Interview Experiences

Real candidates, real loops: every round, what was asked, and how it ended.

Share yours, earn XP

6 stories

Likes earn the author +10 XP for the first 3 likes each day

CrestaSoftware Engineer
Oct 2026

60-Minute CoderPad File Storage with No Starter Code

Format: CoderPad, pick your own language (I used Python), 60 minutes. The first 10 minutes or so were mutual introductions, and then we went straight into coding. The interviewer only gave me the problem description. There was no starter code and no test code. How to design the class and how to write the tests was all on me. The problem: implement a File Storage. The problem description (written…

In progressTechnical Screen0
CrestaSoftware Engineer
Oct 2026

Five Timed OA Parts for the FDE Role

I applied for the Cresta Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) role, on the AI Agent side. I just finished the OA, and it is very different from the usual pure-algorithm OA. Overall it leans toward practical coding, understanding requirements, and real engineering ability. Sharing the question types for reference. The OA has 5 parts in total, each one timed separately, with these limits: 10 / 30 / 20 /…

Online Assessment0
CrestaSoftware Engineer
Sep 2026

AI-Assisted Coding Round: Build a Flight-Booking Chat Agent in Python

You get an api.md doc plus an agent_starter.py file, and you have to use AI assistance to implement an AI Agent that searches for and books flights. The format is a chat dialog. Note: the language has to be Python, and you need to set up the whole project in your own IDE, so make sure you can actually run Python locally first. They'll also give you OPENAI_API_KEY, OPENAI_BASE_URL, and FLIGHT_API_…

Onsite0
CrestaSoftware Engineer
Sep 2026

System Design Round: Build an Eval Platform for AI Agents

System design round They have you design an eval system to evaluate the results of an Agent using different models, e.g. tool usage, response speed, plus testing different system prompts, that kind of thing. The original question is below: > Design a system for evaluating AI agents. Users of the system are going to be teams developing AI agents, e.g. agents which automatically analyze contact cen…

Onsite0
CrestaSoftware Engineer
Sep 2026

Phone Screen Building a Least-Load Job Dispatcher

Write a Job Dispatcher-Executor system. You are tasked with implementing a simple job dispatcher that distributes incoming jobs to a pool of executors (i.e., workers). Each job is represented as an integer (its ID), and executors are dynamically added and removed during runtime. You must define two classes: Executor – Represents a worker that can accept jobs. LoadBalancer – Maintains a list of ex…

Technical Screen0
CrestaSoftware Engineer
Jul 2026

A Feature-Flag Evaluation Engine, Then Rejected After a ‘Great Chat’

I used Claude to help organize this write-up. The interviewer kept saying he really enjoyed our conversation, and then rejected me anyway. Problem background: you're given three JSON files and asked to implement a feature-flag evaluation engine that maps every user to a final boolean value (on/off) for every flag. Input files: flags.json — definitions for 7 flags user.json — 10,000 users expected…

RejectedOnsite0

What are interview experiences?

An interview experience is a candidate's own account of a hiring loop — not a question bank entry. It tells you the shape of the process: how many rounds there were, what each round actually tested, how long the gaps between them ran, and what the recruiter said at the end. That context is the part a question list cannot give you.

How to read them

Weight recent write-ups more heavily — interview loops change, often within a year. Read several for the same company and role rather than one: a single account tells you what one interviewer asked, while five tell you what the bar is. Note the outcome badge too, since a rejection write-up usually explains the gap far more precisely than an offer one.

Share your own

Every published experience earns 50 XP, and each of the first 3 likes it receives in a day earns you 10 XP more. Likes must come from established accounts; like-for-like swaps and likes from your own second account are not paid. Write it while the details are fresh — the round order, the exact prompts, and how much time you were given are what the next reader needs.

Share your experience to earn XP