Bench Accounting Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process started with a quick 15-minute phone screen, followed by a more technical 30-45 minute phone screen with the engineering manager. Then, there was a long 3-hour in-person interview, split into 3 rounds. During this onsite, I met with 6 different people. While the people were nice, the whole process felt a bit repetitive. They asked me the same questions from the phone screen again, like why I wanted to join and about my past work. Even one of the two technical questions in person was something they'd already asked on the phone! It felt like a lot of repeating myself and was getting tiring. The technical questions were pretty high-level; I didn't have to do any coding. The first was about the whole process from typing a URL to seeing a webpage, and the second involved a basic SQL query with a group by and join. The biggest issue though was that the final offer wasn't for the Intermediate Software Engineer role I applied for, but for a Junior role, with no heads-up about this possibility. They said they'd assessed my skills as junior, which was odd since the technical assessment wasn't very deep. I was hoping for an intermediate role, but they wouldn't negotiate anything on the offer, including the salary, which was okay for junior but low for intermediate. I ended up declining because I got another offer for an intermediate position with way better pay. So, heads up, they don't negotiate offers, it's just their policy. Also, be aware the offer might not align with the role you interviewed for.

So, there were 2 phone interviews and then a 3 hour in person. The first call was with HR, they talked about the job, salary, benefits, and my background. Then the second call was with the technical lead, which was to check my technical skills and see if I fit. The in person interview had 3 parts. The first part was with two team leads (one I already spoke to on the phone) and involved whiteboard coding challenges, which felt kind of abstract and not directly related to the job. The second part was with two backend engineers, focusing more on technical stuff like security and my past experience, no whiteboard though. The last part was with the VP of Engineering and Product Operations, a more high-level chat about my experience and company culture.

The interview process had four phases. First, a friendly intro call. Second, a meeting with the team leads to show your skills and experience in a relaxed way. Third, a cool take-home assignment. Fourth, an in-person code review of your work with the team. It was a great experience interviewing at Bench. They were super supportive and told me to be myself. I got an offer and accepted, plus a simple background check. Excited to start!