Coinbase Backend Engineer Interview Questions
& Process
Real candidates share what happened, how many rounds they had,
and how the experience turned out.
Based on 13 interview experiences · FREE TO READ
Candidate interview experiences
First-hand accounts from people who interviewed at Coinbase.
Coinbase
Backend Software Engineer
Entry Average Negative experience Accept offer 2 rounds
Interview process
Technical screen Onsite Offer Background check
Interview formats
Coding Behavioral
This was a new grad position. The process started with a Codesignal OA, then went straight to a 2-hour technical onsite, which was split into two 1-hour sessions. The interviewers onsite were great. They asked Leetcode easy/medium questions with followups and we had general chats about our backgrounds. An offer was extended, but then rescinded three weeks before my start date due to the company's financial troubles. I received 2 months severance. It was highly disappointing. I would have preferred the offer to be put on hold rather than rescinded. They might let me bypass onsite interviews for future openings, but I'm not sure if I'd go through the process with this company again.
Confirmed questions3 questions
- Discuss various approaches to solving coding problems, not just the optimal one.
- Demonstrate the ability to reuse and build upon previously written code in subsequent parts of a question.
- Identify and consider potential edge cases for the given problems.
Coinbase
Senior Backend Engineer
Senior Average Negative experience No offer 1 round
Interview process
Technical screen
Interview formats
Technical Coding System Design
I had a Karat round for Coinbase. It was structured like this: 7 mins for introduction, 10 mins for API Design, and 43 mins for 2 Data Structures and Algorithms questions. I didn't get the job but got feedback that my design skills were poor. I'm surprised how they can judge design skills in just 5 mins of a 7 min intro, when they explained the question for 2 mins. They kept reminding me about the time, which felt rushed. Design needs discussion, it's not a math problem with a single answer. Karat seems like it might cause Coinbase to lose good candidates. I wouldn't recommend Karat and wonder why Coinbase hasn't addressed this.
Confirmed questions2 questions
- API Design
- DS, Algo questions
Coinbase
Backend Engineer
Entry Average Positive experience No offer 3 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Technical screen Take home
Interview formats
Technical Coding Other
after the recruiter screen, I got a CodeSignal technical assessment and a general IQ/logic test. No leetcode was involved. The technical assessment felt real-world and fair, but it's multi-step and must be finished in 90 minutes, so time was tight. Use the language you're most comfortable with, and know that while syntax lookups are allowed, you won't have the time.
Confirmed questions1 question
- Design and implement a REST API using an in-memory data store for message handling.
Coinbase Backend Engineer Interview Questions
Quoted word for word from Coinbase interview reports.
“Write a program to find a path through an NxM grid maze from the top-left start to the bottom-right end.”
Read reports →“Design and implement a REST API using an in-memory data store for message handling.”
Read reports →“Can you implement an in-memory file system?”
Read reports →“What time complexities are involved in this implementation?”
Read reports →“Could you design an in-memory database that also supports backup?”
Read report →“Could you build a basic distributed file storage system capable of reading and writing files, and also sorting them by size?”
Read report →“Could you solve a LeetCode medium problem involving graphs and backtracking?”
Read report →“How would you make this an API on a platform like AWS?”
Read report →“How would you go about load testing this system?”
Read report →Formats, difficulty and experience
Across all 13 Coinbase interview reports.