Ladders Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

It started with a phone interview, then a 3 hour in person one. The in person one had three parts: pen and paper coding, coding on a computer, and a personality interview. The pen and paper coding part was done well. The engineer reviewing it was nice and helpful. The second part was building a basic iOS app on a macbook while an engineer watched and asked questions. That engineer was friendly but on his phone a lot, and when I got stuck, he just said to google it. He didn't seem to know Objective C well. I think they just gave me whoever was free. After those two parts, I was told the person for the last part was on vacation and I'd have to come back next week. They never emailed me back even after 3 follow-ups. They should have at least let me know if I wasn't a good fit, or finished the interview. Really unprofessional and a waste of time.

The recruiter reached out on LinkedIn and we had a brief chat about my interest and skills, also asked about salary. Then there was a phone screen with more in-depth questions on algorithms, data structures, backend tech, Linux, and dev tools. The on-site was pretty long, about 3.5 hours, and involved two coding problems on paper (one was OO modeling, the other an algorithm) and a chat with the HR director. A follow-up meeting with an engineer from a different team took about half an hour. They said I was a good cultural fit but didn't have enough experience for Level 2.

I interviewed with 1 HR person, 2 tech people, and 1 director. You should be ready because they asked some standard questions that most tech companies ask, covering basic knowledge and skills, plus some problem-solving. Personality and how you present yourself are important; sometimes people who are very driven and talk fast can get hired even without a ton of experience or depth. That's not to say it's impossible to get in if you're not like that, but it definitely helps.