HashiCorp Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

The whole interview process spanned almost 4 weeks and had 8 rounds. This included 3 coding rounds, 2 technical discussions, 2 manager rounds (unsure why they asked similar generic questions), and a final HOE round which felt even less useful than the manager rounds. Overall, the interviews were good and focused on actual knowledge rather than just Leetcode problems. However, my last tech round was with an interviewer from the Bangalore office, which was unfortunate. They asked a random design question (neither HLD nor LLD) and a hardware-related question. Despite solving it and passing all test cases, I received negative feedback. So, if you're interviewing, good luck if you get someone from the Bangalore office.

Applied online and got a quick response from the hiring manager to schedule an initial Zoom interview. After that, there was a brief HR phone interview. Then, a 1-hour technical interview via Zoom where I had to screen-share and solve a coding problem (chose Conway's game of life) in a language of my choice. The focus was on my problem-solving approach, design, and testing, not necessarily completing it. After passing, I had three 1-hour interviews with team members, mostly conversational, but one involved a code review of a flawed GitHub PR. Even though they wanted me, the original role was filled. I interviewed for other open positions with the manager and lead of that team. These went well, leading to a final chat with HR and an offer, which I accepted. The process took a bit longer due to the initial role being filled, but it was a smooth remote-first hiring experience.

I applied in January 2021. About 5 days after applying, a recruiter followed up. The first round was supposed to be a screening call with the recruiter, but they missed it. They reached out later that day asking for my availability, and we had the call, which I felt went well. The recruiter said they would advance my application and schedule a call with the hiring manager. After that, I never heard back from HashiCorp. I followed up a week later, but still no response. I was ghosted. I learned my lesson and will never apply to HashiCorp again.