C.H. Robinson Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process started with a recruiter call, then went into a technical interview. The technical part had some C# specific questions, like asking about the meaning of "using", and also database design questions, specifically asking how to design a relational database for students, classes, and registration.

Applied for a Senior Software Engineer role and spoke with a recruiter, and we agreed on a salary. Then I went in for an in-person technical interview. There were three interviewers: two general developers and someone focused on databases. They asked me to design software for an online store. I asked for clarification on what they wanted me to focus on, like APIs, database schema, or user experience. They told me to start wherever. I began with the database design. The database specialist challenged my design, but I explained why I disagreed, and the other developers agreed with me. After a while, I asked if they wanted me to move on to APIs and business logic. They said yes, but it seemed like they weren't sure of their own process or what they were looking for. The recruiter later told me they don't hire external Senior Devs, as they prefer internal promotions. She also mentioned the salary cap would be about $5k lower than we discussed. I declined further consideration.

The whole thing took about a month. Started with a recruiter call. Then there was a week wait before the first interview, which was a pretty weak technical interview. The second round was a full technical interview where I had to write code. It was with two older guys who seemed really unhappy in their jobs. They mentioned it was their first job and they'd been there ages, which is why they never left. They made me code in a language I chose, but they only knew C#. So I coded in Python, and they couldn't understand the syntax and said I was wrong. But I got the code done in the language I picked. Afterwards, they said HR would email feedback if I didn't get an offer. I didn't get an offer, and HR never got back to me even though I followed up multiple times. They basically just closed my application after the interview.