LaunchDarkly Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

Started with a recruiter reaching out via email. Everyone was friendly. First was a hiring manager call to discuss role expectations and company questions. Then a take-home exercise that took over 5 hours. After that, multiple interviews (5 calls). One 1.5-hour call to review the take-home and build an additional feature. A 45-minute call with a Coderpad problem. A 30-minute call about culture and values. A 45-minute call for a project deep dive. Finally, a 30-minute wrap-up with the hiring manager. They really focus on technical fit over anything else. If the first two technical interviews didn't go well, it's probably not worth continuing. The culture interview felt more like a sales pitch for the company than an evaluation. They also used whiteboarding, which was unexpected given their stated policies.

Call with recruiter, call with hiring manager, take-home, onsite. After onsite I was told I'd be updated the next working day. After several days of silence I email them for an update because I had another offer, and was told the role was already filled. Experience was very similar to what is described here from November 2019: https://www.glassdoor.com/Interview/LaunchDarkly-Senior-Software-Engineer-Interview-Questions-EI_IE1897319.0,12_KO13,37.htm#InterviewReview_30445929 So there is a pattern here.

So I got referred, then had a recruiter screen, followed by a chat with an Engineering Manager. Next was a coding challenge that took me about 10 hours, though I might have been overly meticulous. After that was the onsite, which was 3.75 hours total, including 4 interviews and a wrap-up chat. The offer came after. They're pretty flexible with team placement, allowing movement and exploration after joining. Honestly, my experience with LD was great and they move quickly! The only delay was about two weeks for the initial recruiter screen, but everything else was handled within one business day. They even scheduled my onsite the day after I submitted my coding challenge to accommodate an offer deadline I had elsewhere, which was really considerate and accommodating of them and their engineers. I actually enjoyed the coding challenge; I felt it was reasonable to expect backend engineers to know how to build microservices with minimal guidance, and I learned a lot. I spent 10 hours because I chose to use Python, a language I don't typically use at work, so it could have taken less time with a familiar framework. The onsite consisted of: a 45-min review and extension of the microservice I built, a 30-min discussion on culture and values, a 45-min system design interview, a 45-min problem-solving session with an algorithmic problem, and a 30-min wrap-up with the manager. LD is very profitable with happy engineers and a fantastic engineering culture, as detailed on their values page, which I really connected with. I would have chosen them if it weren't for a competing offer where I had a particularly strong team match.