Contention
  • Chapter 8: Monitors and Blocking Synchronization
  • Chapter 9: Linked Lists: The Role of Locking
  • Chapter 10: Concurrent Queues and the ABA Problem
  • Chapter 11: Concurrent Stacks and Elimination
  • Chapter 12: Counting, Sorting, and Distributed Coordination
  • Chapter 13: Concurrent Hashing and Natural Parallelism
  • Chapter 14: Skiplists and Balanced Search
  • Chapter 15: Priority Queues
  • Chapter 18: Transactional Memory

8. “C++ Concurrency in Action” by Anthony Williams

Key chapters:

  • Chapter 1: Hello, world of concurrency in C++!
  • Chapter 2: Managing threads
  • Chapter 3: Sharing data between threads
  • Chapter 4: Synchronizing concurrent operations
  • Chapter 5: The C++ memory model and operations on atomic types
  • Chapter 6: Designing lock-based concurrent data structures
  • Chapter 7: Designing lock-free concurrent data structures
  • Chapter 8: Designing concurrent code
  • Chapter 9: Advanced thread management

Android and Mobile Systems

9. “Learning Android” by Marko Gargenta

Relevant chapters:

  • Chapter 3: Android Architecture
  • Chapter 4: Application Basics
  • Chapter 5: Intents and Services
  • Chapter 6: Storing and Retrieving Data
  • Chapter 7: Networking and Web Services
  • Chapter 12: Android Native Development

10. “Android Internals” by Jonathan Levin (or similar Android deep dive)

Key topics:

  • Android system architecture
  • Binder IPC mechanism
  • System services architecture
  • Zygote and process management
  • Android Runtime (ART)

Performance and Systems

11. “Systems Performance” by Brendan Gregg

Essential chapters:

  • Chapter 1: Introduction
  • Chapter 2: Methodologies
  • Chapter 3: Operating Systems
  • Chapter 4: Observability Tools
  • Chapter 5: Applications
  • Chapter 6: CPUs
  • Chapter 7: Memory
  • Chapter 8: File Systems
  • Chapter 9: Disks
  • Chapter 10: Network
  • Chapter 11: Cloud Computing
  • Chapter 12: Benchmarking

12. “The Art of Computer Systems Performance Analysis” by Raj Jain

Key chapters:

  • Chapter 1: Introduction
  • Chapter 2: Probability Theory and Statistics
  • Chapter 3: Experimental Design and Analysis
  • Chapter 4: Simulation
  • Chapter 5: Queueing Theory
  • Chapter 6: Data Analysis and Simulation

Device Drivers and Hardware

13. “Linux Device Drivers” by Corbet, Rubini, and Kroah-Hartman

Essential chapters:

  • Chapter 1: An Introduction to Device Drivers
  • Chapter 2: Building and Running Modules
  • Chapter 3: Char Drivers
  • Chapter 5: Concurrency and Race Conditions
  • Chapter 6: Advanced Char Driver Operations
  • Chapter 7: Time, Delays, and Deferred Work
  • Chapter 8: Allocating Memory
  • Chapter 9: Communicating with Hardware
  • Chapter 10: Interrupt Handling
  • Chapter 11: Data Types in the Kernel
  • Chapter 12: PCI Drivers
  • Chapter 13: USB Drivers
  • Chapter 14: The Linux Device Model
  • Chapter 15: Memory Mapping and DMA

Additional Reference Materials

Online Resources

  • AOSP Source Code: frameworks/base/services - Study Android system services
  • Linux Kernel Documentation: Documentation/ directory in kernel source
  • Android Developer Documentation: System services, Binder IPC
  • Meta Engineering Blog: Real-world system design insights

Papers and Articles

  • Binder IPC paper: “Binder: An IPC Mechanism for Android”
  • RCU papers: “Read-Copy-Update” by McKenney
  • Lock-free algorithms: Various academic papers on lock-free data structures

Day 1: IPC & Cross-Process Communication Framework

Morning (2-3 hours)

Reading Assignments:

  • “Operating System Concepts” - Chapter 3: Processes (IPC basics)
  • “Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment” - Chapter 15: Interprocess Communication
  • “The Linux Programming Interface” - Chapter 44: Pipes and FIFOs, Chapter 45-48: System V IPC, Chapter 51-54: POSIX IPC
  • “Understanding the Linux Kernel” - Chapter 11: Signals (signal-based IPC)
  • AOSP Documentation: Binder IPC mechanism (online)

