A Software Engineer at Side plays a pivotal role in building and scaling the proprietary platform that empowers top-tier real estate brokerages. The engineering team is responsible for developing high-performance web applications, robust mobile solutions, and scalable backend services that handle complex transaction workflows, data pipelines, and agent-facing tools. By joining Side, you will work on products that directly impact the efficiency and business growth of thousands of real estate professionals. The engineering organization at Side values technical excellence, clean code, and user-centric product design. As a Software Engineer, you will tackle challenges related to application scaling, state management, real-time notifications, and seamless data integration. Whether you specialize in frontend technologies like React, mobile ecosystems like iOS/Swift, or backend frameworks like Spring Boot, your contributions will directly influence the reliability and speed of the entire platform. This role requires a blend of strong problem-solving capabilities, domain expertise, and collaborative communication. You will work closely with product managers, designers, and QA engineers to translate complex business requirements into elegant, maintainable code. provides an environment where engineers are given ownership of their projects, offering a unique opportunity to drive meaningful technical decisions and elevate the platform's architecture. Side
HR Screening
reportedInitial review of your resume, discussion of career goals, and assessment of basic communication skills.
What to demonstrate
- Initial review of your resume, discussion of career goals, and assessment of basic communication skills
- Depth in Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA)
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.
English Assessment
reportedAssessment of English language and communication skills, often conducted on platforms like TestGorilla.
What to demonstrate
- Assessment of English language and communication skills, often conducted on platforms like TestGorilla
- Depth in Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA)
How to prepare
- Answer aloud and timed: Given an array of integers, find two numbers that add up to a specific target sum.
- Answer aloud and timed: How would you implement a basic queue using two stacks?
Technical Rounds
reportedCore technical interviews tailored to your engineering track, focusing on relevant technologies and skills.
What to demonstrate
- Core technical interviews tailored to your engineering track
- Focusing on relevant technologies and skills
How to prepare
- Answer aloud and timed: Explain the difference between depth-first search (DFS) and breadth-first search (BFS) and when to use each.
- Answer aloud and timed: Explain the concept of closures in JavaScript and provide a practical use case.
Managerial Discussion
reportedDiscussion with management or operations to evaluate fit and expectations.
What to demonstrate
- Discussion with management or operations to evaluate fit and expectations
- Depth in Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA)
How to prepare
- Answer aloud and timed: How does React manage component state, and what are the key differences between functional components with hooks and class components?
- Answer aloud and timed: Describe the lifecycle of a React component and how you would optimize rendering performance.
Final HR Round
reportedConcluding HR interview to finalize compensation and assess cultural fit.
What to demonstrate
- Concluding HR interview to finalize compensation and assess cultural fit
- Depth in Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA)
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 final hr round above and write down what you would ask to confirm before it.
PracHub editorial advice for the preparation topics above.
Master the Fundamentals
Ensure you have a rock-solid grasp of core language mechanics (such as JavaScript closures, Swift memory management, or Java multithreading) rather than just memorizing framework APIs.
During the coding rounds, writing clean, readable code is valued just as much as finding the optimal solution
Use meaningful variable names, modularize your code where possible, and explain your trade-offs as you write.
Over-Communicate Your Thoughts
Treat the coding and system design rounds as a collaborative pairing session. Talk through your approach, state your assumptions, and explain why you are choosing one solution over another.
Choose a category, try a prompt, then open its approach, worked solution or follow-up when you need it.
How do you find duplicate elements in an array using a hash map, and what is the time complexity of this appro
How do you find duplicate elements in an array using a hash map, and what is the time complexity of this approach?
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?
Write a function to reverse a singly linked list both iteratively and recursively.
Write a function to reverse a singly linked list both iteratively and recursively.
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?
Given an array of integers, find two numbers that add up to a specific target sum.
Given an array of integers, find two numbers that add up to a specific target 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?
How would you implement a basic queue using two stacks?
How would you implement a basic queue using two stacks?
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?
Explain the difference between depth-first search (DFS) and breadth-first search (BFS) and when to use each.
Explain the difference between depth-first search (DFS) and breadth-first search (BFS) and when to use each.
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?
Explain the concept of closures in JavaScript and provide a practical use case.
Explain the concept of closures in JavaScript and provide a practical use case.
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 are the fundamentals of Swift memory management, and how do you prevent retain cycles?
What are the fundamentals of Swift memory management, and how do you prevent retain cycles?
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?
Explain the differences between SQL and NoSQL databases and how you choose between them for a project.
Explain the differences between SQL and NoSQL databases and how you choose between them for a project.
