The role of a Software Engineer at Raven Industries is integral to the company's mission of innovating and delivering high-quality solutions across various sectors, particularly in precision agriculture and automation technologies. As a Software Engineer, you will be responsible for designing, developing, and maintaining software applications that enhance product functionality and user experience. This position is crucial as it directly impacts product performance, user satisfaction, and ultimately, the company’s bottom line. You will collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, including hardware engineers, product managers, and quality assurance specialists, to create software that not only meets technical specifications but also addresses real-world user needs. The complexity and scale of projects at Raven Industries provide an exciting opportunity to work on challenging problems that push the boundaries of technology, making your contributions significant both to the company and to the industries it serves. In this role, you will engage with a variety of technologies and methodologies, contributing to projects that may involve data analytics, IoT (Internet of Things), and machine learning applications. The impact of your work will be visible in the innovative products that brings to market, making this position not only a job but a meaningful career path for those passionate about technology and its applications. Raven Industries
Recruiter Screen
reportedInitial screening call with a recruiter to discuss your background and fit for the role.
What to demonstrate
- Initial screening call with a recruiter to discuss your background and fit for the role
- Depth in Problem Solving
How to prepare
- Be able to walk your CV end to end in two minutes, and say why this company specifically.
- Have your salary expectations, notice period and location constraints ready, and ask for the rest of the loop in writing.
Technical Assessments
reportedEvaluation of your technical skills through various assessments.
What to demonstrate
- Evaluation of your technical skills through various assessments
- Depth in Problem Solving
How to prepare
- Answer aloud and timed: Describe a challenging technical problem you faced and how you resolved it.
- Answer aloud and timed: What is Big O notation, and why is it important?
Behavioral Interviews
reportedInterviews focused on your problem-solving methods and cultural fit within the team.
What to demonstrate
- Interviews focused on your problem-solving methods and cultural fit within the team
- Depth in Problem Solving
How to prepare
- Prepare three examples from your own work, each with a decision you made and an outcome you can quantify.
- Re-read the description of the behavioral interviews above and write down what you would ask to confirm before it.
PracHub editorial advice for the preparation topics above.
Practice coding regularly
Regular coding practice will help you build confidence and sharpen your skills, making you more comfortable during technical interviews.
Engage with the company’s products
Familiarize yourself with Raven Industries' product offerings, as this knowledge can help you align your answers with company values and mission.
Be ready to discuss your projects
Highlighting your previous work and projects showcases your experience and allows you to demonstrate your problem-solving approach effectively.
Ask insightful questions
Prepare thoughtful questions to ask your interviewers about the team, projects, and company culture. This demonstrates your interest and engagement.
Choose a category, try a prompt, then open its approach, worked solution or follow-up when you need it.
How do you manage memory in programming languages like C++?
How do you manage memory in programming languages like C++?
Approach
- Say what the runtime actually does before reasoning about the code.
- Name what is shared across threads and what owns each piece of state.
- Identify the window where an invariant is briefly untrue.
- Distinguish a value from a reference to it, and say which one you handed out.
Follow-up
- What happens if two callers reach this at the same time?
- Where could this allocate more than you expect?
What is Big O notation, and why is it important?
What is Big O notation, and why is it important?
Approach
- Restate the input: its shape, its size, and what is guaranteed about it.
- Name the brute-force solution and its complexity before improving on it.
- Choose the data structure from the access pattern, not from familiarity.
- State the target complexity and say which constraint rules the naive version out.
Follow-up
- How does this change if the input no longer fits in memory?
- What is the worst case, and how likely is it on real data?
Can you explain the difference between synchronous and asynchronous programming?
Can you explain the difference between synchronous and asynchronous programming?
Approach
- Say what the runtime actually does before reasoning about the code.
- Name what is shared across threads and what owns each piece of state.
- Identify the window where an invariant is briefly untrue.
- Distinguish a value from a reference to it, and say which one you handed out.
Follow-up
- What happens if two callers reach this at the same time?
- Where could this allocate more than you expect?
Write a function to reverse a linked list.
Write a function to reverse a linked list.
Approach
- Restate the input: its shape, its size, and what is guaranteed about it.
- Name the brute-force solution and its complexity before improving on it.
- Choose the data structure from the access pattern, not from familiarity.
- State the target complexity and say which constraint rules the naive version out.
