Nubank Staff Engineer in Toronto: six rounds over two months, from code quality OA to Distributed Message Queue design

This was one of the longest and most engaging interview processes I have ever done. It was 6 rounds and took 2 months between starting the interview process and getting the offer.

Recruiter Interview

• The recruiter asked me about my experience and salary expectations and then they discussed the hiring process and the position. If that goes well you will get an email with a code assessment.

Online Coding Assessment

• It's a pretty basic problem statement with a simple description, example cases, and some business rules to implement. There is a strong emphasis on writing high quality code and making it easy to read, maintain, and extend. I would recommend being familiar with OOP and SOLID as that will be a strong base to start from. Then practice a good few LLD and you will be fine, but if you write poor code they definitely won't pass you to the next round.

Live Coding

• This interview involves explaining your solution from the previous round (10 mins) and extending it. I recommend verbalising your thought process out loud as the interviewers seemed to like that and really engaged with me which I think helped me pass. At the end you will have 10 minutes to ask questions about Nu so make sure to have researched it and have good questions because they want people who are enthusiastic about joining.

System Design

• They asked me to design a Distributed Message Queue with a big focus on the data replication and performance. Definitely ask clarifying questions at the start so you scope it down, but if you have practiced the Distributed Message Queue system design you will be fine.

Culture Fit

• Classic behavioral interview but with an emphasis on Nu core values so be sure to investigate this thoroughly beforehand. Since Clojure is the main programming language at Nu, you will be asked about your experience learning technologies by yourself from scratch and how open you are to learning new tech. Again more questions on why you want to join Nu so have them prepped as well.

Hiring Manager

• This was the final round where they asked me more behavioural questions similar to previous rounds. It felt a bit repetitive but I think as long as you show enthusiasm they will be happy.

• A few days after this I had a final call where they shared the offer with me which I accepted.