Coffee Meets Bagel Ios Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

My experience started with a nice recruiter call. Then, they gave me a project to complete within a short timeframe. The instructions for the project were a bit vague, especially about using third-party libraries. I built the app according to the mockup and description, but then during the feedback call, they were really nitpicky about small things like line spacing, a single force-unwrap I made, some leftover debug print statements, and compiler warnings from a UIBezierPath issue. While I appreciate the feedback, I felt the engineers were overly critical of minor mistakes that anyone could make, especially under time pressure and while managing other interviews.

The hiring process began with a quick chat with HR to go over my background, skills, and check if I'm a good soft skills fit. Things went well, and they sent me a coding challenge. I had to follow up a few days later to get the challenge details, which involved building a table view UI with a detail view, consuming JSON data from a file. It was a pretty involved task that would show off my iOS architecture knowledge, not just the implementation details like JSON parsing, view controller factoring, and AutoLayout usage. They provided a visual PDF spec but no explicit UI behavior description. My main issue with the challenge is that it's a significant amount of work so early on. I think I submitted a solution that met the visual spec, using a well-structured app architecture. About 1.5 days after I submitted, I got a voicemail saying they weren't moving forward with my application, with no feedback on the challenge itself. I feel like they could offer some simple feedback, like 'incomplete in area X' or 'functionally complete but missed design spec in Y' or 'followed spec but poor use of iOS architectural patterns'. If providing feedback is too risky, I'd suggest asking for a code sample or doing a short technical screen before the challenge to filter candidates more respectfully of their time.

I applied online and got an email within a day or two to set up an initial phone call. This was a basic phone screen where they asked about my background and the interview process. Then, I had a more in-depth technical screen with a lead engineer. It wasn't too hard, and the questions weren't typical algo/DS. I had to discuss several past projects and explain in detail how I tackled issues. The lead engineer was really nice on the phone. After that, I had to do an 'iOS Coding Challenge'. Basically, they gave me a simple spec and I had to implement it. I asked about expectations for the project because I'd seen reviews saying the instructions were unclear. They assured me the instructions were clear and it was more about how I solved the problem than a perfect app. It's estimated to take 4-6 hours, which is pretty long for coding challenges I've done. The spec was simple, but I spent a lot of time refactoring and trying to do my best, treating it like a code review. After sending the code, I was told the next step was onsite. The onsite was a 'half' day at their SF office, which is really nice and the people were friendly. There were different technical and non-technical interviews, including one with a co-founder. I felt prepared because I knew my resume well, studied design, and brushed up on basic algos/DS. We also had lunch onsite, and even though it's not a formal interview, you should still be ready to talk about yourself and career goals. Soon after the onsite, I got an offer. I don't have many complaints; maybe the food onsite wasn't ideal for conversation since it was messy, but overall, people were pleasant, I enjoyed the coding project, and I was always kept informed about the process.