Approach
- Name the grain you start from and join outward from it.
- Check whether any join is one-to-many before aggregating, or the sums inflate.
- Say which index the query would use, and what makes it unusable.
- Handle the rows that do not match: that is usually the actual question.
Follow-up
- How does the query change if that join becomes one-to-many?
- What happens to this when the table is ten times larger?
Write the update path that detects a concurrent edit
resource carries version INT NOT NULL DEFAULT 1. resource_revision holds revision_id, resource_id, version, actor_user_id, change_kind, patch JSONB, request_id, created_at with UNIQUE (resource_id, version). outbox_event holds aggregate_type, aggregate_id, aggregate_version, event_type, payload, status. A PUT carries the version the client read. Write the exact statements for the single transaction that applies the edit, records the revision and enqueues 'resource.updated', and give the handler's branch on zero affected rows. Then say what PostgreSQL 16 does under READ COMMITTED when two of these updates hit one row at once.
Approach
- One transaction, three writes, no network call inside it: UPDATE resource SET title = $3, version = version + 1, updated_at = now() WHERE resource_id = $1 AND tenant_id = $4 AND version = $2; then INSERT the resource_revision row at version $2 + 1; then INSERT the outbox_event row at the same aggregate_version. The event goes to a table rather than a broker because no transaction spans both.
- Branch on the affected-row count before doing anything else. Zero has three causes — stale version, wrong tenant, row gone — so re-read once and map to 409 carrying the current version, or 404 for an id outside the caller's tenant, which also stops the endpoint confirming that another tenant's id exists.
- State the engine behaviour instead of assuming it. Under READ COMMITTED the second UPDATE blocks on the row lock, and when the first commits PostgreSQL re-evaluates the WHERE clause against the newly committed row, so the version predicate now fails and the statement reports zero rows. Under REPEATABLE READ the identical collision raises SQLSTATE 40001 instead, so the handler must fold both shapes into one conflict response.
- Keep UNIQUE (resource_id, version) even though the predicate already serialises writers. It is what makes a lost update unwritable if any other path ever reaches the revision table, and it converts a logic bug into 23505 rather than into a silently missing history row.
Follow-up
- A client sends the version it read ten minutes ago and the resource has moved three versions. What is in your 409 so it can resolve the conflict without a full re-fetch?
- Two editors, two disjoint fields, no overlap. Does your answer still refuse the second write, and should it?
How does React manage component state, and what are the key differences between functional components with hoo
How does React manage component state, and what are the key differences between functional components with hooks and class components?
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 the lifecycle of a React component and how you would optimize rendering performance.
Describe the lifecycle of a React component and how you would optimize rendering performance.
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 us through a recent project where you had to scale an application to handle a sudden spike in traffic.
Walk us through a recent project where you had to scale an application to handle a sudden spike in traffic.
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?
What are the core components of the Spring Boot framework, and how does dependency injection work?
What are the core components of the Spring Boot framework, and how does dependency injection work?
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 database schema for a real-time notification system that supports multiple delivery cha
How would you design a database schema for a real-time notification system that supports multiple delivery channels?
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?
How do you secure RESTful APIs, and what are the best practices for handling user authentication?
How do you secure RESTful APIs, and what are the best practices for handling user authentication?
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?
What are the key differences between Selenium and Appium, and when would you use each for automation?
What are the key differences between Selenium and Appium, and when would you use each for automation?
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 do you design a test automation framework from scratch using Java and Selenium?
How do you design a test automation framework from scratch using Java and Selenium?
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?
Explain the concept of Page Object Model (POM) and why it is beneficial in test automation.
Explain the concept of Page Object Model (POM) and why it is beneficial in test automation.
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 us through your approach to debugging a failing automation script in a continuous integration pipeline.
Walk us through your approach to debugging a failing automation script in a continuous integration pipeline.
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 Side candidates report.
Prepare, practise & reflect
One practical outcome each day. Spend longer where you need it.
0 / 7 done01Map the Side loop
- Write out the reported sequence: HR Screening, English Assessment, Technical Rounds, Managerial Discussion, Final HR Round.
- 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 5 reported rounds, with the weakest marked.
02Work Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA)
- Spend the session on Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA), which Side candidates report being tested on.
- Write one worked example in Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA) and time yourself on it.
Deliverable: One timed worked example in Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA).
03Work Technical Interview
- Spend the session on Technical Interview, which Side candidates report being tested on.
- Write one worked example in Technical Interview and time yourself on it.
Deliverable: One timed worked example in Technical Interview.
04Work Communication Skills
- Spend the session on Communication Skills, which Side candidates report being tested on.
