NinjaTrader Interview Questions
& Process

Interviewers were super friendly, had a great vibe. The first interview had about 10-15 questions. The second interview involved two LeetCode Medium problems. The third interview was behavioral. I managed to solve both LeetCode problems in O(n) time, and the interviewer asked about alternative approaches. The interview was quite Java-focused. Still waiting for their response!

So I interviewed at NinjaTrader and it was a 4-step process: first a screening call, then talent acquisition interviews, after that a formal assessment, and finally I met with the VP of Product. The recruiters were really nice and professional, but a lot of the questions they asked were about how to handle tricky hiring teams and new hiring managers, which made me wonder if they have some internal issues. The chat with the VP of Product was pretty basic, touching on Product Design and Management fundamentals. When I asked about what the company is currently struggling with and what could be better, he said they're still having a hard time finding good product people in Chicago. He also mentioned they haven't really set up any formal growth forecasting yet because he's only been in the job for three months. On a personal note, he seemed a bit concerned about juggling time between New York and Chicago for the required office days. Even though NinjaTrader seems to be hiring a ton of Product people, it feels like there's no clear long-term plan from leadership on how they're going to keep that growth going. I never heard back from them after those 4 rounds.

It started with a 30-minute phone call with HR asking general questions about my background, my education, and my interest in the X role. After that, there were three interviews with different people from the company, plus an aptitude test, which took about three hours in total. The first person I spoke with said they hadn't looked at my resume yet and asked me to go over it. I'm not sure if they were being truthful or just wanted me to present my achievements, but it felt unprofessional. The interviewers asked pretty much the same questions, and those three interviews could have easily been combined into one panel interview. The HR person who first reached out was also not very consistent in their communication. They asked for my availability for the next week twice, once before the initial phone interview and again before the three-hour panel interview. I always responded within 24 hours, but I didn't hear back either time until I sent a follow-up email, and each time it took over a week to get a response. Dealing with the difficulty in scheduling and the repetitive questions made me not want to apply to jobs there again.

The interview process kicked off with a 30-minute phone chat with a recruiter. After that, I had to complete a simple Flutter project challenge. A week later, I had a Zoom call with the Mobile Engineering manager where I was asked some technical questions and about my background. Then, another week passed, and I had an hour-and-a-half panel interview with the Software QA Manager, the VP of Engineering, and the recruiter. Right after that last interview, there was a 15-minute timed Aptitude Test with 50 questions, which was pretty straightforward. They said I'd hear back by the end of the week or within 3 days, but another week after the whole 4-week process, they told me they were going with another candidate who was more qualified. Honestly, the whole thing felt pretty simple, but also like a waste of my time. Glad I'm pretty far along with State Farm and some other places, otherwise, I'd be more bummed out. Also, I applied for 'Mobile Engineer,' but the Mobile Engineering Manager told me they were actually trying to fill a 'Senior' role, which wasn't what I applied for.