Interview Experiences

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

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53 stories

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OpenAISoftware Engineer
Jan 2026

Four Rounds: Math Reasoning, Two AI Coding, and a Load-Balancing Problem

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RejectedOnsiteXP0
OpenAISoftware Engineer
Jan 2026

Skipped the Phone Screen, Rejected After the Onsite

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RejectedOnsiteXP0
OpenAIFrontend Software Engineer
Jan 2026

A ChatGPT System Design and a Messy Refactor Round

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Technical ScreenXP0
OpenAISoftware Engineer
Dec 2025

Coding and System Design in One Screen, Rejected After a Week

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RejectedTechnical ScreenXP0
OpenAISoftware Engineer
Dec 2025

Two Phone Screens, Five-Round Onsite, No Offer

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RejectedOnsiteXP0
OpenAISoftware Engineer
Dec 2025

Felt Locked In, Rejected the Next Day

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RejectedOnsiteXP0
OpenAISoftware Engineer
Nov 2025

Choked on the System Design Round

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RejectedTechnical ScreenXP0
OpenAIMachine Learning Engineer
Oct 2025

A Simulation-Style Infectious Disease Question

I interviewed onsite for a completely new question I had never seen before -- five parts in total, and I only managed to finish three, so I definitely failed this round. The prompt was described as "simulation style." Beforehand, people on the forum said it would probably be GPU-related, so that is what I prepared for, but it turned out to be about infectious disease instead. Posting this so othe…

RejectedOnsite0
OpenAIMachine Learning Engineer
Oct 2025

Onsite Dragged to November, Then Rejected

I applied in June, and they didn't reach out to schedule an interview until September. The phone screen went well, and they quickly set up the onsite (VO), but from there the scheduling turned into a mess — they kept changing the time on me, over and over, and it dragged all the way to November before I finished every round. Two weeks after that, I got the rejection. I won't go into every detail,…

RejectedOnsite0
OpenAISoftware Engineer
Oct 2025

A Crossword-Puzzle System Design Question

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Technical ScreenXP0
OpenAIMachine Learning Engineer
Sep 2025

A Rate-Limited Dependency Version Search Problem

First question: the topic was dependency version check. Part 1: they give you a list of dependency versions, for example [103.003.02, 103.003.03, 203.003.02]. Each version may or may not support the current feature, and you need to find the earliest version that supports it. Part 2: they gave a bunch of corner test cases, and some of the cases actually expose more requirements — your earlier assu…

Technical Screen0
OpenAISoftware Engineer
Aug 2025

a Referral Bump, a Rushed KV Store Round, and a CI/CD System Design

This was for an infra engineer role on the data platform team. We chatted briefly, compared backgrounds, and it seemed like a good match. He then asked if I had any connections at OpenAI. I checked LinkedIn and found two former coworkers who worked there, so I gave him their names. I'm guessing he used them as references, because two days later I got an email moving me into the phone screen stage…

RejectedTechnical Screen0
OpenAISoftware Engineer
Jul 2025

A GPU Credit Coding Question, Then a Surprise Fullstack Design Round

The coding round was the GPU credit problem, and it was actually pretty simple — the whole thing was only about 30-40 lines of code. add_credit subtract get_balance Three functions. I used two heaps to maintain the credit entities and the subtraction events. The first two functions were just simple heappush calls. get_balance was a little more complex — mainly because subtract needs to prioritize…

In progressOnsite0

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.

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