Interview Experiences

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

Share yours, earn XP

5 stories

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

TikTokData Scientist
Reported Jun 2026

TikTok Data Scientist interview experience: medium SQL and background follow-ups

After a smooth recruiter interaction, I went directly to a virtual one-on-one technical interview with someone from the hiring team. It was focused: a medium SQL question tested whether I could read and reason through the query, along with general data-science and machine-learning questions. The SQL was not intended as a trick question, but they wanted to see whether I understood what the code wa…

In progressTechnical Screen0
TikTokData ScientistNew Grad
Nov 2025

A Month of Rescheduling and a Prickly SQL Screen

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Technical ScreenXP0
TikTokData Scientist
Oct 2025

Four Rounds, Then Downgraded to a DA Offer

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OfferOnsiteXP0
TikTokData ScientistSenior+
Oct 2025

Three Rounds, Rejected After the Hiring Manager Round

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RejectedOnsiteXP0
TikTokData Scientist
Jul 2025

A Hiring Manager Round Built Around One Experimentation Case

Round 1: HR screen, pretty much a normal phone screen — confirmed my work experience and visa status. Round 2: Hiring manager. This round had no coding (not sure if that counts as weird...). First 25 minutes: deep dive into my resume, lots of "why" questions about my project experience. Last 25 minutes, the case was: They want to launch an experiment testing a new version of a recommendation algo…

Technical 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.

Share your experience to earn XP