Study & Review:

  • Review IPC mechanisms: shared memory, message queues, sockets, Binder
  • Study Binder IPC in detail (Android-specific, but understand concepts)
  • Understand serialization/deserialization (Protobuf, custom formats)
  • Review message ordering and delivery guarantees

Key Concepts:

  • Binder’s thread pool model and transaction flow
  • Shared memory vs message passing trade-offs
  • Synchronous vs asynchronous IPC
  • Security and authentication in IPC

Afternoon (2-3 hours)

Practice Exercises:

  • Draw architecture: Design a cross-process communication framework
    • Show client → IPC layer → server
    • Include threading model
    • Show message serialization/deserialization
  • Design API: Outline core interfaces for IPC framework
    • Connection establishment
    • Message sending/receiving
    • Error handling
  • Document trade-offs:
    • Latency vs throughput (synchronous vs asynchronous)
    • Complexity vs performance (shared memory vs message passing)

Mock Question:

“Design a cross-process communication framework supporting multiple clients and servers. How do you handle concurrency, message ordering, and failures?”

Key Points to Cover:

  • IPC mechanism selection and rationale
  • Threading model (thread pool, per-request threads)
  • Message serialization format
  • Concurrency handling
  • Error handling and recovery
  • Security considerations

Resources:

Day 2: Threading Models & Concurrency

Morning (2-3 hours)

Reading Assignments:

  • “Operating System Concepts” - Chapter 4: Threads, Chapter 5: Process Synchronization
  • “Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces” - Part II: Concurrency (Chapters 26-32)
  • “The Art of Multiprocessor Programming” - Chapter 2: Mutual Exclusion, Chapter 3: Concurrent Objects, Chapter 7: Spin Locks and Contention, Chapter 8: Monitors and Blocking Synchronization
  • “C++ Concurrency in Action” - Chapter 3: Sharing data between threads, Chapter 4: Synchronizing concurrent operations, Chapter 5: The C++ memory model
  • “Linux Kernel Development” - Chapter 9: An Introduction to Kernel Synchronization, Chapter 10: Kernel Synchronization Methods

Study & Review:

  • Threading models: thread-per-request, thread pool, event-driven
  • Synchronization primitives: mutexes, semaphores, condition variables
  • Lock-free programming: atomic operations, CAS, lock-free data structures
  • Memory ordering and visibility guarantees
  • Deadlock prevention and detection

Key Concepts:

  • Thread pool design patterns
  • Lock-free vs lock-based trade-offs
  • False sharing and cache line awareness
  • Thread-safe API design

Afternoon (2-3 hours)

Practice Exercises:

  • Draw threading model: For a system service handling concurrent requests
    • Show thread pool architecture
    • Show request queuing
    • Show synchronization points
  • Design thread-safe API: For a resource manager
    • Method signatures
    • Synchronization strategy
    • Error handling
  • Discuss trade-offs:
    • Thread-per-request vs thread pool (memory vs context switching)
    • Lock-based vs lock-free (complexity vs performance)

Mock Question:

“Design a system service that handles concurrent requests from multiple clients. What threading model would you use and why? How do you ensure thread safety?”

Key Points to Cover:

  • Threading model selection (thread pool recommended)
  • Request queuing mechanism
  • Synchronization strategy
  • Thread safety guarantees
  • Performance considerations
  • Deadlock prevention

Resources:

Day 3: Memory Management & Resource Management

Morning (2-3 hours)

Reading Assignments:

  • “Operating System Concepts” - Chapter 8: Main Memory, Chapter 9: Virtual Memory
  • “Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces” - Chapter 13: The Abstraction: Address Spaces, Chapter 15: Mechanism: Address Translation, Chapter 16: Segmentation, Chapter 18: Introduction to Paging
  • “Linux Kernel Development” - Chapter 12: Memory Management, Chapter 15: The Process Address Space
  • “Understanding the Linux Kernel” - Chapter 8: Memory Management, Chapter 9: Process Address Space
  • “Linux Device Drivers” - Chapter 8: Allocating Memory

Study & Review:

  • Memory allocation strategies: stack, heap, memory pools
  • Memory management in OS context: virtual memory, paging, swapping
  • Resource management: CPU, memory, I/O quotas
  • Memory safety: buffer overflows, use-after-free, memory leaks
  • Garbage collection vs manual memory management

Key Concepts:

