Duo Security Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

Recruiter was amazing in coordination and keeping me in the loop. They were transparent and provided whatever "excuse" the HM has given them. I had 5 rounds - 1 code review, 1 coding and 1 design, 1 behavioral with engineering leadership and another with Product Manager and Designer followed by 30 minutes of HM wrap up. All the rounds had behavioral question follow ups to my tech answers and everyone pretends to be culturally collaborative. Overall, I did well and HM said great things in the wrap up round. The next day was the day of results and they decided to pass saying that I take initiatives to improve quality which can disrupt their cultural ethos. How on earth can someone provide this lame feedback. Anyways, I moved on and decided not to interview anywhere which had "woke" red flags of fake culture fit

The interview process was a bit of a mess. It took over a month to even get the first interview and coding interview scheduled. Their online scheduler was really buggy, and I had a hard time getting ahold of someone to sort out the scheduling problems. The first interview was pretty standard, just talking about my background and what I've done. They didn't let me know that the person I was supposed to talk to wasn't who I actually interviewed with, which was a bit of a surprise, though I get that people can have things come up. Before the second interview, they never sent a confirmation email, even though the first email mentioned one. Since I had scheduling trouble before, I checked in to make sure everything was still on. I tried contacting two different people multiple times over several days, and only got a confirmation email an hour before, so I was really unsure if it was even going to happen. The whole thing was a real hassle. And then, during the second interview, they mentioned there could be four more rounds left! No thanks. It was a terrible process, and I wasn't impressed with anyone I dealt with during recruiting.

So I had a really great interview experience at Duo. My situation was a bit unique as I was trying to move back to Michigan from San Francisco, which brought some logistical issues. Duo was super accommodating throughout the entire process, helping with the time difference and even booking my flight and hotel to fit my tight schedule. The recruiter was awesome, always keeping me in the loop about where I was in the process. The interview itself was pretty standard for tech companies. It started with three phone screens, none too technical, with two engineering managers and the director of engineering, mainly to see if it was a good fit for both sides. We talked about my past experiences and what I'd be doing at Duo. These calls were pleasant and gave me a good sense of the company. Then came the onsite interviews, which Duo managed really well given my travel constraints. The office reception was warm and helpful. The day kicked off with a 45-minute chat with the CEO, Dug Song, which was a nice way to ease in before the main interviews. After that, I had two technical interviews with the engineering managers I spoke to earlier, and one less technical one with the director of engineering, all before lunch. Each was 45 minutes. The manager interviews were pretty standard: we discussed my background, their team's work, and then moved to a whiteboard session with questions similar to ones I've had before. My interview with the director was different; we talked about my experience, then shifted to discussing major engineering challenges at Duo. He was really interested in my thoughts on these issues and asked insightful questions, making me feel like my suggestions were taken seriously. We even continued this conversation later at a coffee shop. Lunch was with two friendly Duo engineers, which was a good way to relax and learn about the day-to-day work. The final part was with the recruiter to go over HR details like benefits. We then toured the office and met more staff. The recruiter was great throughout. We finished the day with that coffee shop chat with the director and then I headed to the airport.