dataxu Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

A recruiter initially connected with me on LinkedIn, followed by a call to discuss my background and experience. This led to a hiring manager interview, which was a typical hour-long session covering my resume, some technical topics, and details about the team, technology, and company vision. After that, I was given a Hackerrank challenge before being invited for an on-site interview. The Hackerrank was a standard coding problem solvable within 60-90 minutes and was quite manageable. The company arranged my travel and accommodation on very short notice, which was great. The on-site day went smoothly with around 5-7 interviews. I spoke with team leads about Java, architecture, algorithms, and data structures. There was also an interview focused on Graphs, plus more discussions with the HM and VP. I even had a brief 5-minute chat with the CEO. I was generally happy with the process; it was a bit tiring but not overly stressful. The offer came quickly and seemed fair. Ultimately, I didn't accept because of a personal change in circumstances.

I was first contacted by a recruiter in London for an open position in the Boston office. She was very responsive and made an effort to answer all my questions, which was a great part of the process. The first step was a Skype call with her. Then, I had a telephonic interview with someone from the Boston team, which was like a casual chat about my past work. After that, I had an onsite interview in Boston. During the onsite, I was asked some easy Java and SQL questions. Unfortunately, I was tired because I had been working on call from 1 AM to 5 AM, then drove for 5 hours to Boston, and went straight to the interview without eating. This affected my performance, and it was my fault I didn't pass. DataXU has a great culture, and I was really impressed.

The HR person called to tell me about the company, but she was late. I contacted her 45 minutes later, and she called back 15 minutes after that. She then assigned me a 1-hour coding test, which I completed on Sunday. I'm writing this review 8 days later. Although the test went well, I haven't heard anything back. I emailed the HR person, but got no response. It's frustrating because I spent an hour on the test and didn't even get a response. Hopefully, this doesn't reflect the company's actual work.