real interview stories, told over a cup of tea ♡
Interview Experiences
3935 interview stories from candidates at 857 companies: how each round went, what was asked and how it ended. Every company page links to practice questions in the same style.
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3935 results
- Back After a 3-Year Break, Coding Prep Down to Under 25%Meta · Software Engineer · Senior+ · Onsite · Jan 2026Offer
I have 15+ years of experience in infra and distributed systems, and this was the first time in over 3 years that I sat through interviews. How did you prepare? What worked and what didn't? LeetCode covered coding, an online system design course covered system design, and for the behavioral rounds I kept a journal of my stories written out in STAR format. I knew I was a rusty coder, so when I sta…
- Backend Track Loop Plus a Late JavaScript RoundHubSpot · Software Engineer · Senior+ · Onsite · Jan 2026Offer
Backstory / context My application was for a senior software engineer position at HubSpot, and my background is full-stack. The bulk of my work history is shipping production systems with JavaScript, TypeScript, React, Node.js and various cloud services. Early in the process the company asks whether you lean toward a frontend or a backend interview track. I told them backend, and that answer set…
- Basketball Shot Prediction Design and a Connect Four RoundVirtu Financial · Quantitative Researcher · Technical Screen · Jan 2026
Timeline: mass-applied -> OA -> HR screen -> Round 1 -> Round 2 The HR round just went over my resume, timeline, and identity/status information. None of the brain teasers people mentioned in earlier interview experience posts. Round 1 was an open-ended ML system design. The question: after a basketball is thrown, it can either go in or miss — how do you model this using information available at…
- Blunt Recruiter Feedback, Then a Canditech OAEvenUp · Software Engineer · New Grad · Online Assessment · Jan 2026In progress
I applied 8 months ago, and now I've gone from being a new grad to being an old veteran before I finally got an interview. My first round was a phone call, and I answered pretty confused. The recruiter told me straight up that I answered very poorly, but I said I don't really care about WLB, blah blah, and he said that's exactly the signal they're looking for, so he moved me on to the OA. (Which…
- Boeing Systems Engineer interview, depth and clarity questionsBoeing · Systems Engineer · Jan 2026
The interview went really well for me and stayed grounded in solid technical questions. They probed depth and clarity instead of testing for buzzwords, and the interviewer understood the underlying details well enough to make the conversation engaging rather than checklist-like. What stood out was that the discussion was genuinely challenging but fair. I was pushed to explain the "why," not just…
- BQ Plus Two Coding Questions in One Virtual OnsiteAmazon · Software Engineer · Intern · Onsite · Jan 2026
I interviewed for an Amazon intern VO (virtual onsite) last week — it was BQ plus two coding questions. I've done a lot of Amazon intern interviews by now, and I'd already seen writeups for the other rounds and the OA before this one. A few of the BQ questions were ones I'd seen before. First, the BQ part: How do you handle difficulties at work How do you encourage your team when they hit a diffi…
- Building a Tiny URL Shortener with AI-Assisted CodingShopify · Software Engineer · Senior+ · Technical Screen · Jan 2026Rejected
I interviewed for a Senior SDE role at Shopify. The interviewer was very easy to talk to and things went smoothly. The problem was to write a local tiny URL shortener, similar to a LeetCode-style problem. We discussed the following points together: Input validation: checking whether the input URL is well-formed. Encoding: use an MD5 hash, and we discussed how to handle hash collisions. How to sto…
- Canonical Software Engineer interview: Python, Docker, Linux, and Kubernetes roundsCanonical · Software Engineer · Technical Screen · Jan 2026
I interviewed for the Software Engineer role through a long, executive-heavy process with multiple technical rounds. The questions covered Python, Docker, Linux, and Kubernetes, and I spoke with senior leaders and team leads. I didn't receive an offer. After all the stages and conversations, the final decision was described as a skills-set mismatch. Location: India. Overall feedback: Negative. Of…
- Cloudflare Account Executive interview with manager call and sales role-playCloudflare · Account Executive · Other · Jan 2026Rejected
I started with a manager call, followed by a second-stage sales role-play. Product knowledge mattered a lot, and I needed to know Cloudflare's products well to do well. The role-play didn't feel like an easy warm-up. It was a genuine evaluation of how I thought and sold. The process was tough for me. I didn't move on after the sales role-play, so it ended earlier than I'd expected. My impression…
- Confluent Frontend Engineer: JavaScript, React, and rolling-window data accessConfluent · Frontend Engineer · HR Screen · Jan 2026
