Iterable Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

It was a pretty grueling interview process that spanned 5 days with multiple people, including three 3-hour-long live coding sessions. It started typical: Recruiter phone screen then an interview with a manager. Then it ended with some live coding, and finally a presentation to a panel on a project/code you've worked on. Honestly, the 3 hours of live coding felt unnecessary and by the end, I was totally drained and didn't even want the job. The problem with the live coding is that it left hardly any time to ask the engineers interviewing you questions about the role, because you'll need almost the full hour to finish the programs. In my opinion, I already showed I was competent with the first coding session, and when I started the second and third, I really didn't care if I got the job or not because it started feeling more like work than a test. The presentation to the panel came right after the third live coding session. It wasn't as hard, but coming off the previous session, I was tired and just wanted it to be over. My advice to the company would be to either ditch the live coding sessions and give candidates a 1-hour take-home assignment, then discuss it in the interviews, which would also let candidates get to know the engineers better. Or if you really want to keep live coding (which I think they shouldn't because it's old-fashioned and doesn't actually show how someone would perform in a real job), limit it to 1 hour. Three sessions is extremely excessive. Overall, I passed, but in the future, if a company told me this was their interview process, I'd withdraw my application immediately and save myself the hassle.

First off was an hr screen, then an online coding test, and finally a short zoom call. All were straightforward and without tricks. After that, there were five interviews: one coding challenge, a system design challenge, and a few behavioral interviews with different people. It was a lengthy process, but by the end, I had a clear understanding of the day-to-day work, my responsibilities, and the company culture. The interviewers were great—really open and honest about the company, including its downsides. So far, everything they've said matches up. The only downside to the whole interview experience was the month it took to schedule and complete everything. The recruiters were upfront about each step though.

It was a standard 3-part process: first, a recruiter call, then a coding challenge, and finally a full virtual onsite. The recruiter call was basically to see if I was a good match for the role and company. The coding challenge was a 1-hour LeetCode test, not too hard, like lower medium difficulty. The virtual onsite lasted about 8 hours, with breaks included. It was structured in 30-60 minute blocks, with one or two interviewers in each block. These interviewers included software developers (who focused on my coding and architecture skills) and engineering managers (who asked about people skills). There was also a 30-minute slot where I presented a past project I found interesting, followed by some Q&A. The whole thing felt pretty good. The interviewers were nice, explaining their roles and the company, and there was enough time for me to ask questions, so it wasn't just me being grilled for 8 hours straight.