Employ (MA) Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

My experience was amazing and I really wanted to join Lever after applying! They really focused on communication, and when things weren't communicated, they took ownership and showed empathy. I can't say enough good things about how this interview process went. Normally I get super stressed during interviews, especially technical ones, like my brain just shuts down. After applying, a recruiter contacted me, we talked about what they were looking for and what I was looking for, and I felt great after the first call because my recruiter was so easy to talk to. Then, their coordinator scheduled a technical interview for me at a time that worked. My interviewer was sick, and I wasn't told beforehand, but I emailed the coordinator/recruiter because I was worried I had the wrong Zoom link. They got back to me quickly. The technical interview was pretty cool because they give you a heads-up about the topic beforehand (or you can just ask your recruiter). You get a problem that's fairly easy to solve, but the interesting part is maintenance – you get more constraints/requirements, and you have to make them work without breaking existing functionality. The main thing to remember is to explain your thought process and ask questions (communication is super important). I then heard from my recruiter that I was moving on to the virtual onsite, and they asked for my availability. The coordinator sent my schedule and a great PDF explaining each interview, what they were looking for, etc. This really helped ease my stress. The virtual onsite included pair programming, similar to the first technical interview, a code review where we discussed my approach to reviewing code and went over a feature a junior developer had done, discussing how you'd test it, etc. Then there was a project interview where we talked about a past project I worked on and my role. The final interview on the virtual onsite was with my recruiter, focusing on my future goals and aspirations. The team then gets together, and if you move forward, you'll talk to a dev manager who explains the available role(s) and learns a bit about you. The key takeaway is to communicate your thoughts during each interview and to assess if the company is a good fit for you, just as they are assessing if you're a good fit. Come prepared with questions to understand how the company operates and if your values align. My only feedback would be to maybe include a take-home project, as you can learn a lot from commits on take-homes and they're less stressful than timed technical interviews.

The interview process was smooth and personal; I had multiple touch points with Paolo who kept me in the loop of where my application was throughout the whole experience. There was a clear and open dialogue between me and everyone at Lever, and that helped tremendously as I juggled with other priorities in life. I enjoyed the tech interview process as well since an engineer and I were also able to pair and work through code that was actually relevant to the company - rather just a textbook tech interview question. Even though it was an internship candidate experience, I really appreciated the time different members of the company took to guide me through the process. Now that I have worked at Lever for a summer internship and a few weeks as a full-timer, I'm impressed by how employees dedicate their time to bring on talent while still doing their day-to-day. We are still a small team, and we have to deal with scaling the product and the company at the same time. However, I can see that bringing more people on board and having a great candidate experience are the top priorities at Lever, and I hope you can have a similar (and even better!) experience as I had.

So I talked to the recruiter and was set up for a technical panel (coding challenge + talk through a project) by mistake, instead of the technical screening first. I found out the day before the panel interview that I was scheduled for the panel, and didn't realize it since both are technical. I ran out of time for the technical panel challenge, but I explained what I would've done with more time. I found out later that day that I passed the panel and the next step was the behavioral panel. I reminded the recruiter about the technical screening I missed, and it took a few days to get a response. Finally, I was scheduled for the technical screening, which was a coding challenge where each question built on the last, and I was able to finish it. I didn't hear back after that, so I followed up, and the recruiter promised an update but never gave one. It's kind of funny that my interview process was so messed up (final panel, then back to screening, plus unreliable responses) when the product itself is supposed to help with recruitment.