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Meta·Machine Learning Engineer·Technical Phone Screen·Senior

Senior
Jun 2026

Summary

Meta MLE interview with a tree traversal problem that had a few possible variants depending on how the interviewer wanted to push it. Pretty standard algorithmic round but the edge case discussion is where things got interesting.

Questions Asked (1)

Q1

Given the root of a binary tree, return the node values visible from the right side of the tree, ordered top to bottom. A follow-up variant may ask you to fall back to the leftmost node when no right child exists, or return both left and right views.

Algorithms & Data Structures
Author's notes

I went with BFS and grabbed the last node at each level, which works cleanly.

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AI HintsAI Generated

Suggested Approach

Use BFS level-order traversal, recording the last node at each level for the right view. For the follow-up, adapt the traversal to record the first node for the left view or handle missing children by falling back to the leftmost node.

Pro tip: Clarify the follow-up requirements upfront and discuss trade-offs between BFS and DFS; mentioning that BFS naturally handles level boundaries and is easier to extend for variants shows depth.

1. Clarify the problem and edge cases

Confirm the definition of 'right side view' and discuss edge cases like empty tree, single node, and skewed trees. Ask about the follow-up variant to understand expectations.

2. Choose the traversal strategy

Decide between BFS and DFS. BFS is straightforward for level-order processing; DFS can also work by tracking depth and updating the view when visiting a node at a new depth from the right first.

3. Implement the core algorithm

For BFS: use a queue, process each level, and record the last node's value. For DFS: traverse right subtree first, and if the current depth equals the result size, append the node's value.

4. Extend for follow-up variants

For left view, record the first node at each level in BFS or traverse left first in DFS. For fallback to leftmost when no right child, modify the traversal to consider the left child if the right is absent.

5. Analyze complexity and test

State time and space complexity: O(N) time, O(W) space for BFS where W is max width, O(H) for DFS. Walk through a small example to verify correctness.

Key Points to Mention

  • BFS level-order traversal with queue
  • DFS with depth tracking and right-first traversal
  • Time complexity O(N) and space complexity O(W) or O(H)
  • Handling edge cases: empty tree, single node, skewed trees
  • Adapting to left view or fallback variant by changing traversal order or recording first node
  • Trade-offs between BFS and DFS for this problem

AI-generated suggestions, not part of the candidate's original notes. May be inaccurate — verify before relying on them.