Hinge Health Data Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

I made it to the on-site interview in SF. The experience was rough during the technical interview with a remote Data Engineer. The recruiter totally ghosted me and never closed the loop. I wouldn't suggest this to anyone. It started with a recruiter screen, then a take-home test where I had to build a small pipeline using SQL/Python. After that was the Hiring Manager interview. The on-site in SF had 3 interviews: one technical with 2 other Data Engineers and 2 behavioral interviews with a Data Scientist & Healthcare Economist. I didn't have all the technical experience they wanted, but the interview environment on-site made it 'Difficult'. The technical interview with the Data Engineers (one remote, one in-person) felt off from the start, and communication was tough. The remote interviewer seemed frustrated and impatient within the first 5 minutes. It doesn't cost anything to just be polite, move on, and take notes if the interviewee doesn't know an answer. But the constant probing about why I didn't know something, given my experience with XYZ technology, was draining and uncomfortable. I was upfront about what I didn't know, but they kept drilling on how I 'should know'. His body language and tone suggested he felt I was wasting his time. This was odd for a company that says they value social grace and communication for their Data Engineering team. It makes you wonder how they'd act during actual data pipeline emergencies if they get this frustrated in a low-stakes interview. I know Hinge Health's data engineering team has seen a lot of layoffs and departures lately (seems like politics and offshoring are the reasons), so I get the frustration, but politeness is basic. Despite this, I had to power through the remaining 3 hours of interviews, knowing I wouldn't get the role. You just smile and do your best at that point. The behavioral interviews with Data Science and Healthcare Economics were enjoyable and went well; they seem like great people I'd want to work with. I interviewed on a Tuesday, and the recruiter said I'd hear back by the end of the week. The final blow was getting ghosted and never hearing back. Unfortunately, I can't recommend this interview process. Dealing with a red flag on the Data Engineering team and the recruiter ghosting you makes it not worth the effort. They expect a lot in terms of technical skills, healthcare domain knowledge, and communication for the Data Engineering role. I wish them the best and hope they find their candidate.

So I had to do 2 take-home assessments because they sent me the wrong one the first time. Then, I had a behavioral interview with the hiring manager, but they were late and only asked me one question. After that, it was a full onsite loop: a technical deep dive, a behavioral interview with the HM's manager, and a behavioral interview with a cross-functional team member. I was asked to go into the office, but only met two people in person, which felt a bit strange since most of the team works remotely and it could have just been a Zoom call.

HR called me for about half an hour. Then I got a take-home assessment. It involved creating a basic ETL pipeline where I had to read data from a CSV file, process it, and then store it in a database. After that, I had a technical interview.