Notable Health Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

First, there was a phone screen. Then, a LeetCode-style technical test online. After that, several onsite technical interviews happened in San Mateo. Some questions I asked during the interviews seemed concerning. The office atmosphere also felt quite tense; people weren't interacting much. I didn't get an offer, but later learned from some team members that two interviewers had quit and others were planning to leave. Definitely a close call.

I had an initial chat with a recruiter. Then, I was given a take-home assignment to complete within 2 hours. Following that, I was invited for an onsite interview. During the onsite, I had lunch with the team, and everyone was super nice. I then went through two technical interviews with team members. One involved a simulated code review, and the other was about an OO concept. I felt okay about these, though I stumbled a bit on the logic in the second one. I really liked the people I met. The final part was expanding on the take-home test with the CTO. This is where I think I messed up. It wasn't the difficulty, but the setup. I had to code two new features with the CTO watching me over my shoulder. I should have asked more questions, but the situation made me really uncomfortable and I wasn't myself. Being a naturally shy person, having someone breathe down my neck while I code just made my brain freeze. It was pretty obvious I wouldn't get the job after that. The team seemed great and the product is cool. I guess I wasn't the right fit, but honestly, anyone working there would be fortunate. You should totally go for it if you're considering it. The only downside for me, which is my own fault, was the coding under intense observation.

The interview process included a recruiter call and a technical screen, which were straightforward. The virtual onsite was made up of several sessions covering cultural fit and more technical aspects. It was a bit frustrating, and in my opinion, this is where individual experience can be a major setback. If you know too much about implementing something similar, it can backfire. For example, in one of the coding/technical parts of the onsite, my solution was deemed 'too complex' and not 'scalable,' despite my experience proving otherwise. My approach was simple enough to code within 50 minutes and is used in popular libraries with millions of weekly downloads, but perhaps I'm not good enough. The recruiter was helpful and polite, though I feel a phone call to deliver a rejection is unnecessary; they should just reject, explain why, and let candidates move on.