Follow-up
- How does this change if the input no longer fits in memory?
- What is the worst case, and how likely is it on real data?
How would you implement a binary search algorithm?
How would you implement a binary search algorithm?
Approach
- Restate the input: its shape, its size, and what is guaranteed about it.
- Name the brute-force solution and its complexity before improving on it.
- Choose the data structure from the access pattern, not from familiarity.
- State the target complexity and say which constraint rules the naive version out.
Follow-up
- How does this change if the input no longer fits in memory?
- What is the worst case, and how likely is it on real data?
Create an algorithm to determine if two strings are anagrams.
Create an algorithm to determine if two strings are anagrams.
Approach
- Restate the input: its shape, its size, and what is guaranteed about it.
- Name the brute-force solution and its complexity before improving on it.
- Choose the data structure from the access pattern, not from familiarity.
- State the target complexity and say which constraint rules the naive version out.
Follow-up
- How does this change if the input no longer fits in memory?
- What is the worst case, and how likely is it on real data?
Solve a classic coding challenge, such as FizzBuzz or finding the maximum subarray sum.
Solve a classic coding challenge, such as FizzBuzz or finding the maximum subarray sum.
Approach
- Restate the input: its shape, its size, and what is guaranteed about it.
- Name the brute-force solution and its complexity before improving on it.
- Choose the data structure from the access pattern, not from familiarity.
- State the target complexity and say which constraint rules the naive version out.
Follow-up
- How does this change if the input no longer fits in memory?
- What is the worst case, and how likely is it on real data?
Stop tag and share joins from fanning out a page
resource_tag is (resource_id, tag_id) with PK (resource_id, tag_id); resource_share is (resource_id, shared_with_user_id, permission). The tagged-and-shared listing inner-joins resource to both, filters tenant_id, tag_id = ANY($2) and shared_with_user_id = $3, orders by updated_at DESC and takes 50. Pages come back with fewer than 50 distinct resources and the total in the header is far too high. Explain the row multiplication, rewrite both the page query and the count query so each is correct, and name the index each one needs. PostgreSQL 16.
Approach
- Do the arithmetic against the predicates that are actually there. An inner join emits one row per matching child row, and both joins are filtered: tag_id = ANY($2) admits only the requested tags, shared_with_user_id = $3 admits one user's share rows. So a resource holding three of the requested tags and shared with $3 once yields three rows, not one — the multiplier is its count of matching tags times its share rows for that single user, and that second factor is 1 unless the table admits duplicate (resource_id, shared_with_user_id) pairs. LIMIT 50 then limits rows rather than resources, and COUNT(*) counts pairs — the header is the product, not the population.
- Reject DISTINCT as the fix. It deduplicates after the product has been built, so the planner must materialise and sort the fanned-out set before the LIMIT can apply, and it leaves any SUM or AVG in the same select list wrong.
- Rewrite both filters as semi-joins, keeping resource as the only row source: AND EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM resource_tag rt WHERE rt.resource_id = r.resource_id AND rt.tag_id = ANY($2)) and the same shape against resource_share. A semi-join stops at the first match per resource and preserves the driving index order, so ORDER BY updated_at DESC, resource_id DESC LIMIT 50 still stops after 50 rows.
- Count with the same predicates and no join at all: SELECT count(*) FROM resource r WHERE r.tenant_id = $1 AND r.status = 'active' AND EXISTS (...) AND EXISTS (...). Nothing multiplies a resource, so the number is the population.
Follow-up
- The filter changes from 'any of these tags' to 'all of these tags'. Rewrite it and state what it costs relative to the ANY form.
- A resource can be shared with the same user twice under different permissions. Does your count change, and should it?
Find version gaps and relay lag with window functions
outbox_event holds event_id, aggregate_type, aggregate_id, aggregate_version, event_type, payload, status ('pending','published','dead'), attempts, created_at, published_at. A projection is missing rows and you must decide whether the relay skipped events or the consumer dropped them. Write three queries over the last seven days: one listing every aggregate_id whose published aggregate_version sequence has a hole, one giving per-day counts with a running total, and one returning the newest published event per aggregate. For each, say where the window function is evaluated relative to WHERE and LIMIT. PostgreSQL 16.
