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Software Engineer Interview Questions
Practice 9403 coding, system design and machine learning questions from 546 companies, sorted by role, topic and interview round. Every question has step-by-step hints, a code runner that supports 8 languages and an AI mentor; members also get the full solution walkthrough.
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Showing 1111–1140 of 2336 results
- InstacartMediumSoftware EngineerEvaluate a Variable from Chained Assignments with +/- Expressions and Cycle Detection
A coding problem that evaluates a target variable from chained assignments such as T1 = T2 and T2 = 5, then extends to right-hand sides with plus and minus and to inputs that may contain cycles. It tests parsing, memoized dependency resolution and cycle detection that does not flag shared dependencies.
Software Engineering FundamentalsOnsite - InstacartMediumSoftware EngineerEvaluate arithmetic expression with precedence
Instacart software-engineer onsite coding question: implement an arithmetic expression evaluator for a string of non-negative integers, +, -, *, /, parentheses, and spaces. It tests operator precedence and associativity, unary minus, 64-bit intermediates, integer division truncating toward zero, and robust handling of invalid input via a two-stack, shunting-yard, or recursive-descent parser.
Coding & AlgorithmsOnsite - InstacartMediumSoftware EngineerEvaluate dependent variable expressions
This question evaluates a candidate's ability to parse and evaluate assignment expressions, resolve inter-variable dependencies, and detect cycles or unsolvable references.
Coding & AlgorithmsOnsite - InstacartMediumSoftware EngineerExplain Technical Tradeoffs in a Project You Led
Discuss a led project through concrete technical alternatives, implementation details, personal ownership, coordination, and supported outcomes.
Behavioral & LeadershipOnsite - InstacartMediumSoftware EngineerExplain your biggest project with trade-offs
This question evaluates technical leadership, system-design trade-off analysis, communication, and conflict-resolution competencies by probing a candidate's most impactful project, role, technical design choices, and a real teammate disagreement.
Behavioral & LeadershipOnsite - InstacartMediumSoftware EngineerImplement a pivot table transformation
This question evaluates competency in data transformation and aggregation, specifically pivot operations, time-based grouping, null handling, dimensionality reduction (top‑K/OTHER), scalability for large datasets, and expressing solutions in both Python (pandas or pure) and SQL within the Data Manipulation (SQL/Python) domain.
Data Manipulation (SQL/Python)Onsite - InstacartMediumSoftware EngineerImplement bus route simulation features
This question evaluates a candidate's skills in stateful event-driven simulation, data-structure and algorithm design for capacity-constrained boarding and dropping logic, and statistical downsampling to preserve origin–destination demand distributions.
Coding & AlgorithmsOnsite - InstacartMediumSoftware EngineerImplement matrix-indexing and expression resolver
This question evaluates a candidate's ability to parse structured text files, perform matrix indexing with a nonstandard origin convention, reconstruct data across multiple blocks, and resolve symbolic variable expressions and dependencies for arithmetic evaluation in the Coding & Algorithms domain.
Coding & AlgorithmsOnsite - InstacartHardSoftware EngineerImplement store, evaluator, and parser
This problem tests your ability to design a robust in-memory data store with versioning and TTL, implement an expression evaluator for dependencies, and parse a specialized stream of matrix data.
Coding & AlgorithmsOnsiteData StructuresHashingRecursion - InstacartMediumSoftware EngineerMake a Variable Resolver Safe for Production Use
Analyze variable-resolution complexity and improve stack safety, validation, cycle detection, error reporting, caching, and update consistency.
Software Engineering FundamentalsOnsite - InstacartMediumSoftware EngineerParse Pipe-Delimited Order Lines: Totals, Cheapest Promotion per SKU, Aisle Ordering
A three-part coding exercise that parses pipe-delimited order lines with prices in cents, applies the cheapest of several percentage and buy-X-get-Y promotions per SKU, and orders products by aisle with frozen items last. It tests input validation, exact money arithmetic, extensible pricing rules and composite sorting.
Software Engineering FundamentalsOnsite - InstacartMediumSoftware EngineerParse a password from a matrix
This question evaluates proficiency in grid traversal, sequence-driven state tracking, string manipulation, and boundary/obstacle validation while requiring time and space complexity reasoning.
Coding & AlgorithmsOnsite - InstacartMediumSoftware EngineerParse password from indexed matrix file
This question evaluates file parsing, matrix indexing with a specified coordinate origin, handling multiple indexed blocks, and string assembly into an ordered password, testing competencies in file I/O, coordinate transformations, and robust input handling.
Coding & AlgorithmsOnsite - InstacartMediumSoftware EngineerPivot data without date libraries
This question evaluates a candidate's competency in data manipulation and transformation, specifically pivoting tall datasets into wide views, handling missing metric values, ordering ISO date strings via string operations, and meeting algorithmic efficiency constraints (O(n log n)).
Data Manipulation (SQL/Python)Onsite - InstacartMediumSoftware EngineerPivot order-status counts
This interview question evaluates algorithm design, data structures, correctness, complexity, edge cases, and implementation details in a realistic interview setting. A strong answer for Pivot order-status counts states assumptions, handles edge cases, explains trade-offs, and shows how to validate the result clearly.