- Write one worked example in Communication Skills and time yourself on it.
Deliverable: One timed worked example in Communication Skills.
05Answer out loud: Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA)
- Answer aloud, timed: How do you find duplicate elements in an array using a hash map, and what is the time complexity of this approach?
- Answer aloud, timed: Write a function to reverse a singly linked list both iteratively and recursively.
Deliverable: Spoken answers to 2 reported Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA) question(s), under time.
06Answer out loud: Frontend & Mobile Engineering
- Answer aloud, timed: Explain the concept of closures in JavaScript and provide a practical use case.
- Answer aloud, timed: How does React manage component state, and what are the key differences between functional components with hooks and class components?
Deliverable: Spoken answers to 2 reported Frontend & Mobile Engineering question(s), under time.
07Answer out loud: Backend & Systems Design
- Answer aloud, timed: Walk us through a recent project where you had to scale an application to handle a sudden spike in traffic.
- Answer aloud, timed: What are the core components of the Spring Boot framework, and how does dependency injection work?
Deliverable: Spoken answers to 2 reported Backend & Systems Design 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.
How do you handle push notifications and background updates in an iOS application using Swift?
How do you handle push notifications and background updates in an iOS application using Swift?
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 are the different types of testing frameworks, and how do you handle dynamic web elements during automati
What are the different types of testing frameworks, and how do you handle dynamic web elements during automation?
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?
Narrate an outage you owned from page to postmortem
Pick an incident you personally drove, ideally one where writes were affected rather than reads. In six to eight minutes: state the symptom as it first appeared on a dashboard, the blast radius you established before you knew the cause, the mitigation you applied and when, the mechanism you eventually proved, and the follow-up that would prevent a repeat. Bring numbers: error rate, tenants affected, minutes to mitigate, minutes to resolve. If you cannot name what you measured, choose a different incident.
Approach
- Open on the signal rather than the cause: which metric at which percentile moved, on which service, at what time, so the listener follows the same evidence you had rather than a conclusion you already reached.
- Separate mitigation from diagnosis out loud. State what you did to stop the bleeding (flag off, shed traffic, drain a lease, roll back a deploy) and say plainly that you did it before the mechanism was known, because those are two jobs with different deadlines.
- Establish blast radius in countable terms: how many tenants, how many writes, and crucially whether the effect was loss or only delay. An append-only revision table or a pending outbox row means the change survived and the projection was merely behind, which is a repair rather than a data-loss incident.
- Prove the mechanism instead of asserting it. Name the trace span that grew, the plan that flipped to a sequential scan, the lease that expired, plus one alternative you ruled out and the signal that stayed flat while you ruled it out.
Follow-up
- What would you do differently in the first five minutes, given the same dashboard and no more information?
- Which follow-up action did you deliberately not take, and why was dropping it the right call?
- 01
How do you handle push notifications and background updates in an iOS application using Swift?
- 02
What are the different types of testing frameworks, and how do you handle dynamic web elements during automation?
- 03
Pick an incident you personally drove, ideally one where writes were affected rather than reads. In six to eight minutes: state the symptom as it first appeared on a dashboard, the blast radius you established before you knew the cause, the mitigation you applied and when, the mechanism you eventually proved, and the follow-up that would prevent a repeat. Bring numbers: error rate, tenants affected, minutes to mitigate, minutes to resolve. If you cannot name what you measured, choose a different incident.
How difficult is the Software Engineer interview process at Side?
The process is moderately challenging and highly comprehensive. It balances fundamental computer science topics, such as data structures and algorithms, with practical, role-specific technical assessments and communication evaluations.
Side Software Engineer candidate reports ↗What is the purpose of the English and grammar assessment?
Because Side operates in a highly collaborative, cross-functional, and often distributed environment, clear communication is critical. The language assessment ensures that all engineers can document their code, write technical specifications, and collaborate effectively with team members.
Side Software Engineer candidate reports ↗How long does the entire interview process typically take?
The interview loop generally takes between two to three weeks from the initial HR screen to the final offer stage, depending on scheduling availability and the speed of candidate responses.
Side Software Engineer candidate reports ↗Does Side support remote or hybrid work for engineering roles?
Yes, Side offers flexible working arrangements, including remote and hybrid options, depending on the specific team, role requirements, and location.
Side Software Engineer candidate reports ↗What topics does Side test in interviews?
Side interviews most often cover Communication Skills, Stakeholder Communication, Time Management, Project Management, and Game Testing Fundamentals. The exact emphasis depends on the specific role you apply for.
Side 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.
- 01Side 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
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