Approach
- Gaps: compute lead(aggregate_version) OVER (PARTITION BY aggregate_id ORDER BY aggregate_version) in a subquery, then filter next_version <> aggregate_version + 1 in the outer query. Window functions are evaluated after WHERE, GROUP BY and HAVING and before the outer ORDER BY and LIMIT, so the predicate cannot sit in the same WHERE clause and PostgreSQL 16 has no QUALIFY.
- Say what the seven-day filter does to the answer: it truncates every partition, so the first row per aggregate has no predecessor inside the window and a hole spanning the boundary is invisible. Widen the window, or join to resource.version as the authority for the true maximum.
- Running total: SELECT date_trunc('day', created_at) AS d, count() AS n, sum(count()) OVER (ORDER BY date_trunc('day', created_at) ROWS UNBOUNDED PRECEDING). An aggregate inside a window call is legal because grouping runs before windowing. The grouping key is unique per row here so ROWS and RANGE agree, but write the frame anyway — over ungrouped rows with tied timestamps the default RANGE frame pulls in every peer row and the total jumps.
- Newest per aggregate: DISTINCT ON (aggregate_id) ... ORDER BY aggregate_id, aggregate_version DESC is the cheap PostgreSQL-only form when an index matches that order; row_number() OVER (PARTITION BY aggregate_id ORDER BY aggregate_version DESC) = 1 is the portable form and needs a subquery for the same evaluation-order reason as the gap query.
Follow-up
- Relay failover redelivers events. Does a duplicate break the gap query, and how would you detect one from this table alone?
- Turn the gap check into a continuous monitor rather than a query someone runs after an incident. What does it watch?
Explain the concept of object-oriented programming (OOP) and its principles.
Explain the concept of object-oriented programming (OOP) and its principles.
Approach
- Clarify what is being asked and what a complete answer contains.
- State your assumptions explicitly before working the problem.
- Say what you would check first and why it is the highest-information step.
- Work from the requirement backwards to the design.
Follow-up
- What assumption would you test first?
- How would you know your answer was wrong?
Describe a challenging technical problem you faced and how you resolved it.
Describe a challenging technical problem you faced and how you resolved it.
Approach
- Clarify what is being asked and what a complete answer contains.
- State your assumptions explicitly before working the problem.
- Say what you would check first and why it is the highest-information step.
- Work from the requirement backwards to the design.
Follow-up
- What assumption would you test first?
- How would you know your answer was wrong?
Given a dataset of agricultural yields, how would you approach analyzing it for trends?
Given a dataset of agricultural yields, how would you approach analyzing it for trends?
Approach
- Clarify what is being asked and what a complete answer contains.
- State your assumptions explicitly before working the problem.
- Say what you would check first and why it is the highest-information step.
- Work from the requirement backwards to the design.
Follow-up
- What assumption would you test first?
- How would you know your answer was wrong?
How would you design a software application to track inventory in real-time?
How would you design a software application to track inventory in real-time?
Approach
- Fix the scope first: who calls this, how often, and what they do when it fails.
- Name the read and write paths separately; they rarely have the same bottleneck.
- Choose a partition key and say what query it makes expensive.
- State the consistency you need, and where you are willing to be stale.
Follow-up
- What breaks first when traffic grows ten times?
- How does this behave when that dependency is down for an hour?
If you were tasked with improving an existing application, what steps would you take?
If you were tasked with improving an existing application, what steps would you take?
Approach
- Clarify what is being asked and what a complete answer contains.
- State your assumptions explicitly before working the problem.
- Say what you would check first and why it is the highest-information step.
- Work from the requirement backwards to the design.
Follow-up
- What assumption would you test first?
- How would you know your answer was wrong?
Walk me through your thought process when debugging a complex issue.
Walk me through your thought process when debugging a complex issue.
Approach
- Establish what changed and when, before forming any theory.
- Pick a bisection that eliminates candidates whichever way it turns out.
- Check the instrumentation before believing the symptom.
- Separate the trigger from the cause; the deploy is rarely the bug.
Follow-up
- What would you look at first, and what would it rule out?
- How would you tell a cause from a coincidence here?
Built from the rounds and topics Raven Industries candidates report.
Prepare, practise & reflect
One practical outcome each day. Spend longer where you need it.
0 / 7 done01Map the Raven Industries loop
- Write out the reported sequence: Recruiter Screen, Technical Assessments, Behavioral Interviews.
- For each round, write one sentence on what it is judging, from the description above, and mark the one you are least ready for.