The process started with a recruiter chat and quickly moved into interviews tied to practical work instead of abstract puzzles. The recruiter call covered my background and expectations, after which I took a frontend coding challenge. That round focused on JavaScript and React. I also had a UI design discussion that moved into broader system basics before shifting to behavioral questions and team…
- CoreWeave Software Engineer interview with a 60-minute CoderPad taskCoreWeave · Software Engineer · Other · Jan 2026
I had one main evaluation that stood out because it was so concrete. It was a 60-minute CoderPad session in Python, where I had to build a CLI tool for field technicians to reboot remote servers through an API. The setup included a locally running backend and a specific POST endpoint, and the work was divided into several parts during the session. What made it intense wasn’t the unfamiliar enviro…
- CoreWeave Software Engineer interview with a Python CLI taskCoreWeave · Software Engineer · HR Screen · Jan 2026
My earliest round was a recruiter screen that went well, followed by a coding assessment that felt practical rather than like the usual LeetCode-style exercise. The question was timed, but the framing was closer to real-world work. The recruiters and interviewers also seemed knowledgeable and genuinely approachable. As I moved further through the process, I ran into a different kind of hurdle: a…
- Cut After One AI-Assisted Chat Server RoundDiscord · Software Engineer · New Grad · Technical Screen · Jan 2026Rejected
I got a referral to Discord late last year and got rejected right away. This month, ironically, I got picked up through a mass application instead. When I talked to the recruiter he said the package looks pretty big, but the interview bar is high too. I'm honestly not that strong, and at the time I felt like I wasn't at that level, but I gritted my teeth and went anyway. In the end I only made it…
- Deep Dive on LLM Agent and Tool-Calling DesignPalantir · Software Engineer · Senior+ · Technical Screen · Jan 2026
Background I have spent most of my career in systems-heavy engineering: real-time software, autonomy, and multi-agent architectures built around LLMs. In the stretch before this interview I was putting together agent systems that combine retrieval, tool orchestration and structured reasoning across messy, complicated data. My work lives where software engineering and applied AI overlap, and there…
- Docusign Account Executive interview focused on a predefined career pathDocusign · Account Executive · HR Screen · Jan 2026
I went through an Account Executive process where the hardest part was the team's consistent focus on specific career-path assumptions and alignment with its sales narrative. In the recruiter screen, I discussed my background and career goals, but the recruiter's expectations were closely tied to a predefined SDR to MDR to AE storyline. In later conversations with managers and leads, I discussed…
- DP Problem on Video Selection with an Attention-Span ConstraintBytedance · Data Engineer · New Grad · Technical Screen · Jan 2026In progress
The earlier round 1 also went pretty smoothly, and they notified me about round 2 the next day. This round also wrapped up successfully. The interviewer, after the self-introduction, went straight into a behavioral round — mainly grilling me on my resume: briefly talk about your internship project, what you learned from it, what the most challenging project was, how communication worked within th…
- Dropbox Software Engineer interview with CodeSignal and code reviewDropbox · Software Engineer · Technical Screen · Jan 2026
My Dropbox process followed a fairly standard rhythm: CodeSignal first, then technical and behavioral interviews, with recruiter check-ins between stages. After I applied, I received the online assessment and moved into interviews focused on coding and problem-solving. The structure felt straightforward, with clear checkpoints between steps. The technical interviews covered algorithm and data-str…
- Drw Customer Success Engineer interview: Three back-to-back interviews followed by a location rejectionDrw · Customer Success Engineer · HR Screen · Jan 2026
I started with an internal recruiter reaching out about a very senior trade support type of role. My first call was with HR, and it felt like it went well. I then spoke with the hiring manager about my background, the team, and what the role involved. The conversation felt a little unfocused on their side, but it was still decent overall. The role I initially interviewed for didn't work out becau…
- Drw Holdings Customer Success Engineer interview, role reopenedDrw Holdings · Customer Success Engineer · HR Screen · Jan 2026
I interviewed for a Software Engineer path that grew out of a need for someone very senior in trading support. The process moved at a moderate pace and focused heavily on experience fit. I first spoke with an internal recruiter about my background and why I was interested, then moved to a hiring manager interview. That conversation focused mainly on my experience and learning about the team and r…
- Drw Holdings Software Engineer, OA-first process and technical onsiteDrw Holdings · Software Engineer · Online Assessment · Jan 2026Rejected
I went through an OA-first process that ended with an intense technical onsite. The structure was clear, but I didn't receive an offer. The online coding assessment had several LeetCode-style questions. I scored highly, then didn't hear back about the next step. Another version of the process began with a proctored OA. After that, I had a technical interview with an engineer from the team I was m…
