Interview experiences

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

6 rounds over 2 months. They grade code quality hard in the OA, then you extend it live. Distributed message queue for design. Accepted.

By Nora Nguyen

SpaceX Staff Engineer: telemetry take-home, project presentation, HashMap from scratch and a Distributed Task Scheduler

Longest loop I've done. Telemetry take-home, a review with senior people, then a project presentation, hashmap LLD and task scheduler HLD.

MongoDB Junior Engineer: two array questions, an LRU Cache LLD and a sharding-heavy system design

Relaxed process for a junior role. Two array questions, then LRU cache, a sharding-heavy design and STAR behavioural. Got the offer.

By Camila Patel

Palo Alto Networks Mid-level Engineer: algorithm screen, OS and networking questions, API Rate Limiter LLD and URL shortener HLD

Two easy DSA questions to start, then OS/networking questions, then an LLD and HLD in one virtual onsite. Be ready for the cyber security question.

Bloomberg Senior Engineer: Decode String screen, Stock Exchange design and Meeting Rooms II

Recruiter, Decode String, then stock exchange design + Meeting Rooms II + hiring manager in one go. Offer, they wouldn't match so I passed.

By Mateo Fischer

GitHub Mid-level Engineer: recruiter call, Battleship LLD and a Number of Islands style question

6 weeks end to end. Battleship LLD (do it in Python), a Number of Islands variant, and a lot of questions about remote work.

IBM New Grad: Merge Two Sorted Lists OA, LCA and LRU Cache, a SQL question and STAR behavioural

New grad process. Easy OA, then LCA, LRU cache and a SQL question, then behavioural. They weight the STAR answers as much as the coding.

By Thomas White

Deliveroo Staff Engineer: LLD coding round, Flash Sale System design, then a hiring freeze after the DoorDash news

Passed every round, then the DoorDash acquisition landed and the role disappeared. Loop itself was standard: LLD, flash sale design, behavioural.

By Nora Nguyen

Cisco Senior Software Engineer in Oranmore: conversational theory round, Number of Islands in Java, whiteboard design and IntelliJ debugging

Three rounds in Oranmore. Mostly conversational: OOP, patterns, SQL theory, Number of Islands in Java, then a whiteboard of my own system.

By Daniel Khan

Vanguard Junior Engineer: OOP multiple choice, Two Sum and Valid Parentheses, then behavioural and CS fundamentals

Fastest, most relaxed loop I've done. OOP MCQs + Two Sum + Valid Parentheses, recruiter, behavioural, then CS fundamentals.

By Thomas White