  • Memory pool allocators
  • Cache-friendly data structures
  • Memory-mapped I/O
  • Resource contention handling

Afternoon (2-3 hours)

Practice Exercises:

  • Design memory allocator: For a specific use case (e.g., logging framework)
    • Allocation strategy
    • Memory pool design
    • Fragmentation handling
  • Design resource manager: CPU and memory allocation
    • Priority-based allocation
    • Quota management
    • Contention resolution
  • Document trade-offs:
    • Memory vs CPU (caching strategies)
    • Predictability vs efficiency (fixed vs dynamic allocation)

Mock Question:

“Design a resource manager that allocates CPU and memory to multiple system services and applications. How do you handle contention and ensure fairness?”

Key Points to Cover:

  • Resource monitoring and tracking
  • Allocation algorithms (priority-based, fair scheduling)
  • Contention detection and resolution
  • OOM handling strategies
  • API design for resource requests
  • Trade-offs: fairness vs throughput

Resources:

Day 4: Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL)

Morning (2-3 hours)

Reading Assignments:

  • “Linux Device Drivers” - Chapter 1: An Introduction to Device Drivers, Chapter 3: Char Drivers, Chapter 6: Advanced Char Driver Operations, Chapter 9: Communicating with Hardware, Chapter 10: Interrupt Handling, Chapter 14: The Linux Device Model
  • “Linux Kernel Development” - Chapter 7: Interrupts and Interrupt Handlers, Chapter 8: Bottom Halves and Deferring Work, Chapter 17: Devices and Modules
  • “Understanding the Linux Kernel” - Chapter 13: I/O Architecture and Device Drivers, Chapter 14: Block Device Drivers, Chapter 15: Character Device Drivers
  • “Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces” - Chapter 37: I/O Devices
  • Android HAL Documentation: Hardware Abstraction Layer concepts (online)

Study & Review:

  • HAL concepts: abstraction layers, device drivers, hardware interfaces
  • Driver architecture: character devices, block devices, device files
  • Interrupt handling: top-half, bottom-half, work queues
  • DMA and memory-mapped I/O
  • Platform abstraction: Android HAL, Linux device model

Key Concepts:

  • Abstraction layers and their benefits
  • Device driver interfaces
  • Hardware resource management
  • Cross-platform compatibility

Afternoon (2-3 hours)

Practice Exercises:

  • Draw HAL architecture: Application → Framework → HAL → Driver → Hardware
    • Show abstraction layers
    • Show data flow
    • Show interface boundaries
  • Design HAL API: For a sensor (e.g., temperature sensor)
    • Interface definition
    • Data structures
    • Error codes
  • Discuss trade-offs:
    • Abstraction vs performance overhead
    • Modularity vs simplicity

Mock Question:

“Design a hardware abstraction layer for a temperature sensor that supports multiple hardware variants. How do you abstract differences while maintaining performance?”

Key Points to Cover:

  • HAL interface design
  • Plugin/driver architecture
  • Hardware variant abstraction
  • Performance considerations (minimize overhead)
  • Error handling
  • Thread safety (concurrent access)

Resources:

  • Android HAL documentation
  • “Linux Device Drivers” by Corbet et al.

Day 5: OS-Level Service API Design

Morning (2-3 hours)

Reading Assignments:

  • “Learning Android” - Chapter 3: Android Architecture, Chapter 5: Intents and Services
  • “Operating System Concepts” - Chapter 2: Operating-System Structures (service architecture)
  • “Linux Kernel Development” - Chapter 5: System Calls (API design principles)
  • AOSP Source Code: Study system services in frameworks/base/services (online)
  • Android Developer Documentation: System services architecture (online)

Study & Review:

  • System service architecture: lifecycle, initialization, binding
  • Service API design principles: clear interfaces, versioning, backward compatibility
  • Android system services: ActivityManager, WindowManager, etc.
  • Service discovery and registration
  • API versioning and evolution

Key Concepts:

  • Service lifecycle management
  • Client-server model in OS context
  • API stability and compatibility
  • Permission and security model

Afternoon (2-3 hours)

Practice Exercises:

  • Design system service: Camera service or similar
    • Service interface definition
    • Lifecycle management
    • Client binding mechanism
    • Resource management
  • Design API: Outline core methods
    • Method signatures
    • Parameters and return types
    • Error handling
  • Document trade-offs:
    • Synchronous vs asynchronous APIs
    • Type safety vs flexibility

Mock Question:

“Design an OS-level Camera service API that supports multiple concurrent clients. How do you manage resources, handle priorities, and ensure thread safety?”

