POPSUGAR Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

I applied through the company's job site and got an email scheduling a phone screening interview within 1-2 days. The first interview was with the recruiter on Monday morning. It was very casual and laid back, covering topics like "let me tell you about the company and the role, tell me about you and what are you looking for". This was followed by a phone interview with the hiring manager on Monday afternoon. They discussed the company, the specifics of the role/team, and asked me about my background along with a couple of not-too-complex technical questions. The next step was a coding challenge I received the very next day, which took a couple of hours to complete. I actually sent in the wrong answer initially, but they kindly gave me another opportunity to correct it, which I did! Then, we scheduled an in-person interview for Friday that lasted 3.5 hours. It was a mix of in-office and remote team members, involving both meetings and Google Hangouts. I met with 6 team members in total. Some interviews focused on cultural fit, while others were technical. Overall, it was a wonderful experience interviewing at PopSugar. The people were kind, genuine, brilliant, fun, and laid back. Scheduling was flawless, and everyone was punctual and prepared.

HR reached out by email about two weeks after I applied. They wanted me to do a take-home assignment. It was pretty easy and I got it done in a few hours, and it was a good way to show what I can do. A few days after I sent it in, HR emailed again to set up two technical phone screens. I talked with two senior developers from the team I'd be joining. The interviews felt pretty relaxed, and they asked stuff related to the job. I prepped by looking up general interview questions for the role and brushing up on my programming language. It totally helped. No weird trick questions or puzzles like you might find at other places. After those calls, HR let me know about an on-site interview. They flew me out and put me up in a nice hotel near the office. The on-site had about 5-6 rounds. I met with the whole team and the manager. I had to talk about my past projects, draw out an OOP design on a whiteboard, answer some more technical questions (again, nothing unexpected), and a couple of simple questions about big-O. Lastly, I had to talk about why I was interested in PopSugar (definitely research the company beforehand and be ready for a non-technical chat about it). I got a call with an offer two days later. PopSugar has really good teamwork between engineering departments. So it's important to see the bigger picture, not just your own part. Check out their products and ask about the big picture during your phone interviews to be ready for the on-site discussion.

Started with a recruiter call who was helpful. Then had a programming project to complete. After that, I spoke with the hiring manager, who asked some good questions. I was then invited for an on-site interview. I didn't get details about the interview format or who I'd be meeting until the very last minute. The on-site involved interviews with four people: three junior developers and one director-level senior staff member. There were a lot of whiteboard problems, mostly focused on exercises like writing linked list and tree classes, which felt irrelevant to the job description and seemed more suited for junior programmers. The questions about my reasons and motives felt stressful and somewhat hostile. This seems to be leading to an offer.