Apartment List Software Engineer interviews, decoded.

The recruiter said the coding challenge would be about 4 hours, but it took much longer with the design docs and tests. Then, in the pair-programming round, the interviewer clearly hadn't even looked at my code. Honestly, only do this interview if you're really set on working there. Also, check their rating trends before getting too hyped.

I had a phone screen first, then a coding challenge. They wanted me to build a Rails app that makes lunch groups. The prompt was a bit weird. After I sent it in, they asked me to change it so it handled uniqueness better. I didn't make it past this part. They give you some time for the take-home challenge. It seems easy enough, but don't count on them actually looking at it before you interview. It's a bummer to spend time on a challenge when the interviewers don't even check it beforehand.

I applied on line and got a call back within a week. Did a 30 minute phone screen covering my work history as well as my technical ability (including a simple algorithm and questions about SQL). Spent a day on a take-home challenge, then did a 1:1 pair programming challenge over Google Hangout with one of the engineering managers. Next was a half day on-site in San Francisco. I met with ~8 different people from the product and engineering teams. I did some white boarding, but also answered questions about the future of the product as a whole. The last interview was a half hour chat with the CEO. I got a callback with the job offer an hour after leaving the office.