Deliverable: A one-page map of the 3 reported rounds, with the weakest marked.
02Work Problem Solving
- Spend the session on Problem Solving, which Raven Industries candidates report being tested on.
- Write one worked example in Problem Solving and time yourself on it.
Deliverable: One timed worked example in Problem Solving.
03Work Programming Practice
- Spend the session on Programming Practice, which Raven Industries candidates report being tested on.
- Write one worked example in Programming Practice and time yourself on it.
Deliverable: One timed worked example in Programming Practice.
04Work Coding Assessments
- Spend the session on Coding Assessments, which Raven Industries candidates report being tested on.
- Write one worked example in Coding Assessments and time yourself on it.
Deliverable: One timed worked example in Coding Assessments.
05Answer out loud: Technical / Domain Questions
- Answer aloud, timed: Explain the concept of object-oriented programming (OOP) and its principles.
- Answer aloud, timed: How do you manage memory in programming languages like C++?
Deliverable: Spoken answers to 2 reported Technical / Domain Questions question(s), under time.
06Answer out loud: Behavioral / Leadership
- Answer aloud, timed: Tell me about a time when you had to work under pressure.
- Answer aloud, timed: How do you handle conflicts within a team?
Deliverable: Spoken answers to 2 reported Behavioral / Leadership question(s), under time.
07Answer out loud: Problem-Solving / Case Studies
- Answer aloud, timed: Given a dataset of agricultural yields, how would you approach analyzing it for trends?
- Answer aloud, timed: How would you design a software application to track inventory in real-time?
Deliverable: Spoken answers to 2 reported Problem-Solving / Case Studies question(s), under time.
Expand any day for tasks and deliverables. Your progress is saved on this device.
Behavioural rounds judge the decision you made and what it cost.
Tell me about a time when you had to work under pressure.
Tell me about a time when you had to work under pressure.
Approach
- Pick a story where you made the decision, not one where you watched it.
- State the situation in two sentences and spend the rest on the reasoning.
- Give the blast radius: what could have broken, and what you measured.
- Name the disagreement and how you resolved it with evidence.
Follow-up
- What would you do differently if you ran that again?
- How did you know your change caused the improvement?
How do you handle conflicts within a team?
How do you handle conflicts within a team?
Approach
- Pick a story where you made the decision, not one where you watched it.
- State the situation in two sentences and spend the rest on the reasoning.
- Give the blast radius: what could have broken, and what you measured.
- Name the disagreement and how you resolved it with evidence.
Follow-up
- What would you do differently if you ran that again?
- How did you know your change caused the improvement?
Describe a situation where you had to learn a new technology quickly.
Describe a situation where you had to learn a new technology quickly.
Approach
- Pick a story where you made the decision, not one where you watched it.
- State the situation in two sentences and spend the rest on the reasoning.
- Give the blast radius: what could have broken, and what you measured.
- Name the disagreement and how you resolved it with evidence.
Follow-up
- What would you do differently if you ran that again?
- How did you know your change caused the improvement?
What motivates you to do your best work?
What motivates you to do your best work?
Approach
- Pick a story where you made the decision, not one where you watched it.
- State the situation in two sentences and spend the rest on the reasoning.
- Give the blast radius: what could have broken, and what you measured.
- Name the disagreement and how you resolved it with evidence.
Follow-up
- What would you do differently if you ran that again?
- How did you know your change caused the improvement?
How do you prioritize tasks when working on multiple projects?
How do you prioritize tasks when working on multiple projects?
Approach
- Pick a story where you made the decision, not one where you watched it.
- State the situation in two sentences and spend the rest on the reasoning.
- Give the blast radius: what could have broken, and what you measured.
- Name the disagreement and how you resolved it with evidence.
Follow-up
- What would you do differently if you ran that again?
- How did you know your change caused the improvement?
- 01
Tell me about a time when you had to work under pressure.
- 02
How do you handle conflicts within a team?
- 03
Describe a situation where you had to learn a new technology quickly.
- 04
What motivates you to do your best work?
What is the typical interview difficulty for the Software Engineer position?
The interview difficulty can vary, but many candidates report it to be average. Expect a mix of technical and behavioral questions, with an emphasis on problem-solving and cultural fit.
Raven Industries Software Engineer candidate reports ↗How much preparation time is typical?
