Interview Experiences

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

Share yours, earn XP

4437 stories

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

RoktSoftware Engineer
Reported May 2025

Rokt Software Engineer aptitude assessment with 40 questions in 30 minutes

I started with an aptitude-style assessment to qualify for the initial screening. It was a timed, third-party test with 40 questions, and I had to finish it in under 30 minutes. The questions felt focused on puzzles and patterns, with some mental math mixed in. After I completed it, I never got the sense that there had been a meaningful conversation behind the scenes. My application moved to a ti…

RejectedOnline Assessment0
Aurora InnovationSoftware Engineer
Reported May 2025

Aurora Innovation Software Engineer interview with unpredictable hiring-manager criteria

My hiring manager interview stood out because it felt unpredictable and, frankly, capricious. I had more directly relevant experience and stronger credentials, but the conversation didn't reflect that consistently. The recruiter experience also differed from what I expected. I felt pushed to frame the process in a way that didn't match how I believed they were judging fit. By the end, it was clea…

Other0
Aurora InnovationSoftware Engineer
Reported May 2025

Aurora Innovation Software Engineer interview with four virtual onsite rounds

I started with a recruiter call, followed by a technical discussion with the hiring manager. There was no coding in that round. We talked through my experience and how it fit the role. After that, I had a DSA-style technical round with one coding problem that didn't feel especially hard. The virtual onsite had four rounds: a behavioral interview with the hiring manager, a technical interview abou…

Technical Screen0
UberProgram ManagerSenior+
May 2025

Passed the Third Round the Same Afternoon

Last Friday I had my third-round interview for a Senior Program Manager role at Uber's San Francisco office. Worth reading if you have a liberal-arts, business, or other non-tech background. Interview length: 45 minutes Questions asked: Intro Why Uber Why U... Where do you see yourself in 3-5 years Your biggest, proudest project A story backed by data and metrics Uber Eats vs. DoorDash Small case…

OfferOnsite0
Capital OneData Scientist
Apr 2025

A TV-Show Cancellation Case, Then a Power Day Invite in 90 Minutes

Q1 - They asked the TV series case: assume you're the CEO of this company, and the company currently has a TV show called Analyst. When you're deciding whether to cancel this show, what factors do you need to consider? I answered from the revenue and cost angle. After I finished, the interviewer asked a follow-up, something like "do you think you need to consider the market situation?" I got what…

In progressTechnical Screen0
Capital One
Apr 2025

Three Case Rounds in One Power Day

This is my May interview experience. Since one of the cases hadn't been posted on the forum before, it took me a while to write this up. Round 1: Product case — this was similar to what's already on the forum. Round 2: They asked about the $300 over-limit transaction case, which has also shown up on the forum before. My attachment has it too. Round 3: This was a case I hadn't seen before, and I f…

OfferOnsite0
BytedanceProduct Manager
Apr 2025

TikTok Ecosystem Questions, Rejected Two Days Later

The first step was a take-home assignment with three questions: one about TikTok's ecosystem, and two more that were kind of behavioral-style. About a week after I submitted it, they scheduled an interview with me. They didn't say how many rounds there would be. I was originally scheduled with a director, but then got rescheduled to a team lead instead. The interview was entirely in English, and…

RejectedTechnical Screen0
Rocket LabCloud Engineer
Reported Apr 2025

Rocket Lab Cloud Engineer interview, onsite trivia questions

I arrived enthusiastic for the onsite, but the experience felt misaligned from the start. The interview moved away from the role and into trivia-style questions from other disciplines and roles, including questions from panelists who joined remotely. Instead of evaluating my software engineering fit as a whole, it became a cross-functional Q&A where the questions didn’t feel relevant to the job d…

RejectedOnsite0
Aurora InnovationSoftware Engineer
Reported Apr 2025

Aurora Innovation Software Engineer interview, visa sponsorship

The process started when the hiring manager reached out directly for basic details, including my background and visa status. When I said I’d need visa sponsorship, I was told they’d have to double-check. A few days later, I heard that they couldn’t sponsor, and the process ended there. It was short and abrupt, with the outcome determined more by eligibility than interview performance. I didn’t ge…

