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

Algolia

Paris, France / San Francisco, CA

Takehome project & Onsite discussions and presentation

Applied

London, UK

Situational judgement tests focusing on real-world soft skills (online then in structured interview)

ASOS

London, UK

Take home or in-person code refactoring exercise, in-person walk-though of solution including software crafstmanship principles and design decisions, in-person freestyle architecture walk-through

Ataccama

Prague, Czech Republic

Face to face interview (skype or onsite), coding task for 30 min, meeting with team members

Atlan

New Delhi, India

A mini project (to be done within 8 days), followed by a discussion with the team you're applying to. Then as the final step, a call with one of the founders.

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

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.

combyne

Remote / Munich, Germany

Short online technical test, 4-hour take-home project, and culture fit interview with members of the team.

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.

Freeletics

Munich, Germany

Small real-world challenge, multiple interviews on-site/remote and social gathering with team.

FRIDAY

Berlin, Germany

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

Incloud

Darmstadt, Germany

Technical interview with developers, followed by a full day on site with a practical project

JustWatch

Berlin, Germany

Take-Home project, discussion on-site

Kong

San Francisco, CA

Phone interview. Pairing and technical interviews. Take home assigment.

Noyo

San Francisco, CA / Durham, NC / Remote

Phone interview, take-home assignment, on-site code review, and walk through a past project you're proud of

Octopus Energy

London, UK; Sydney, Australia; Remote

Take-home exercise and phone or on-site interview/discussion with potential team

OneSignal

San Mateo, CA

Intro call with recruiting, second conversation with OneSignal engineer, onsite pairing via screenshare

Pagar.me

São Paulo, BR

Skype interview, on-site pairing task and-or real world problem solving process / presentation

Pex

Los Angeles, CA; Remote

3 sessions: brief phone conversation (30 min); take home assignment (2 hours); on-site or video discussion without any coding (2 hours)

Revolut

London, UK / Berlin, Germany / Krakow, Poland / Moscow, Russia / St Petersburg, Russia

Take-home exercise reflecting day-to-day work, technical interview via hangouts or on-site.

Samsara

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

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

YLD

London, UK; Lisbon, PT; Porto, PT & Remote

Take home-code challenge, pair-programming session and discussion about past experience

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.