Foodsmart Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

I had an initial chat with the recruiter, who was good at explaining the job and communication. He mentioned the next steps, which I understood differently - he implied it wasn't a pure LeetCode round, but maybe that was on me since I lost my notes. Anyway, be ready for tech rounds! The next stage was a tech round with a team engineer. I'm a bit biased about these tech interviews, so keep that in mind. I've done hundreds of LeetCode questions, but I don't think performance on them always shows a good engineer, especially for a small, non-tech company. But different strokes for different folks! My experience was like another software engineer interview on Glassdoor, but the engineer wasn't rude or uninterested, just socially awkward, which is common for software engineers – don't take it personally! The engineer didn't explain the question much, but it was written in a CoderPad. So, you'll have to sit in silence, reading the problem and the provided skeleton code. I found it tough, even after asking questions. I was a bit rusty on LeetCode, so more prepared folks might do better. I searched LeetCode and found two similar questions, one hard and one medium. The question I got felt like a variation of one or both, leaning towards medium. Since I was expecting an easier interview and I'm biased, I'd say my experience was neutral. Definitely brush up on your LeetCode!

So the interview had three main parts: first a quick phone call, then another technical phone screen, and finally an onsite interview. Oh, and before the onsite, I had to do this coding challenge where I built a small JavaScript app. The actual onsite wasn't like a whiteboard session or anything, it was more about seeing if I'd fit in with the team, talking about the app I made and how to add more stuff to it, plus some general tech questions. The recruiters were super fast, always got back to me within a day about what was next. After they offered me the job, they even set up meetings with other people, including the CEO.

First, there was a phone call with a recruiter to discuss my experience and the company. Then, a technical phone call with a software engineer about a project I worked on and an algorithm design question. The onsite was half a day. It included a series of technical coding questions on my own laptop using web technologies, designing some front-end features, and a javascript-heavy technical interview. I also had a session with a PM to discuss how I work with them and about engineering group dynamics. Lastly, I met with their VP of engineering to talk about non-technical things like culture. They interview you in a cold room used for storage onsite, so dress warmly. During the onsite coding portion, the interviewer was browsing on his phone 80% of the time, with little to no interest in problem solving together, answering your questions, checking how you're doing, learning about your thought process. Overall, it was great interviewing for them. They have solid technology going on, and a great sense of mission and purpose. Their Engineering VP is really great, and most of their people are really friendly.