Interview Experiences

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

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23 stories

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ShopifyData Scientist
Reported Jul 2026

Shopify Data Scientist interview: guided SQL and Python screening

About a week after I applied, HR contacted me. The first interview lasted 30 minutes and covered behavior, background, experience, and fit. Soon after, I had a one-hour technical screen with a team member split between SQL and Python. Before each round, Shopify sent a detailed PDF guide. That made preparation feel less like guessing because I knew what they were measuring. The recruiter also expl…

Technical Screen0
ShopifySoftware Engineer
Reported Jul 2026

Shopify Software Engineer interview with pair programming, AI use, and a life-story round

I started with a resume submission. Once my application passed, I moved into an online assessment. The format varied, but it consistently combined several coding problems with a cognitive or IQ-style component and a culture-fit questionnaire. After that, the process moved toward the technical interview stage. My technical round was a pair-programming exercise with an OOP-flavored prompt. I had to…

Online Assessment0
ShopifySoftware Engineer
Apr 2026

An Onsite Design Round That Never Quite Clicked

Phone screen File system question — needed to support ls/cd/add/remove. All AI-written. Heard back a day or two later that I passed. Onsite Coding: LRU, also AI-written. Didn't feel like there was a fail point there. Past project — they wanted the most recent project, so I didn't bring my most complex one, but it still had some complexity to it. Life story was pretty standard too. Design (maybe t…

Onsite0
ShopifyData Scientist
Apr 2026

Data Viz Case, App Store Marketplace Case, and Life Story

The questions are the same as what's already covered in other interview reports out there, so I'll just add some extra details. Data Interpretation They start by showing you a chart of weekly session count over the past 3 years, with a spike around May, and ask you to give a hypothesis for it. Then they add conversion rate to the same chart, plus another metric (I forget exactly what it was) — at…

Onsite0
ShopifyMachine Learning Engineer
Apr 2026

Four-Round Onsite, Rejected for Lacking Depth in ML System Design

The phone screen was pair programming, and you were allowed to use AI (they recommended using the Cursor IDE). It was a question I'd seen mentioned in other interview report threads — a shorten URL problem, similar to a LeetCode-style question. The interviewer added some follow-ups. Since AI was allowed, it wasn't too hard overall — communication mattered more, so understanding what the interview…

RejectedOnsite0
ShopifyMachine Learning Engineer
Mar 2026

AI-Assisted Coding Screen, Four Onsite Rounds, Then a Template Rejection

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RejectedOnsiteXP0
ShopifySoftware Engineer
Jan 2026

Rejected the Morning After a Rover Pair-Programming Round

After a quick first call with the recruiter, they immediately scheduled a pair programming round plus an assessment. The assessment was done online first, and included 40 IQ questions plus 120 behavioral questions. All 40 questions were pretty simple. The recruiter's email said to find a quiet place and have paper and pen ready, but it turned out to just be simple stuff like spot-the-difference p…

RejectedTechnical Screen0
ShopifySoftware EngineerSenior+
Jan 2026

Building a Tiny URL Shortener with AI-Assisted Coding

I interviewed for a Senior SDE role at Shopify. The interviewer was very easy to talk to and things went smoothly. The problem was to write a local tiny URL shortener, similar to a LeetCode-style problem. We discussed the following points together: Input validation: checking whether the input URL is well-formed. Encoding: use an MD5 hash, and we discussed how to handle hash collisions. How to sto…

RejectedTechnical Screen0
ShopifyData Scientist
Jan 2026

SQL-Only Screen with a Passive Interviewer

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In progressTechnical ScreenXP0
ShopifyData Engineer
Jan 2026

Four SQL Questions in CoderPad, AI Tools Allowed

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Technical ScreenXP0
ShopifyData Scientist
Jan 2026

SQL-Only Screen, Five Tables, and a Passive Interviewer

I just finished the interview and I want to write this up while it's still fresh. Before the interview they told me it would be SQL and Python, but in the end it was SQL only. It opened with a self-introduction and a few simple questions about the project I've been working on recently. The setup was the pirated-theme question that's already known on this forum, though the specific version I got m…

In progressTechnical Screen0
ShopifySoftware Engineer
Dec 2025

Pair Programming a Mars Rover with Claude Code

The interviewer had a heavy French accent, so I had to turn on the Google Meet transcript. After introductions, the interviewer handed me a GitHub repo that was completely empty. The requirement was given verbally: build an app to control a Mars rover — the rover starts at (0, 0) facing north; it supports commands to turn left/right and move; and it should report direction and position after ever…

Technical Screen0
ShopifyMachine Learning Engineer
Dec 2025

75-Minute Pair Programming Screen on a Robot Movement Problem

Recruiter The recruiter emailed asking if I was interested in the Shopify MLE position. We then set up a call — about ten-some minutes on video — and scheduled the actual interview (pair programming, 75 minutes) for ten days out. The recruiter's email included a guidance doc, but it didn't have much substantive content. It said I could use AI, and it linked the company's tech blog, which was most…

In progressTechnical Screen0
ShopifyData Scientist
Nov 2025

Pair Programming, Then a Rough Onsite Day

There aren't many full write-ups here that make it all the way to the onsite round, so I wanted to contribute one. Overall timeline: Day 1: HR reached out to schedule the interview — sent a link to book a time for a "life story" chat, and along with it an IQ test and a personality test to complete before the chat. Day 4: Life story interview. The key points are already covered in other posts — th…

In progressOnsite0
ShopifyData Scientist
Nov 2025

A Director Who Wasn't Really There

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OnsiteXP0
ShopifyData Scientist
Oct 2025

OA Then a One-Hour Life Story Call, Rejected

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RejectedHR ScreenXP0
ShopifyData Scientist
Oct 2025

A Long Process Built Around CEO Philosophy and a No-Calculator Math OA

Mainly want to complain about how bad the experience was with Shopify's interview process. TL;DR: it dragged on forever and had way too many rounds. Recruiter call -- they reached out to me first and spent the call selling their own company, selling the CEO's philosophy. I don't know if they genuinely believe in these lofty ideals or what, but it came across as unfriendly and really nitpicky. The…

HR Screen0
ShopifyData Scientist
Oct 2025

An Hour-Long Life Story Screen and No Salary Range from HR

Shopify feels like a total outlier among interviews, honestly 😂 The life story portion alone took a full hour.... You definitely have to read the company brochure HR sends over ahead of time — they'll ask what you thought of it. You don't need to go super deep, but you do need to praise it a bit. I'd suggest dropping it into ChatGPT and having it summarized for you.... either way, you have to rea…

HR Screen0
ShopifySoftware Engineer
Oct 2025

A Pair Programming Round That Turned Hostile Once Recording Stopped

This one really was a unique interview experience. First, the referral doesn't go to a specific role — the referrer just submits the candidate's resume into their system, and recruiters periodically screen resumes and reach out. Two days after my referrer submitted me, the recruiter emailed to set up an informational chat — just a quick self-introduction and a walkthrough of the hiring process —…

RejectedOnsite0
ShopifySoftware Engineer
Sep 2025

Personality-Test OA, Then a Culture-Heavy HR Screen

I found someone on LinkedIn to refer me to Shopify. Given how the job market is right now, if you can get a referral, just take it. The day after the referral I got an email for an HR interview. The OA was a personality test plus some basic math questions and spot-the-difference puzzles, using the Criteria CCAT question bank. 40 questions in 40 minutes. Not hard, felt more like an IQ test than co…

In progressHR Screen0

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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