Key Points to Cover:

  • Service architecture and lifecycle
  • API design (synchronous/asynchronous)
  • Resource management (camera hardware)
  • Concurrency handling (multiple clients)
  • Priority management
  • Error handling and recovery

Resources:

  • Android System Services documentation
  • AOSP source code: frameworks/base/services

Day 6: Event Handling & Event-Driven Architecture

Morning (2-3 hours)

Reading Assignments:

  • “Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment” - Chapter 14: Advanced I/O (select, poll, epoll)
  • “The Linux Programming Interface” - Chapter 63: Alternative I/O Models (epoll, kqueue)
  • “Linux Kernel Development” - Chapter 7: Interrupts and Interrupt Handlers (event-driven at hardware level)
  • “Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces” - Chapter 36: I/O Devices (I/O completion and events)
  • Android Documentation: Looper and Handler patterns (online)

Study & Review:

  • Event loops: Looper, Handler patterns (Android), epoll/kqueue (Linux)
  • Event-driven architecture: event sources, handlers, routing
  • Asynchronous event processing: callbacks, futures, promises
  • Event queuing: priority queues, backpressure handling
  • Threading for event processing: main loop + worker threads

Key Concepts:

  • Event loop implementation
  • Non-blocking I/O
  • Event filtering and routing
  • Latency vs throughput in event systems

Afternoon (2-3 hours)

Practice Exercises:

  • Design event system: For hardware events (sensors, interrupts)
    • Event loop architecture
    • Event queuing mechanism
    • Worker thread model
  • Draw event flow: Event source → Queue → Handler → Response
    • Show threading boundaries
    • Show synchronization points
  • Discuss trade-offs:
    • Latency vs throughput (batch vs immediate processing)
    • Single-threaded vs multi-threaded event loop

Mock Question:

“Design an event handling system for processing asynchronous hardware events (sensors, interrupts) with low latency requirements. How do you structure the event loop and worker threads?”

Key Points to Cover:

  • Event loop design (epoll/kqueue)
  • Event queuing (priority queues)
  • Worker thread pool
  • Latency optimization
  • Backpressure handling
  • Thread safety

Resources:

  • Android Looper/Handler documentation
  • “The Linux Programming Interface” - epoll chapter

Day 7: Complete System Design & Mock Interview

Morning (2-3 hours)

Review Reading (Quick Reference):

  • “Systems Performance” - Chapter 1: Introduction, Chapter 2: Methodologies (performance considerations)
  • “The Art of Multiprocessor Programming” - Chapter 10: Concurrent Queues and the ABA Problem (lock-free patterns)
  • “Operating System Concepts” - Review key chapters 3-9 (quick refresh)
  • Review any notes from Days 1-6

Review & Synthesis:

  • Review all previous days’ concepts
  • Practice drawing architecture diagrams quickly
  • Review common trade-offs and how to articulate them
  • Review Android/AOSP parallels (Binder, system services, etc.)

Key Focus Areas:

  • Architecture diagramming skills
  • API design clarity
  • Trade-off discussion skills
  • Platform-agnostic thinking

Afternoon (3-4 hours)

Full Mock Interview Practice:

Choose one of these scenarios and complete a full 45-50 minute mock:

Option 1: Cross-Process Communication Framework

“Design a cross-process communication framework for an OS that supports multiple clients and servers. Include threading model, message serialization, error handling, and security.”

Option 2: Resource Manager

“Design a system resource manager that allocates CPU and memory to multiple system services and applications. Handle contention, priorities, and ensure fairness.”

Option 3: Hardware Abstraction Layer

“Design a hardware abstraction layer for a sensor subsystem supporting multiple hardware variants. Include driver interface, abstraction layer, and framework API.”

Option 4: OS-Level Service

“Design an OS-level Camera service with API for multiple concurrent clients. Include resource management, priority handling, event logging, and telemetry.”

