Rabobank Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

For the Graduate Trainee position in Rabobank's Young Professional Talent Program, after I submitted my CV, I got a link to an assessment. This assessment had a pattern recognition quiz and some behavioral questions. I finished the assessment, but unfortunately, I didn't proceed to the next stage.

Had an HR screen where they asked general questions about my motivation and past experiences. Then I was assigned a coding task to complete within a week. After that, I discussed the assignment with two developers. Finally, I had a call with my future manager to see if I'd be a good fit for the team.

A recruiter from SpilbergIT reached out to me, which was my only contact with Rabobank. I clarified during the initial call that I'm not a full-stack developer and prefer backend work. The recruiter confirmed with the hiring manager that while they primarily need backend skills, I'd still need to complete a full-stack test. Afterward, Rabobank sent a HackerRank link. I underestimated the time commitment, as the assignment involved GitHub repositories within HackerRank, taking about 10 hours. It included a simple array chunking algorithm, a moderate SQL query with inner queries and ranking for order amounts, building an Angular app to filter countries with inter-component communication, and creating a Spring trading API with an H2 database. There was also an optional C++ question I skipped. I felt I did well on the algorithm, SQL, and Spring API parts, even adding JavaDocs and a production-ready API. I was about halfway through the Angular task, outputting filtered results to the console instead of visually. Knowing the assignment would take this long, I would have declined it. Embedding GitHub repos in HackerRank felt deceptive, making it seem quicker than it was. Today, the recruiter informed me I didn't pass, without specific feedback despite checking with the hiring manager. They likely focused on the HackerRank score, possibly due to my incomplete Angular task, dismissing my 10 hours of effort. I'm glad it's over; developers deserve better, including companies that provide feedback for test-takers. I advise others to avoid this if Rabobank isn't a dream employer, as it's a waste of time.