GitHub Interview Questions
& Process

The whole hiring process took over two months, and the communication was the main problem. There were really long gaps between interview stages with hardly any updates. I constantly had to chase them to find out if anything was happening, and they never gave me any timelines, feedback, or a clear idea of what was coming next. This lack of basic organization made what could have been a great opportunity feel like a frustrating and demotivating experience. I even had to contact the scheduler because the recruiter wasn't getting back to me. Even though the people I spoke with were smart and really nice, the overall recruiting process felt messy and like it wasn't a priority, which left a bad impression. Because of this, I wouldn't consider applying or interviewing with them again unless they seriously improve their process and how they communicate.

The entire interview process spanned over two months, marked by significant delays and poor communication from the recruiter, which made the experience quite frustrating. Despite my interest in the role and the seemingly strong team, the logistical issues were discouraging. I frequently had to chase the recruiter for updates, and there was a lack of explanation for the long gaps between interview stages, as well as no clear feedback on what to expect next. There were periods of several weeks where I heard nothing after completing a stage. For a company like GitHub, I anticipated a more professional and transparent process. While the people I interacted with were competent and pleasant, the overall recruitment coordination seemed disorganized and not a priority.

We're looking for someone with technical curiosity, systems thinking, leadership, and good writing skills for our Staff TPM role. You need to think about the whole organization, not just your team. First, a recruiter will call to see if you know GitHub's products, are okay with remote/async work, understand APIs and software, and know common tools. Be ready for questions about your GitHub use, API definitions, why remote work is good for you, feedback styles, and tools you've used. We need to see you're curious and have basic tech knowledge. Then, there's a 45-min Technical Acumen interview using Codility and a whiteboard. Engineering leaders will ask about distributed systems, working with engineers, and communicating under pressure. It includes introductions, a system design for GitHub notifications, an async communication task, and your questions. They're checking your technical depth, problem-solving, collaboration, how you ask questions, admit what you don't know, understand queues/events/storage/APIs, write clearly, and think about systems. We want to see if you can handle ambiguity, ask smart questions, discuss triggers, delivery, rate limits, data stores, trade-offs, and build trust. A strong software engineering background is key, more than the job description might say. Next, a 45-min Hiring Manager interview focusing on leadership, curiosity, and empathy. Questions will cover your goals, how you support people, systemic problems, handling over-commitment, spotting unintended consequences, and what you want to know about the team. This is to check your alignment, leadership style, and communication. Finally, a 45-min Program Management Experience interview with a Staff or Senior TPM. You'll get a scenario about a high-priority program that's behind schedule. It includes intros, the setup, five questions, and your questions. You'll be asked about managing a late program, resolving Product/Eng conflicts, handling privacy blockers, briefing the CEO, and general program questions. Staff TPMs need to show they can manage scope, cost, and time trade-offs, work with execs, influence across teams, solve systemic problems repeatedly, and run whole programs, not just tasks.

The interview process had five steps - OA which was around a Leetcode medium. Definitely scroll through Leetcode forums and explore questions other companies ask their intern candidates on OAs to best prepare. - Recruiter Screening - Hiring Manager screening but they canceled the Hiring Manager interview for my batch of interviewees - Sr. SWE Manager Interview - Dir. of SWE Manager Interview Besides the OA, none of the other interviews involved anything technical for this position. All questions asked were mostly behavioral and related to resume. They asked questions about your familiarity with GitHub tools, CI/CD pipelines, tech stacks – essentially, they're evaluating whether you can be a competent software developer and communicator related to software development and deployment.