Notion Labs Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

The interview felt condescending and more like a lecture than a collaborative pair-programming session, making it hard to ask questions or think out loud. Technical and communication issues added unnecessary stress: the interviewer was poorly positioned, and audio/video issues made it difficult to see or hear her clearly, especially when I was screen-sharing. When I asked for clarification, she responded abruptly, and her suggestions for syntax issues were incorrect. She also let me struggle with a niche syntax problem for a long time instead of guiding me, which felt like it focused too much on specific syntax rather than DSA and problem-solving, contrary to typical SWE interview expectations. Towards the end, her comment about not having time implied I was slow, leaving me feeling discouraged and put off from future opportunities with the company, despite my initial excitement.

I had an interview process that felt smooth initially, with professional interviewers giving positive signals. I did multiple rounds of interviews and felt they all went well. The recruiter even mentioned other candidates were in the pipeline and a decision would be made soon. However, after a lot of time and effort, I was ghosted with no feedback or updates for over a month. This lack of communication was surprising and disappointing, especially for a company focused on product design. Even a rejection or feedback would have been better than silence.

The interview process kicked off with a recruiter screen, followed by a technical phone screen. Then, there were two days of virtual onsite interviews covering career history, system design, front-end coding, and back-end coding. Before the offer, there was also an executive call, some team matching calls, and 2-3 reference checks. The recruiter was great, really helpful and responsive, and the interviewers were collaborative and friendly.