- Drw Quantitative Analyst interview with timed probability and option-pricing questionsDrw · Quantitative Analyst · HR Screen · Jan 2026
The process felt structured from the start. I went through an HR screening and then entered a technical interview phase. The tone there was more laid-back than I expected, and the interviewers were thoughtful and willing to keep things moving. Overall, it felt standard, with a clear sequence from screening into technical evaluation and no random detours. The math and probability section involved…
- Drw Software Engineer interview with a one-hour coding assessmentDrw · Software Engineer · Online Assessment · Jan 2026Rejected
The process began with an online coding assessment that took me about an hour, even though it was described as a roughly two-hour test. I felt confident after finishing it, but I didn’t hear anything afterward and received a rejection notification a couple of days later. I also interviewed with DRW for a technical role in Singapore, and that process took much longer than I expected. I completed e…
- Duolingo Product Manager interview: take-home app feature assignmentDuolingo · Product Manager · Take-home Project · Jan 2026Rejected
The process began with a take-home assignment, and I didn't speak with anyone before submitting my work. I had only a few days to devise or reimagine a Duolingo app feature and create a slide deck. It took a lot of effort to get the deck to a presentable level. After I submitted it, the live rounds still felt as if the main goal was to collect ideas from candidates. The most jarring part wasn't t…
- Duolingo Product Manager interview: Take-home feature proposal and forty-five-minute product roundsDuolingo · Product Manager · HR Screen · Jan 2026
I started with an online application and then went through a recruiter step before meeting anyone live. After that, I completed a take-home product assignment. I had to choose a feature to add or improve in Duolingo and turn it into a short slide deck covering the problem, solution, success metrics, and MVP. It took a while, but the instructions were clear enough that I understood what they wante…
- Experian Data Analyst interview: assessment-centre group task and learnability testsExperian · Data Analyst · Other · Jan 2026
My process began with assessments before I got deeply into the interviews. I completed an image-based behavioral check about how I work, followed by situational judgment questions that felt close to workplace decisions. There was also an assessment focused on learnability, where I had to solve a problem and use new information after it was introduced. When the interview stage started, I received…
- Extensible Five-Card Poker EvaluationRippling · Software Engineer · Technical Screen · Jan 2026
Write a simplified version of Texas Hold'em. Given two five-card hands, compare them and determine the winner. The design needed to use object-oriented principles, pay attention to code style, and be extensible. Game Rules Goal: Compare two five-card hands, hand_1 and hand_2, and determine the winner. Card values: 9 is the highest value and 1 is the lowest. There are no letter cards such as ace,…
- Five Rounds Interrupted by a Recruiter ConflictPinterest · Data Scientist · Onsite · Jan 2026
I had a really bizarre interview experience. Pinterest VO: it was originally supposed to be 5 rounds back-to-back in one day, but on the day of the interview the recruiter said there was a conflict. I only did three rounds, and the other two got rescheduled to two days later. Round 1: use case / analytical system design. The interviewer was a DS manager. He laid out a simple problem statement and…
- Five Rounds, Three References, Then RejectedThe New York Times · Data Analyst · Onsite · Jan 2026Rejected
It's been four years since this interview, but on top of wishing everyone a happy new year, I wanted to share roughly what the interview process at this company was like. I went through five rounds of interviews with this company in total — the process was pretty drawn out. At the end they also wanted three references (a peer, my direct manager, and a manager I had collaborated with). After going…
- Five-Round Virtual Onsite, Auto-Rejected With No ReasonSnapchat · Software Engineer · Onsite · Jan 2026Rejected
Sharing my feedback report for Snap from earlier this year. The virtual onsite had 5 rounds total — two coding, two system design, and one Q&A round where I could ask anything. The Q&A round interviewer told me that if I passed at least 3 of the previous 4 rounds, I'd move on to the discussion stage; with only 2 passes, I'd most likely be rejected. I felt like I did decently, but in the end I got…
- Forced Into Single-Threaded Code, Then RejectedAnthropic · Technical Screen · Jan 2026Rejected
I recently did a phone screen with Anthropic. I actually had a lot of goodwill toward this company going in, but the interview experience was extremely bad — I felt like the interviewer led me straight into a trap. Writing this to recap what happened, and also to ask everyone here for advice: when you run into an unprofessional interviewer during an interview, how do you save yourself? And is the…
