Electronic Arts Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

The selection process was thorough but felt very personalized compared to other companies. It started with a resume, Leetcode, and GitHub profile screening. It was quite competitive, with a small number of students shortlisted. The most unique part was the online assessment, which had no time limit. It consisted of around 40 questions ranging from MCQs to debugging and coding. I spent about 4 hours on it to ensure my answers were thorough, specifically focusing on designing my own test suites. It appeared that students who took their time to ensure quality were the ones shortlisted. Tech Round 1 involved a deep dive into my projects. The interviewer was patient and friendly. We solved one Data Structures question involving Linked Lists. Tech Round 2 focused on Computer Science domains. I was asked about Game Development concepts (game loops, animations, rasterization) and behavioral questions about how I would operate with unlimited resources.

I went through a four-stage interview process for a Senior Engineering role at EA Sports in Shanghai, based out of Kuala Lumpur. It started with a recruiter screen, followed by two technical interviews, and ended with a meeting with a director. Everyone was super positive and gave good feedback, making me feel good about the interviews. After passing, the recruiter gave me an offer, but the base salary was lower than what I make now. I still considered it because of EA's name, growth, and other perks. Then, a more senior recruiter came back with an even lower offer. I couldn't accept it in good faith given market rates and my history. They went silent for two weeks, saying they were talking internally. Finally, they said they wouldn't increase the base salary, and that was it. They didn't try to find a middle ground. I think this could have been avoided if they'd been upfront about salary expectations early on, especially since they knew my current and expected salary and their budget. Pushing through all rounds with a mismatch just wasted everyone's time and gave false hope. It's a bummer that a company like EA would let it get this far without aligning on such a basic thing. I hope they improve their compensation discussions in the future for a better candidate experience.

So, the interviews were super thorough and respectful. You actually talk to people working on the product, so they really know their stuff. The questions are often pretty academic, like what you'd learn in school, and the standard 'tell me about a time when...' type questions. But I felt heard. I had five interviews total for two different roles. I didn't get the first one (Advanced Technology Group), but I got an offer for User Interface work on the "game modes" part of the FC project. It started with a Recruiter, Beatriz M. T., who contacted me after I set my LinkedIn status to #OpenToWork. We had a video chat so she could get a sense of what I was looking for. After that, the interviews usually went from non-technical to technical, all over Zoom. Each interview had two people from the team I'd be joining. They were strictly an hour long and always started on time. The ATG interviews were way harder than the Game Modes ones; maybe it was smoother the second time because they had a shared set of exercises that didn't repeat. The process included four types of activities: questions testing my programming knowledge, questions about how I handle work and problems, an actual coding exercise, and a code-review exercise. I call the first two 'academic' because they're pretty standard interview questions. For example, 'Tell us about an accomplishment you're most proud of' or 'a challenge you faced, and how.' Other examples include 'Define the differences between Heap and Stack Memory' and 'What are the biggest obstacles in parallel processing?'. I'd advise you to be careful about how they test your knowledge without giving away the answer. Design Architecture was a big topic, especially Model-View-Controller separation and its alternatives – there are a lot of architectures out there, you could even ask ChatGPT. My mistake was talking about headers and CPP files or project subfolders. Another common question across EA teams is whether you see yourself as an 'I.C.' (independent contributor) or if you want to lead teams. In my first interviews, I said I liked being told what to do, and I think they were disappointed. In later interviews, I focused on how my current role prepared me for more responsibility. One thing I'd mention, though it comes from a good place, is that the Talent Manager's emails sometimes predict topics to study, but they aren't always accurate. They told me to study C++ "malloc" functions, but they never came up. However, there were detailed questions about memory fragmentation, which is related. Overall, the EA interviewers had a great vibe; they ask the usual questions but seem to look for unique answers. They seem to be genuinely interested in finding solutions to their own internal problems from applicants. You feel validated, like you're part of the team, even if you don't get the job.