Candidates often find that dedicating 1-2 weeks to review technical concepts and practice coding challenges is beneficial. Focus on your problem-solving approach and familiarize yourself with common interview questions.
Raven Industries Software Engineer candidate reports ↗What differentiates successful candidates?
Successful candidates typically demonstrate a strong technical foundation, effective communication skills, and a collaborative mindset. Showing enthusiasm for the role and aligning with the company’s values can also set you apart.
Raven Industries Software Engineer candidate reports ↗How long does the interview process typically take?
The interview process can range from a few weeks to over a month, depending on scheduling and the number of interview rounds. Stay in touch with your recruiter for updates.
Raven Industries Software Engineer candidate reports ↗What is the company culture like?
Raven Industries promotes a culture of collaboration, innovation, and respect. Employees are encouraged to share ideas, work as a team, and continuously improve.
Raven Industries Software Engineer candidate reports ↗Are there remote work opportunities?
While many roles may offer flexibility in terms of remote work, it's essential to discuss specific arrangements with your recruiter to understand the expectations for the Software Engineer position.
Raven Industries Software Engineer candidate reports ↗How many interview rounds does Raven Industries have for a Software Engineer role?
For Software Engineer candidates at Raven Industries, the process includes a recruiter screen, technical assessments, and behavioral interviews. You should expect multiple technical and behavioral touchpoints under those three stage labels, since the process includes “various assessments” and more than one behavioral evaluation.
Raven Industries Software Engineer candidate reports ↗How difficult are Raven Industries Software Engineer interviews based on candidate reports?
Candidate-reported difficulty is most commonly “average” for Raven Industries interviews, and the reported interviews count is 15. That suggests you should prepare broadly across fundamentals and problem-solving rather than only targeting niche topics.
Raven Industries Software Engineer candidate reports ↗What do Raven Industries test in the Software Engineer interview, and which topics should I prioritize?
The strongest recurring topic areas are problem solving and coding assessments, along with Big-O notation, algorithmic thinking, and logic building. You should also be ready for OOP concepts, and for questions that test how you understand requirements.
Raven Industries Software Engineer candidate reports ↗What is the loop of the Raven Industries interview process for Software Engineer candidates?
The loop starts with a recruiter screen to discuss your background and fit. It then moves into technical assessments, followed by behavioral interviews focused on problem-solving methods and cultural fit within the team.
Raven Industries Software Engineer candidate reports ↗What is the pay range for Raven Industries Software Engineer roles?
No compensation figures are provided in the supplied material for Raven Industries Software Engineer, so you should not rely on a numeric pay range from these sources.
Raven Industries Software Engineer candidate reports ↗What are some Raven Industries Software Engineer behavioral questions I should prepare for?
You can see sample behavioral themes such as “What Drives Your Best Work” and “Resolving Team Conflict on a Deal.” These align with the behavioral interview focus on problem-solving methods and cultural fit, so practice specific examples and outcomes.
Raven Industries Software Engineer candidate reports ↗Sources & methodology 3 sources ↗
No official company page is cited. Rounds and questions come from candidate reports and PracHub editorial material; each source shows the date it was read.
- 01Raven Industries Software Engineer candidate reports ↗
Company-reported rounds, questions and FAQ.
Candidate reports · Accessed 2026-09-22 - 02PracHub Software Engineer practice ↗
PracHub practice material, not company-reported.
PracHub page · Accessed 2026-09-22 - 03PracHub preparation framework ↗
PracHub preparation guidance.
PracHub page · Accessed 2026-09-22
Explore related engineering environments and compare the preparation focus.
Cognition Software Engineer Interview Guide
What Cognition asks Software Engineer candidates, from reported rounds and questions.
Discord Software Engineer Interview Guide
Database practice for Discord candidates: how an index changes a query plan, and which anomalies survive a given isolation level, since read committed still permits non-repeatable reads.
CoreWeave Software Engineer Interview Guide
Failure-handling practice for CoreWeave software engineer candidates: requests whose outcome a timeout leaves unknown, where a retry is safe, and deduplicating at the receiver instead of assuming exactly-once delivery.
Aerospike Software Engineer Interview Questions & Guide 2026
Aerospike database-engine preparation through an original single-owner Python key-value store with bounded logical index accounting, disk-offset reads, conditional writes, tombstones, process-restart recovery and 3,240 checks. Existing 14 p