0
GoogleData ScientistIntern
Mar 2025

Percentile Estimation From Bucketed Search Data

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

RejectedTechnical ScreenXP0
CoinbaseData ScientistSenior+
Mar 2025

SQL, A/B Test Design, and a BTC Volatility Case

Background: Bachelor's degree in China + Master's in the US, Statistics / Data track 3+ years of data analysis / risk-control experience (mostly finance-related) Applied for: Data Scientist – Risk / Product Analytics (remote) Overall Process HR Screen → SQL & Stats → Product Case → Hiring Manager → Team Fit The whole process took about 4 weeks. Not super fast, but the feedback at each stage was p…

Onsite0
GoogleData Scientist
Mar 2025

Two Rounds, Rejected Three Weeks Later

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

RejectedTechnical ScreenXP0
StackAdaptSoftware Engineer
Mar 2025

Windowed Map Coding Question, Rude Interviewer

The question was to implement a Windowed Map — a KV store with a time window. Data arrives at irregular intervals, and only the data within the most recent window size / time window is kept; anything outside the window is expired and no longer visible to the user. You need to implement 3 methods (as efficiently as possible): Get(key): if the key exists and hasn't expired, return the value; otherw…

Technical Screen0
HeadwaySoftware Engineer
Reported Mar 2025

Headway Software Engineer interview with role homework and employee interviews

I went through a multi-step process that felt unusual in how quickly it ramped up. It started with a recruiter meeting where I answered basic questions. Then I was assigned homework tied to the role, which I had to complete before the next technical conversation. After that, I had a technical interview with the hiring manager. The format shifted again when I interviewed with current employees. Th…

HR Screen0
DiscordSoftware Engineer
Reported Mar 2025

Discord Software Engineer interview: technical questions in the first screen

I had an early-stage Discord interview that combined recruiter outreach with technical and behavioral questions, but it didn't progress further. After I was emailed to apply, I scheduled a screening call. I answered technical questions along with standard behavioral questions. I didn't receive an offer, and the experience showed me that the first screen could include hands-on technical checking r…

Technical Screen0
ChimeProduct Manager
Reported Mar 2025

Chime Product Manager interview: organizational structure, emerging technologies, and case study

Round 1 set the tone quickly with three interviews. I started with a conversation about organizational structure, then worked through an emerging technologies prompt that required me to generate many ideas and prioritize them. The third part was a case study that felt designed to test how I’d turn my thinking into decisions. The part I remember most is how concentrated and targeted that first sta…

Other0
DiscordSoftware Engineer
Reported Mar 2025

Discord Software Engineer interview: React component live coding

I interviewed for a Software Engineer role with a front-end-focused live coding component that let me work interactively on screen. The recruiter screen was a short phone call about my background. For the live coding round, I had to design and implement a relatively small React component while sharing my screen. In one case, the interviewer helped keep the expectations clear, and we had a back-an…

HR Screen0
DiscordSoftware Engineer
Reported Mar 2025

Discord Software Engineer interview: DS&A coding and virtual onsite

I went through a more traditional data structures and algorithms interview process at Discord. It started with recruiter and initial screens, followed by a coding stage and then an onsite. The technical bar felt more focused on knowledge than on building an application. After the initial conversation, I moved into a coding step. The technical interview focused on data structures and algorithms. I…

HR Screen0
ChimeSoftware Engineer
Reported Mar 2025

Chime Software Engineer interview with a complex game-design question

I had a difficult start when a phone screen turned into an extremely complex game-design question that I couldn't get clear enough to understand. The recruiter call came first. During the technical phone screen, I was asked to design a game with complicated rules. The interviewer struggled to explain how the game worked, and the prompt felt unrealistic without prior knowledge. I didn't make it to…

Technical Screen0
ChimeProduct Manager
Reported Mar 2025

Chime Product Manager interview: five rounds with case panels

I remember this process as an intense stretch. I spoke with a lot of people, and every round took real mental effort. It included a recruiter screen, a hiring manager conversation, and two full rounds of panel interviews, for five rounds altogether. The panels were demanding, with case-focused sessions in each one, and the final step was a conversation at the CPO level. The hiring manager experie…

HR 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