Coding Interviews

The list of companies is non exhaustive and only lists the companies with jobs in Arbeitnow. For a longer list, please check the awesome hiring without whiteboard interviews guide for Software Developers

A list of companies (or teams) that don't do technical "whiteboard" interviews. "Whiteboards" is used as a metaphor, and is a symbol for the kinds of CS trivia questions that are associated with bad interview practices. Whiteboards are not bad – CS trivia questions are. Using sites like HackerRank or LeetCode probably fall into a similar category. The companies and teams listed here use interview techniques and questions that resemble day-to-day work. For example, pairing on a real world problem or a paid/unpaid take home exercise.

Coding Interviews: Do's and Don'ts

Do's:

  • Evaluate using Pair Programming on a small issue. This can display how the person communicates, comes up with solutions and is able to resolve conflicts.
  • Provide an actual work problem that the person might solve on the job. Most coding interviews have no relation to the job and are pointless.
    • Take home exercises make sense if the software engineer candidate has the bandwidth and time to do it. In this case,
    • Keep it small (couple of hours maximum)
    • Don't expect a fully functional application
    • Allow use of framework / programming language that the candidates is comfortable with, as long as it's related to the job
    • Compensate them for the time (yes, that means money)
  • Come up with a technical problem and have a conversation on how the candidate would solve it
  • Do a code review instead

Don'ts:

  • Live coding is anxious and only evaluates interviewing skills.
  • Solving trivia / algorithmic questions encourages memorization of solutions
    • Everyone knows about Cracking the Coding Interview
    • Tests only knowledge of data structures and algorithms that they might not use on their job
  • Whiteboard interviews are stressful and anxiety-inducing
  • Whiteboard technical interviews appear to favor men over women
  • Leetcode interview questions encourage smart programming solutions, not readable code

AlphaSights

London, UK / New York, NY / Remote

Initial interview, pair programming then final round with general technical questions

Artsy

New York, NY / London, UK / Berlin, Germany / Los Angeles, CA / Hong Kong, Hong Kong / Remote

Our process: 1) Informal chat 2) Application 3) Phone screen 4) In-person interview with 1 lead, 2 individual contributors and 1 non-engineer (30-45 mins each), focusing on your work habits and expertise as demonstrated in your previous work 5) ~4 in-depth professional reference calls (30-45 mins each).

AutoScout24

Munich, Germany

Skype interview followed by home assignment from our day-to-day business and then on-site interview including lunch with a team

Axios

Arlington, VA / New York, NY / San Francisco, CA / Remote

Take-home project, with discussion.

Backbone

Boulder, CO

Initial phone screening to determine general fit, take-home project, finally an on-site where we discuss your take-home project and you meet the team.

eBay Kleinanzeigen

Berlin, Germany

45 mins technical phone interview, take-home project/review, on-site interview including pair programming with team lead and agile interview with product manager.

Engel & Völkers Technology

Hamburg, Germany

Remote technical interview with an Engineering Manager, followed by a practical coding challenge implemented in 5 hours, ending with a technical discussion with the team on the produced code either remotely or on-site based on geographical practicality.

Field 33

Berlin, Germany

Video call interview followed by a take home project over a 3 day duration chosen by the candidate with hours spent up to the candidate. The project is tailored to the position and skill level of the candidate and resembles a past real-life problem encountered at our company. Solution is discussed in a ~30min call.

FRIDAY

Berlin, Germany

Take-home real-world challenge, interview on-site or remote

Ginger

Remote; San Francisco, CA

Realistic coding exercise, take-home project, virtual onsite (system design, experience, and culture)

GitLab

Remote

A series of video calls, and a coding exercise involving working on a Merge Request that is like a real work task

Ithaka

Mumbai, India

Phone interview followed by a small development task. Finally a phone interview with CEO.

JustWatch

Berlin, Germany

Take-Home project, discussion on-site

KINEXON

Germany

Take home project/challenge to work on in a certain time – afterwards the project as well as further skills/questions are discussed with the responsible Hiring Manager and another team member of the related role, within this second step all questions from the applicant will be answered as well. Afterwards a final decision is made, and feedback is provided to the applicant.

Platform.sh

Remote

Remote Interview, Wide-Ranging discussions on many diverse subjects. Remote interviews with team members.

Samsara

San Francisco, CA; Atlanta, GA; London, UK

Phone interview, onsite interview (technical challenges based on real problems we've faced at Samsara)

Sixt

Munich, Germany

4 stages: 1st HR, 2nd take-home project, 3rd follow-up discussion, 4th on-site interview with team plus HR

Square

San Francisco, CA

Pair programming in a work environment

Teraki

Berlin, Germany

Pair programming exercise, 45min to 3h according to seniority and role.

YouGov

Remote; San Francisco, CA; London, UK; Warsaw, Poland; Mumbai, India; Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Coding exercise sometimes over github repository, at least 1 interview with a developer and a lead, no live coding.