Paperless Post Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process included an initial 1-hour phone chat, followed by a 1-hour technical phone screen, and then a 6-hour on-site interview. It was a bit tricky to schedule because the recruiter kept wanting to have briefing and debriefing calls. Companies often look for talented individuals and let the role evolve. Paperless Post was hiring for two specific positions, but things seemed a bit up in the air during the process, even at the on-site. I was sometimes presented with one role, sometimes the other. In the end, they said they weren't hiring for either role but wanted to keep in touch.

After initial chats with the recruiter, I had a phone screen with a developer. This chat was about my background and interests, no coding involved. Then, another recruiter call, followed by the onsite interviews. The onsite had 6 rounds, including 3 technical ones: a whiteboard coding session, a system design discussion, and a database design problem (covering data modeling, ORM, etc.). I spoke with the CTO and an engineering director about their development philosophy, team challenges, management style, and my past work. I even met the CEO, Alexa Hirschfeld. A bit of a downer was one engineer who seemed disengaged and mostly on his phone after I mentioned no database design experience. I had lunch with my phone screener, hoping it wasn't an interview since no technical questions came up. Later, another 'lunch' was with the CTO and 4 other engineers, which felt like an interview in disguise. A few days after, the recruiter let me know they decided not to move forward.

It was a really nice interview process. Started with a chat with HR, then moved on to some basic programming questions, followed by a quick coding challenge on a key frontend concept. Unfortunately, I didn't get the job, likely because it was a lead position.