Mock Interview Structure:

  1. Clarify Requirements (5-10 min)
    • Ask about constraints (memory, CPU, battery)
    • Understand scale and requirements
    • Clarify non-functional requirements
  2. Draw Architecture (15-20 min)
    • High-level architecture diagram
    • Component interactions
    • Data flow paths
    • Thread boundaries
  3. Deep Dive Discussion (15-20 min)
    • Threading model and concurrency
    • Memory management
    • IPC mechanisms (if applicable)
    • Event handling (if applicable)
    • Failure handling and reliability
  4. API Design (5-10 min)
    • Core interface definitions
    • Method signatures
    • Error handling
    • Usage examples
  5. Trade-offs Discussion (5-10 min)
    • Latency vs throughput
    • Modularity vs overhead
    • Memory vs CPU
    • Complexity vs performance

Self-Evaluation Checklist: After mock interview, evaluate:

  • Clearly clarified requirements
  • Drew comprehensive architecture diagram
  • Discussed threading model in detail
  • Addressed memory management
  • Covered IPC/event handling as needed
  • Designed clear APIs
  • Discussed trade-offs with justification
  • Drew Android/AOSP parallels where relevant
  • Kept solution platform-agnostic
  • Stayed within time limit
  • Communicated clearly

Daily Checklist Template

Use this template each day:

Morning Session

  • Study concepts (2-3 hours)
  • Take notes on key points
  • Review related Android/AOSP implementations

Afternoon Session

  • Complete practice exercises
  • Draw architecture diagrams
  • Design APIs
  • Document trade-offs

Evening Review

  • Review mock question answer
  • Identify knowledge gaps
  • Plan next day’s focus

Key Meta Interview Tips

1. Platform-Agnostic Thinking

  • Draw parallels to Android/AOSP (Binder, system services) but don’t lock into Android-only solutions
  • Think about general OS concepts applicable to Linux, Android, iOS, etc.
  • Show understanding of platform differences when relevant

2. Deep Technical Discussions

  • Be ready to go deep on threading models
  • Discuss memory management in detail
  • Explain IPC mechanisms thoroughly
  • Cover event handling architectures

3. Architecture & API Design

  • Practice drawing clear architecture diagrams
  • Design clean, well-thought-out APIs
  • Consider versioning and backward compatibility
  • Think about error handling and edge cases

4. Trade-off Articulation

  • Always discuss trade-offs explicitly
  • Justify your design choices
  • Consider multiple alternatives
  • Show reasoning process

5. Interview Format

  • No live coding - focus on design and reasoning
  • Whiteboard/virtual board for diagrams
  • Clear communication is crucial
  • Think out loud, explain your reasoning

Common Topics to Reference

Android/AOSP Parallels

  • Binder IPC: Draw parallels to any IPC mechanism you design
  • System Services: Reference ActivityManager, WindowManager as examples
  • Framework Modules: Understand Android’s modular architecture
  • Zygote Process: Understand process management concepts

OS Concepts (Platform-Agnostic)

  • Process Management: Scheduling, lifecycle, isolation
  • Memory Management: Virtual memory, allocation, protection
  • IPC Mechanisms: Shared memory, message passing, sockets
  • Device Drivers: Abstraction layers, hardware interfaces
  • System Services: Service architecture, APIs, resource management

Final Preparation Checklist

Before the Interview

  • Completed all 7 days of preparation
  • Practiced at least 2 full mock interviews
  • Reviewed Android/AOSP concepts
  • Prepared questions about Meta’s OS Frameworks work
  • Reviewed your resume (OS/framework projects)

Technical Readiness

  • Can design IPC frameworks confidently
  • Understand threading models deeply
  • Can discuss memory management in detail
  • Familiar with event-driven architectures
  • Can draw clear architecture diagrams
  • Can design clean APIs
  • Can articulate trade-offs clearly

Communication Readiness

  • Practice explaining complex systems simply
  • Comfortable thinking out loud
  • Can handle clarifying questions well
  • Stay calm under time pressure

Conclusion

This 7-day plan provides focused preparation for Meta OS/Frameworks interviews, emphasizing:

  1. OS/Middleware Concepts: IPC, threading, memory, HAL, services
  2. Deep Technical Discussions: Not surface-level, but deep dives
  3. Architecture & API Design: Diagrams and interfaces, not coding
  4. Trade-off Reasoning: Justify every design decision
  5. Platform-Agnostic Solutions: Android knowledge helps, but don’t lock into it

Success Tips:

  • Focus on understanding concepts deeply, not memorizing
  • Practice drawing diagrams quickly and clearly
  • Articulate trade-offs explicitly
  • Think platform-agnostic while drawing Android parallels
  • Stay calm and think systematically

Remember: Meta values both technical depth and clear communication. Practice explaining complex OS concepts in simple terms.

Good luck with your Meta OS/Frameworks interview! 🚀