Coding & AlgorithmsOnsite - InstacartMediumSoftware EngineerPivot transactions by date without date libs
This question evaluates proficiency in data manipulation, string-based date handling, aggregation and pivot transformations, along with reasoning about data structures, de-duplication and missing-value filling.
Data Manipulation (SQL/Python)Onsite - InstacartMediumSoftware EngineerReserve Cart Inventory Without Overselling
Design a high-throughput inventory reservation system that locks stock when items are added to a cart, prevents overselling during flash promotions, handles automatic reservation expiration, and scales seamlessly under a 10x traffic spike.
System DesignOnsitesystem-designdistributed-systemsconcurrency - InstacartMediumSoftware EngineerResolve a Variable Through Literal and Reference Assignments
Resolve a target variable through an acyclic chain of named assignments until reaching an integer literal, independent of definition order.
Coding & AlgorithmsOnsite - InstacartMediumSoftware EngineerSenior Behavioral Round: Project Deep Dive, Mentoring, Trade-offs and Disagreement
A senior-level behavioral round covering four themes: a project deep dive, mentoring another engineer, a significant technical trade-off, and a disagreement with a colleague or manager. It tests ownership, depth on decisions, influence without authority and honest reflection on outcomes.
Behavioral & LeadershipOnsite - InstacartMediumSoftware EngineerSolve bank, password, expression algorithm tasks
This interview question evaluates algorithm design, data structures, correctness, complexity, edge cases, and implementation details in a realistic interview setting. A strong answer for Solve bank, password, expression algorithm tasks states assumptions, handles edge cases, explains trade-offs, and shows how to validate the result clearly.
Coding & AlgorithmsOnsite - InstacartMediumSoftware EngineerSolve expression evaluator and string decoder
This question evaluates a candidate's ability in parsing, expression evaluation, and nested string decoding, including handling malformed input, character encoding nuances, and large-file streaming considerations.
Coding & AlgorithmsOnsite - InstacartMediumSoftware EngineerSpecify the Lowest Price Across Percentage and Buy-X-Get-Y Discounts
Clarify percentage and buy-x-get-y pricing rules, then reason about the cheapest legal discount combination, quantity thresholds, interactions, and rounding.
Software Engineering FundamentalsOnsite - InstacartHardSoftware EngineerTroubleshoot a production incident end-to-end
Troubleshoot a production incident end-to-end evaluates requirements, scale assumptions, API/data design, architecture, trade-offs, failure modes, and rollout in a realistic interview setting. A strong answer states assumptions, handles edge cases, explains trade-offs, and shows how to validate the result clearly.
System DesignOnsite - IntuitMediumSoftware EngineerAdd an LLM-backed recommendation API to an existing service with RAG and prompting
Add an LLM-powered recommendation endpoint to an existing backend service. Design the request flow, write the actual prompt and its structured output format, and discuss retrieval-augmented generation, hallucination, prompt injection, and how to evaluate and monitor the feature.
ML System DesignOnsite - IntuitMediumSoftware EngineerScale a service you just built: schema trade-offs, new features, indexes, and search
System design deep dive on scaling a service built earlier in the same interview loop. Compare schema options, extend the data model for reviews, ratings, and keyword search, and reason about query performance, indexing, pagination, and when a dedicated search engine is worth adding.
System DesignOnsite - IntuitMediumSoftware EngineerStaff engineer self-presentation, what excites you at work, and your superpowers
Behavioral prompts from a staff software engineer loop: give a short slide presentation on your background, interests, and proudest project, then answer what excites you at work and what your superpowers are. It tests storytelling, ownership, staff-level scope, and self-awareness.
Behavioral & LeadershipOnsite - J.P. MorganMediumSoftware EngineerAnswer common behavioral prompts
Answer common behavioral prompts evaluates behavioral evidence, ownership, communication, trade-offs, and measurable outcomes in a realistic interview setting. A strong answer states assumptions, handles edge cases, explains trade-offs, and shows how to validate the result clearly.
Behavioral & LeadershipOnsite - J.P. MorganMediumSoftware EngineerArchitecture and Data-Scaling Trade-offs
This question assesses the ability to articulate trade-offs between architectural styles (monolith vs. microservices) and data storage strategies (sharding vs. replication) in the context of a high-throughput financial system.
Software Engineering FundamentalsOnsiteSystem DesignMicroservicesDatabase - J.P. MorganMediumSoftware EngineerBehavioral: Making Progress When Requirements Are Vague
A behavioral question about how you move forward when requirements are vague or incomplete. It tests how a software engineer clarifies goals with stakeholders, separates assumptions from facts, delivers in small verifiable steps, and handles changes in direction along the way.
Behavioral & LeadershipOnsite - J.P. MorganMediumSoftware EngineerCompute longest palindromic subsequence
This question evaluates understanding of dynamic programming for strings, specifically longest palindromic subsequence concepts such as memoization, bottom-up DP, space optimization and subsequence reconstruction.
Coding & AlgorithmsOnsite
Instacart
Intuit
J.P. Morgan