IPSY Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process
Real candidates share what happened, how many rounds they had,
and how the experience turned out.
Based on 23 interview experiences · FREE TO READ
Candidate interview experiences
First-hand accounts from people who interviewed at IPSY.
IPSY
Front End Software Engineer
Entry Average Positive experience No offer 2 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Technical screen
Interview formats
Technical Coding
I applied online and heard back from a recruiter about a week later. She scheduled a one-hour phone interview with an Engineering team member, mentioning I'd need a computer with internet for a technical screen. The interviewer called about 10 minutes late for the ~45-minute call. He started by briefly explaining the company's work in the beauty industry and their tech stack, then asked me to introduce myself and talk about my background. Afterward, he sent a Google Docs link with a problem statement. It involved a database manipulation task requiring record addition/deletion using transactional memory management. Even though I wasn't familiar with databases or transactional memory, I figured out the required functionality and coded it using object-oriented JavaScript. I thought I'd at least move to the next round, but three days later, I got a generic rejection email from the recruiter saying my skills weren't a fit for the role. It was pretty disappointing.
Confirmed questions2 questions
- Can you introduce yourself and walk me through your background?
- Could you solve a database manipulation problem using transactional memory management, implementing it in JavaScript or any other language you prefer?
IPSY
Software Engineer
Mid Difficult Negative experience No offer 4 rounds
Interview process
Phone screen Technical screen Onsite
Interview formats
Coding Technical Behavioral
The interview process involved one phone screen followed by three on-site interviews. One of the on-site interviews was really picky about my work. It's a tiny company, barely 20 engineers. They don't use whiteboards; you code on their laptops. One interviewer was super focused on my every keystroke, pointing out issues. My first two interviews didn't go great, so the third interviewer skipped coding and just asked about my projects for about 10-15 minutes. I figured I wasn't getting an offer from them.
Confirmed questions4 questions
- For a linkedList with a next and an arbitrary pointer, could you perform a deep copy?
- How would you print the elements of a square matrix diagonally?
- Can you answer some SQL-related queries?
IPSY
Software Engineer
Entry Average Negative experience No offer 5 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Phone screen Technical screen Onsite
Interview formats
Coding Technical
A recruiter contacted me. First, there was a phone screen where I had to solve an algorithm problem in a Google Doc. Then, I went onsite for four consecutive algorithm problems on a whiteboard. We didn't get a lunch break. By the fourth round, it was 2 pm, I hadn't eaten for three hours, and I'd been whiteboarding the whole time. I asked some interviewers why they chose specific technologies, but they couldn't give a solid reason besides 'that's what everyone uses.' One interviewer seemed confused about basic programming concepts, like how queues and stacks are implemented using arrays in languages other than Java, and he asked a whiteboard algorithm question he didn't fully grasp, only knowing one solution.
Confirmed questions1 question
- How would you sort an array of bags containing unstructured data?
IPSY Software Engineer Interview Questions
Quoted word for word from IPSY interview reports.
“Given two strings A and B, check if B includes a permutation of A as a substring.”
Read reports →“How would you check if a string with nested brackets like "{}(())[[()]]" is valid, and what is its complexity?”
Read reports →“What's the shortest unique prefix for each word in a given list of words? Example: for [apple, toy, angel, angular, tofu], the result should be [ap, toy, ange, angu, tof].”
Read reports →“Implement a function that sums up values based on a grouping key.”
Read reports →“Implement a super priority queue to peek and poll from three priority queues.”
Read report →“Write code to sort an array using external sort parameters.”
Read report →“Can you validate if a binary tree is balanced?”
Read report →“What's the SQL question for finding the longest palindromes in a string?”
Read report →“How would you print the elements of a square matrix diagonally?”
Read report →Formats, difficulty and experience
Across all 23 IPSY interview reports.