Nextdoor Ios Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

First, there was a phone interview with a recruiter. Then, two rounds of interviews with two engineers on two different days. The interview wasn't too hard, and the developers made me feel really comfortable. I think it's a great place to work.

Recruiter reached out, thought I was a good fit for mid-senior iOS app dev. Had an initial screening. I asked about the process and prep. Was told next up would be tech interviews with iOS devs covering iOS topics and code challenges for app dev. They said no LC style algorithm/data structure challenges. One tech interview started late because the interviewer couldn’t get the online IDE working. No intro or getting to know me. They didn't ask if I wanted to reschedule. They asked zero questions about iOS dev or my experience. I only did leetcode style challenges. The second interviewer showed up and continued with more of the same code challenges, asking no iOS dev questions. Neither apologized for tech issues eating into my interview time.

The interview process was pretty easy overall. It started with 2 technical coding questions before an on-site. However, some interviewers were unprofessional and not well trained, and the calibration seemed to focus on irrelevant Xcode knowledge. The technical coding interviewer didn't start with introductions or greetings, and didn't write down the problem statement in coderpad. It was hard to understand him, and just saying the problem wasted time as I had to ask clarifying questions and rephrase multiple times. I ended up writing down the problem statement myself after all my questions. The 'part 2' follow-up had the same issue. The technical coding challenge shouldn't be a riddle. The on-site included a standard behavioral part, a 2-hour Xcode project, and an iOS knowledge/architectural design panel. The last panel had poorly calibrated 'bugs' to fix in an Xcode project. Instead of testing applicable knowledge like identifying memory leaks, they tested obscure Xcode IDE specifics. Although I knew what was wrong and what needed to be done, it took me longer to find the 'how' in Xcode. I did fix the issue, but because it took longer, I didn't get an offer as it 'raised some serious concerns' that I couldn't find a specific Xcode thing immediately. No project is ever set up this way, so it's not obvious how to fix it. Other than that, I thought I did well and was surprised I didn't get an offer. My suggestion is to re-calibrate iOS problems to test actual expertise and domain knowledge, and train interviewers to be more professional.