Table of Contents
Introduction
Organized by Facebook, Facebook Hacker Cup is one of the toughest coding competitions around the world which provides an exclusive opportunity to be interviewed for a software developer role in Facebook. It consists of multiple rounds, and each successive round is more difficult. Top performers from this competition are directly called by Facebook for further interviews.
If you are someone who has a keen interest in the field of programming and you have the zeal of winning coding competitions this is the right place for you.
In this article, we will briefly discuss what is this competition and also how to prepare for it.
Eligibility Criteria for Facebook Hacker Cup
Anyone can compete in the contest if they qualify for the qualification round. Although you have to be 18 years or more for getting interview calls from Facebook.
Prizes for Facebook Hacker Cup
- 1st Place: $10,000 USD
- 2nd Place: $2,000 USD
- 3rd Place: $1,000 USD
- 4th-25th Place: $100 USD
Structure of Facebook Hacker Cup Contest
This consists of Qualification round, 3 subsequent rounds of contests and then followed by the final round.
- Qualification round: This is one of the easiest rounds and solving one problem will qualify you for the next round of the competition. This round lasts for 72 hours.
- 1st round: This round lasts for 24 hours and a certain number of points has to be earned to qualify for the next round. This round is difficult than the qualification round.
- 2nd round: This is a three hours contest and the top 200 performers qualify for the next round and the top 500 are provided with a Facebook hacker cup t-shirt.
- 3rd round: This is also a three hours contest and the top 25 qualify for the final onsite competition. From now on the problem gets really tough.
- Final Onsite round: Top 25 participants around the world compete for the Facebook Hacker Cup title in this final one of the toughest contests.
Previously Asked Questions during Facebook Hacker Cup
Past problems are very useful in preparing for this exam. Those questions are based on some important topics I will be mentioning some important topics for this:
- Number Theory
- This includes basic number theory problems even starting from GCD, LCM, modulo operations, Fermat’s theorem, etc.
- You can also follow some number theory problems from Coding Ninjas Course for learning in-depth about these concepts.
- Greedy Algorithm
- Binary Search
- Dynamic Programming
- Divide and Conquer
- Hash tables, maps
- Trees, BST, BIT, Trie
- Binary Indexed Tree or Fenwick tree
- Segment Tree (RMQ, Range Sum and Lazy Propagation)
- Bit masking algorithms
- String matching algorithms like KMP, Rabin Karp, etc.
- Graph algorithms like DFS, BFS, Dijkstra, Floyd War shall, MST, etc.
- Topological Sort
- Johnson’s algorithm
- Articulation Points (or Cut Vertices) in a Graph
- Bridges in a graph
You can practise all these on Coding Ninjas CodeStudio to brush up your skills.
Prerequisites for Facebook Hacker Cup
This includes strong skills in data structures and algorithms. Most of the problems will include support for multiple languages. Any popular language can be used for this as hacker cup provides supports for Java, CPP, C, Python, Golang, JavaScript, etc and many more.
How to register?
You can directly go to Facebook’s official hacker cup link and register there. You will also be able to find the previous year’s problems and practice from there.
Any popular language can be used for this as Google provides supports for Java, CPP, C, Python, Golang, JavaScript, etc, and many more.
Preparation Tips for Facebook Hacker Cup
Start with learning data structure and algorithm and keep practising in various other platforms like Code Chef, GFG, Codeforces, Code Jam etc. which will help to improve problem-solving skills and get you habituated with online coding IDEs.
Brush up some really important algorithms like, greedy, dynamic programming, divide and conquer, shortest distance graphs etc. Get familiar with asymptotic time complexity notations. This will help you to analyse your current problem complexity and if that is slow then you have to think of a different or optimised algorithm.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Start by making your base strong in data structures and algorithms and take part in regular coding competitions and practise the intuitive of various problems.
The initial rounds are easier to qualify to a basic knowledge of data structures and algorithms but further rounds will require in depth understanding of algorithms and their complexities.
Top performers receive cash rewards as:
1. 1st Place: $10,000 USD
2. 2nd Place: $2,000 USD
3. 3rd Place: $1,000 USD
4. 4th-25th Place: $100 USD
For performing well in programming competitions you would require a decent amount of practice and logic building along with intuitive thinking for solving problems. You can always start with Coding Ninjas courses for making your concepts clear and participate in the coding competitions to score top ranks.
It consists of qualification round followed by four algorithmic rounds which tests the very understanding and implementation skills of the candidates having each round with increasing difficulty.
Conclusion
I would suggest participating in every possible coding competition if you are a student or aspiring programmer as this will not only increase your experience but also improve your knowledge base. Do not worry about ranks initially, but do participate and after the contest’s end, also check the editorials for the contest to check which problems you were not able to solve.
Need help with the Google Kickstart Exams, join our free trials courses to practice exam problems at Codestudio only.
Hope this article helps an aspiring developer and programmer.
By Aniruddha Guin
