Interview Experiences

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

Share yours, earn XP

15 stories

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

xAISoftware Engineer
Reported Jul 2026

xAI Software Engineer interview: final-stage silence

The process ended strangely. I felt that I had done well and reached a final interview stage. Nobody promised me anything, but the momentum seemed positive. About a week and a half later, I followed up and never heard back. That lack of closure stayed with me more than anything that happened during the interviews. Even after a smooth process and a final-stage appearance, the silence left me frust…

No responseOther0
xAISoftware Engineer
Reported Jul 2026

xAI Software Engineer interview: power-systems questions and an onsite presentation

My interview journey was compact but all over the place in what I was expected to handle. I began with a general manager conversation about the company and team, starting with my resume. That lasted about half an hour. Then I had a technical discussion on electrical-engineering power-systems topics that also lasted about half an hour. It was a crossover rather than a purely software-oriented conv…

Technical Screen0
xAISoftware Engineer
Reported Jun 2026

xAI Software Engineer interview: language-model take-home

My process centered on a take-home assignment and a live follow-up. The topic was a Python language-model application. Before writing code, I had to explain at a high level how the language model worked and how that understanding applied to the specific context. In the live portion, I filled in a function based on what the application needed. They seemed to care about correctness and clarity in c…

Take-home Project0
xAISoftware Engineer
Reported Jun 2026

xAI Software Engineer Interview Experience: a rushed rocket simulation

After the recruiter step, I had a technical interview that felt medium to hard. The main task was a simulation that involved moving a rocket in a game like setting. I understood the idea and made progress, but the time box was brutal for implementing it cleanly. I ran out of time before I could make the solution fully correct and complete. It felt as though the target was polished execution, not…

RejectedTechnical Screen0
xAISoftware Engineer
Mar 2026

Flatten and Unflatten a Nested JSON Structure

Locked — open it to unlock the full story with XP.

Technical ScreenXP0
xAIMachine Learning Engineer
Feb 2026

Passed a 15-Minute Vibe-Check Call

xAI's 15-minute call. The interviewer started by introducing himself and giving a quick overview of the team. Then I introduced myself, talked about what I'm working on right now, and went deep into my project — walked him through the whole thing end to end. He asked about challenges and I answered that too. After all of that, he suddenly threw in a more basic question: what's the difference betw…

In progressTechnical Screen0
xAISoftware Engineer
Jan 2026

Rejected on a Resumable Iterator Coding Question

Locked — open it to unlock the full story with XP.

RejectedOnsiteXP0
xAIML/Infra Engineer
Jan 2026

Rejected After a Distributed Matrix Multiplication Coding Round

Locked — open it to unlock the full story with XP.

RejectedTechnical ScreenXP0
xAISoftware Engineer
Jan 2026

Recruiter Call to Founder Offer Talk in Record Time

Locked — open it to unlock the full story with XP.

OnsiteXP0
xAISoftware Engineer
Jan 2026

An Onsite With More Guards Than NASA

Locked — open it to unlock the full story with XP.

OnsiteXP0
xAISoftware Engineer
Jan 2026

A Brutal 45-Minute Exceptional Engineer Coding Screen

Locked — open it to unlock the full story with XP.

Technical ScreenXP0
xAISoftware Engineer
Dec 2025

HC Canceled the Night Before, Rerouted to a Rushed 15-Minute Coding Screen

I applied on a whim to a network-related infra role. A coordinator reached out afterward. They do have a recruiter, but I only got one on the line when I asked about salary and the RTO policy. No exaggeration: this company runs 60-hour weeks as the baseline, and 80-100 hours isn't a dream scenario, it's normal. Basically Palo Alto RTO5. Interview process Originally the network team's hiring manag…

Technical Screen0
xAISoftware Engineer
Sep 2025

Three Onsite Rounds and a Rate Limiter Curveball

A premium story — unlock it to read the full loop.

RejectedOnsitePremium0
xAIMachine Learning Engineer
Sep 2025

Three Tech Rounds in Two Days, Rejected at the Offer Stage

I got a reach-out this September. I'd heard Elon's company pays really well, so I did a phone screen with the company. It was 15 minutes: we introduced ourselves, then they had me walk through how I collected and processed the data for a project on my resume, followed by some questions about how I think about data vs. downstream task impact. We went a bit deeper into some technical questions from…

RejectedOnsite0
xAISoftware Engineer
Jun 2025

Three Onsite Rounds, Caught My Own Bug

A premium story — unlock it to read the full loop.

OnsitePremium0

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