Interview Experiences

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

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4433 stories

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OptiverSoftware Engineer
Jan 2026

Woken Up Mid-Sleep by HR's Call

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RejectedTechnical ScreenXP0
DoorDashData Scientist
Jan 2026

System Design for the Home Feed Recommendation Engine

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OnsiteXP0
OpenAISoftware Engineer
Jan 2026

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

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RejectedOnsiteXP0
RobloxData Scientist
Jan 2026

Nailed the Case Study, Still Rejected After Round One

(QS 50-100 school, physics PhD, desperately job hunting.) First round, technical interview, 60 minutes. The interviewer asked about my resume for 5 to 10 minutes first (my own work also has some connection to DS). Then two simple pandas data-processing questions using a bit of basic statistical test knowledge. I didn't need to run test cases, I just had to make the interviewer understand my code.…

RejectedTechnical Screen0
Staff Software EngineerSenior+
Jan 2026

Breaking Down the L6 Behavioral Round

I recently wrapped up a round of L6 (Staff-level) behavioral interviewing. My overall impression: this is not remotely the same difficulty tier as L5. It's not testing "what have you done," it's testing whether you already think and influence the organization the way an L6 would. Below I'll break it down into four parts: what's actually being assessed, the most common question types, the mistakes…

Onsite0
Capital OneMachine Learning Engineer
Jan 2026

Four OA Questions, No Algorithms Required

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Online AssessmentXP0
FigmaSoftware Engineer
Jan 2026

Memory-Efficient Undo/Redo on a Document Layer Problem

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Technical ScreenXP0
AmazonData ScientistSenior+
Jan 2026

L5 Technical Screen, Rejected Over the BQ Round

In 2026 there have been almost no Amazon DS interview write-ups here on 1point3acres — I'm starting to wonder if they're on a hiring freeze. I'm writing one up so people have something to reference. Around mid-March I had applied to 2 AS (Applied Scientist) roles. A recruiter reached out to me on LinkedIn and scheduled a recruiter call a few days later. On that call they told me AS roles are most…

RejectedTechnical Screen0
SalesforceAI EngineerSenior+
Jan 2026

Onsite Coding Project, Offer the Next Day

My background: undergrad from University of Washington, CSE, with about 5 years of YOE. Timeline: Week 1: HR Screening Week 2: Three virtual interview rounds (HM + Project + AI Fundamentals) Week 3: On-site (Coding Project + System Design) One day after the on-site: HR was incredibly efficient and gave me a verbal offer right away. HR Screening Mainly talked about my current interest and my work…

OfferOnsite0
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
PinterestMachine Learning EngineerSenior+
Jan 2026

Two ML Design Rounds, Two Buggy Codings, and a Gut Feeling of Rejection

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OnsiteXP0
GoogleStaff Software EngineerSenior+
Jan 2026

L6 Staff Onsite, System Design Decides Everything

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OnsiteXP0
LinkedInSoftware Engineer
Jan 2026

Onsite With an AI Debugging Round and a Week-Later Rejection

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RejectedOnsiteXP0
PinterestData Scientist
Jan 2026

A Virtual Onsite Split Across Two Days

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OnsiteXP0
RipplingSoftware Engineer
Jan 2026

A Poker OOD Question I Didn't Practice For

Just finished a fresh Rippling phone screen, so let me write it up while it's still fresh. The question was an OOD problem based on a poker game — I pasted the full prompt below. Going into this interview I mainly grinded Delivery Cost System and Expense Rules System OOD. I did see this Poker question when I was collecting interview reports beforehand, but I only skimmed through the approach once…

Technical Screen0
AmazonSoftware EngineerIntern
Jan 2026

Robotics Charging Logic and Package Dimensions

I read a lot of interview reports here while preparing, so now I'm giving something back, especially since there seem to be so few Amazon Robotics posts. I interviewed in March this year for a summer 2026 internship. Two rounds, one hour each, both behavioral questions + LeetCode. Make sure to prepare the Leadership Principles well. Behavioral questions took half an hour in the manager round. Be…

Technical Screen0
AmazonSoftware EngineerIntern
Jan 2026

Team Matching Before Two One-Hour Interviews

Behavioral (after OA): This year, there were two interviews, each 1 hour long. They team matched before the interview, so I ended up getting an offer under the team that interviewed me. Interviewers were the manager of that team and an L5 SWE (SWE II, one above entry level), both consisted of a technical leetcode-style question, then behavioral. Manager spent more time on behavioral, SWE spent mo…

OfferTechnical Screen0
UiPathMachine Learning Engineer
Jan 2026

Rejected 4 Hours After a 6AM Whiteboard Screen

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RejectedTechnical ScreenXP0
Retell AISoftware Engineer
Jan 2026

No LeetCode, Just System Design for a Call Center

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Technical ScreenPremium0
VerkadaFrontend EngineerNew Grad
Jan 2026

Three Rounds, Rejected After the Behavioral

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RejectedOnsiteXP0

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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