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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GoogleData Scientist
Oct 2025

Two Back-to-Back Screens, No Coding

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Technical ScreenXP0
StripeData Scientist
Oct 2025

SQL ETL Case Study Under Time Pressure

The team was already pretty familiar with my background, so the interview wasn't set up to be too difficult. Tech part: They gave me a case and had me build an ETL process based on it. (If the interviewer asks whether it would still run under different scenarios, you'd better think it over again — there's a good chance you missed something.) It was a Zoom video interview, and I wrote SQL code on…

Technical Screen0
StripeData Analyst
Oct 2025

Five-Round Onsite Ends in a Respectful Rejection

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Capital OneData Scientist
Oct 2025

Passed Power Day, Now Waiting on Team Matching

This Friday I just finished my Power Day. In the afternoon I got the email saying I didn't need another round, and not long after that the recruiter called that same afternoon to tell me I passed. But since it was Friday, HR usually doesn't get back right away, so they told me they'd first show my results to the HR they're currently working with to see if anyone wants to pick me up, and if not, t…

In progressOnsite0
GoogleData Scientist
Oct 2025

Four Technical Rounds, One Interviewer Showed Up Late and Never Apologized

Overall the interview questions were pretty hard, but the interviewers were mostly friendly and did a good job guiding you along (except for one round). Google's interviews feel hard to prepare for — unlike Meta, which has a ton of interview writeups floating around. I think it really comes down to what you've built up over time. Technical: Statistics Question 1: Assume we have a sample with 100…

Onsite0
GoogleData Scientist
Oct 2025

Phone Screen Plus Five Onsite Rounds, Passed HC

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OfferOnsiteXP0
AmazonBusiness Intelligence EngineerNew Grad
Oct 2025

Five Onsite Rounds and a Verbal Offer

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OfferOnsiteXP0
AmazonData Scientist
Oct 2025

A Phone Screen With Four BQs and No SQL

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AppleData Scientist
Oct 2025

a Quick HR Call Just to Schedule the Minicase

Simply put, it was very simple — basically no difficulty at all. We scheduled about an hour, but they actually only asked me three questions: What's your current status? What's your highest degree? When can you schedule the minicase? As long as you answer honestly there's no problem. In the middle, I also asked two questions. My highest degree is a master's, but I couldn't find my undergrad schoo…

HR Screen0
Capital OneData Scientist
Oct 2025

A Cloud Pricing Case with Break-Even Math

A minicase about a cloud service — not sure if it's a new one, I don't remember seeing it on the forum before. The setup was a startup doing cloud services. We supposedly had our own advantage (I didn't quite catch what the advantage actually was, but personally I don't think it affected the rest of the questions much). Q1: How would you structure the product offering? How would you generate prof…

Technical Screen0
OneMain FinancialData Scientist
Oct 2025

Four Rounds, All Correct, Then Ghosted

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No responseOnsiteXP0
Data Scientist
Oct 2025

SQL Screens at Two Startups, No Joins Allowed

I feel like the SQL round was harder than what I've seen at the big tech companies. Both were startups — one is a Series B company doing lending, the other is a Series D company doing SMB SaaS. The interview focus was similar at both: heavy emphasis on window functions, and rank vs dense_rank vs row_number came up without fail at both. Both companies let you use window functions but wouldn't let…

Technical Screen0
Capital OneData Scientist
Oct 2025

A Diaper Factory Case Under Time Pressure

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RejectedTechnical ScreenXP0
LyftData Scientist
Oct 2025

Surprised by the Low L4 Base Pay, Then a Four-Round Onsite

The HR video interview covered salary expectations (the L4 base salary was really low — I was shocked). After passing that round, I had a tech phone screen (pretty similar to what people share online — probability calculations, an open-ended supply-and-demand question). After that round they went straight to scheduling a 4-round onsite. HR was really nice and gave me a rough idea of what each rou…

Onsite0
ZooxSafety Research Engineer
Oct 2025

Seven-Round Onsite and a Bayes Coin-Flip Brain Teaser

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OfferOnsiteXP0
Fetch RewardsData Scientist
Oct 2025

A Take-home Dataset Task, Then an Unresponsive SQL Screen

This company doesn't have an HR call. Right from the start they send you a dataset and have you do an analysis on it — pretty simple, takes an hour or two at most. After passing that, the first round is a phone screen. 45 minutes, just SQL and a product case. There were two interviewers. I actually thought the question itself was pretty simple — it was about a beverage company that had noticed it…

RejectedTechnical Screen0
DoorDashData Scientist
Oct 2025

Biker Feature Case Study Plus a Four-Question SQL Round

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InstacartData Scientist
Oct 2025

HR Screen, Take-Home, and Two BQ Rounds I Didn't Pass

I. First was an HR call. They asked me to tell them about myself, about my related experience (Data/Strategy), sponsorship, and why this role. After it wrapped up they sent me a sponsorship intake form to make sure I'd actually be able to work here. II. Then came the take-home challenge. The day after I filled out the form they sent it over — not hard, 7 or 8 questions, step by step. Two tables:…

RejectedOnsite0
CitadelData Scientist
Oct 2025

Five Rounds of Live Math and Python From Scratch

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Technical ScreenXP0
RokuData Scientist
Oct 2025

HM Screen, SQL Round, Four Onsites, and an Offer

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OfferOnsiteXP0

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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