MongoDB Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

Had a screen call with the Tech Recruiter, was all set for the tech interviews. But the next call, with the Engineering Manager from Warsaw, ended everything. We spent over an hour discussing conflicts and how to resolve them. What I learned from this interview is that in Mongo DB, you should never go to the Manager with team problems or write negative feedback, even if someone's behavior is weird and affects delivery. So, besides development, mentoring, and volunteering, you also have to do the manager's job and deal with inadequacy at any level. As a woman, I'm wondering, if harassment occurs, can I not go to the Manager either? Anyway, I wasn't asked about my experience or leadership skills; the person just talked about conflicts. I tried to stay positive and share my thoughts, like, yes, it's important to sort out daily work issues, but he didn't seem satisfied. I got rejected a few hours later without any feedback. I asked the Recruiter for some feedback and the reason for rejection, but never got a reply. I'm pretty frustrated with this poor interview experience, and I didn't even get to show my technical skills.

I had a 30 minute behavioral call with the recruiter, then a 1 hour Karat interview where we worked on array and string processing. After that, there were three interviews back-to-back. The first was a technical interview, Leetcode style, and the second was behavioral, covering past experiences and what I want to get out of MongoDB. The third was an OOP interview where I had to design banking software.

A recruiter found me on Linkedin and asked me to apply. I agreed, and we had a 30-minute introductory phone call where I talked about my background. Then, I interviewed with a director for a hiring manager role. It wasn't technical, mostly just more in-depth questions about my experience. The interview was supposed to be an hour, but we finished in about 30 minutes, so I used the remaining time to ask them questions. The director gave me a choice between a traditional problem-solving interview or a take-home assignment. I said I was open to either, which I now see was a mistake. They chose the take-home assignment, which they estimated would take 3-4 hours. A few days later, the recruiter sent me the assignment. It involved building a project from scratch using GenAI, which I had to pay for out-of-pocket since no subscription was provided, and I only had a sample output to go by. I had 3 days to complete it while still working full-time. It ended up taking much longer, around 12-15 hours, but I completed it anyway, paid for OpenAI access myself, and uploaded it to GitHub. After submitting it, I had a technical interview focused on code review and system design. We mainly reviewed the code from my assignment with a few minor design questions, not the typical system design interview. The last 15 minutes included some random behavioral questions. I thought it went pretty well; the questions weren't hard, and the interviewers didn't probe much. A few days later, I received an automated rejection email with no explanation. While I don't mind being rejected, especially since this was practice, I at least expect feedback after investing so much time and effort, particularly on the take-home assignment. I'd advise others to opt for the traditional problem-solving route, as it's clearer whether you succeed or not. I spent way too long on an assignment without getting any feedback. It wasn't a great experience.