Perplexity AI Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

It was a recruiter screen, then technical interviews, and finally a hiring manager interview which was also technical. The technical screens involved typical iOS tasks like manipulating a model or fetching data from an API. The last interview was with the HM and included iOS technical questions. The engineering interview panel felt like it wasn't diverse.

I was deep into interviews when I started with Perplexity. My first round was with a recruiter, Lauren, who fast-tracked me to the Perplexity onsite because I had a bunch of other onsites coming up. It’s a great sign when companies are flexible like that. The onsite included 4 interviews: a technical one with the manager where I showed off a project from a previous company. Then, a values and communication interview. After that, I spoke with a product manager about challenging collaboration. The last interview was with the head of growth. Lauren let me know the feedback was positive within a day of the onsite. Even though Perplexity wasn't the first company I interviewed with, they were the first to offer me a job by several weeks. Perplexity was super generous and gave me a few weeks to decide so I could finish up other interview loops. For context, the other companies I interviewed with (FAANG) were really slow with offers. This made me really want to join Perplexity, as I prefer a culture that moves fast. I had a final chat, a sell call, with the CEO Aravind, which was a memorable and enjoyable conversation about the business's positioning, roadmap, and trajectory. I also got to visit the office and meet the team before starting.

First, I spoke with the recruiter who let me know upfront about the intense working hours. Then, I had a coding round. The interviewer gave me a coding assignment that wasn't too hard, but they constantly interrupted me with suggestions, not letting me think. I finished the assignment, and they seemed okay with it. I got rejected, as expected, with no feedback. The interviewer's constant interruptions were more annoying than anything. If they're going to do the thinking for me, why even bother with the interview? It wasn't like I was stuck for ages, just a quick pause and they'd jump in with a new idea. Honestly, glad I didn't get through.