Collective Health Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

Got referred by a buddy. After about 3 weeks, my friend sent in my resume and I got invited to a 1-hour video call with other applicants to talk about the company. First, there was a 1-hour video conference with other applicants to discuss the company - company folks did all the talking, applicants could ask questions. Then, an Online Assessment that was graded on accuracy and efficiency (about 3 questions), with immediate feedback. After that, a 30-minute phone interview with the Hiring Manager. I thought it would be technical but it was totally behavioral, covering my background and projects. They really dug into my projects, asking things like choosing the most important feature for a product release. I really liked this part, the hiring manager was chill and made me feel comfortable, like I was just chatting about my project with a friend. The next step was the onsite interviews, which were 4 separate 1:1 interviews. One was a 1-hour coding interview, but the interviewer admitted they were front-end and might not know core CS concepts like Dynamic Programming. Another 1-hour interview was on System Design, where we had to design a parking lot, discussing requirements, classes, methods, optimizations, and scenarios. The last two 1-hour interviews were behavioral/culture fit. An HR person said a decision would be made that night (Thursday) and I'd hear back Friday by end of day. After the weekend, I followed up Monday and got a call Tuesday morning. They said I got 4 "thumbs up" but there were just better fits, so they weren't moving forward. Overall, it was a good experience. Hope CH does well with their important mission in healthcare.

I first encountered Collective Health at an on-campus career fair. After they gave a live presentation about the company, we were given a coding challenge that was manageable. It had a couple of easy questions and one medium. Following that, I had a phone conversation with a hiring manager. The call went well, and by the end, the manager indicated I would advance to the next stage. However, I didn't hear back for over a week. I eventually emailed to inquire about my status and was told that although they were interested in having me come on-site, they had filled most of the positions, making it impractical to schedule me. The whole process seemed longer than necessary. The coding challenge was sent three days later than promised, scheduling my calls took time, and they were very slow to reply to emails. I recognize they probably have a lot of applicants, but it's disheartening to miss out because positions were filled before I could even interview, partly due to delays in their process. They mentioned they wanted me on-site.

This company has a slightly unusual interviewing strategy compared to other silicon valley companies. For this front-end position, the onsite involved a discussion about the product, then a two-hour take-home assignment where I had to build something from a supplied picture, followed by behavioral questions. I think it's a decent test and there's less CS/leetcode nonsense than usual. It does rely on you being good at building things from scratch. Ultimately, it was a negative experience because I wasn't given any feedback after receiving a rejection, which felt like a waste of time. I wouldn't recommend interviewing here based on the lack of feedback.