Peek Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

First, a recruiter calls you. Then, you'll interview with an engineering lead. This is more of a personal/behavioral interview, but they'll ask about projects you've worked on, things you've done that you're proud of, and how you handle criticism about your work. Next, there's about a 4-hour practical take-home coding assessment. It's not tricky algorithm stuff, just implement some business logic and consider production impact. They'll review your assessment, usually within about 2 days. After that, you'll interview with engineers to go over your assessment, explain your logic, and they'll ask about your thought process. They'll also present situations and ask how you'd accommodate those in your code. Finally, you'll interview with the director of engineering. It's very similar to the interview with the engineering lead, covering your background, what you're looking for career-wise, challenges you've faced, mistakes you've made and learned from, and other similar topics. They're really looking for cultural fits and care a lot about maintaining their culture. Everyone there loves their coworkers and the management-fostered environment. They encourage professional growth, cross-pollination, and knowledge sharing. If you're passionate about this and can show it, you'll do well. Be sure to have good questions prepared to ask them.

The process was lengthy, starting with a take-home assignment focused on our domain. This was followed by an in-person visit. The recruiter I spoke with was okay, though they didn't seem like a job expert. I got the vibe the company was trying to get acquired, maybe by someone like Google, given their self-marketing and the fact their offering wasn't particularly innovative, as they use the same cloud components as everyone else. The company seemed overly marketed, with the CEO promoting travel accessories and having no tech background beyond wanting to run a startup, her Cambridge education, and being a debater. It felt quite cliquey, and I didn't get the impression of a strong engineering team; they seemed to rely heavily on 'culture fit', and everyone was quite young.

First up was a chat with the hiring manager to get a feel for the gig and company. then an engineering director interview to dive deeper into the engineering team and where the company's headed. after that, a quick code challenge to get familiar with the tech stack, which they'd look at later. then, we followed up on the code challenge with two engineers who dug into my code, looking at important production scenarios and how I'd improve things. next, a technical meeting where I had to explain my usual approach to working on software projects. finally, a background check, and then the offer.