Rocket Internet Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process heavily emphasizes PHP, design patterns, and database concepts. They're interested in your understanding of implicit type conversion in PHP and its potential performance implications. You might also be asked to discuss deviating from certain design patterns, such as the Singleton pattern.

I was first contacted by a recruiter. I had an initial interview with the recruiter, where he asked about my past experiences and career path. Then he talked with HR, who seemed to like my profile, so we moved on to the technical interviews. The two technical interviews were with two different lead engineers, covering PHP, MySQL, OOP, and design patterns. The first one was 90 minutes with usual basic tasks, a bit of simple PHP programming and MySQL queries. The second one was 45 minutes talking + a 90-minute coding test. This one was harder. I had to write a small program, and there were several questions about recursion, PHP functions, basic tasks, and so on. Unfortunately, I didn't nail the last interview. The lead engineers were cool though. They gave me advice and explained where I went wrong.

I applied for a Software Engineer role in Berlin, Germany. I got through two technical interviews, which I passed. They offered me the job, and I accepted. I was told to print, sign, and mail the contract via DHL for $100. A week later, their relocation specialist contacted me, and we agreed on the next steps after I received the contract signed by them. But I never got the contract and heard nothing else from them. Three days before my start date, I received a welcome email telling me to be at reception at 9 am with further instructions for the first day. I thought it was crazy since I was still on another continent and they had no clue! Overall, it was the worst hiring process I've ever dealt with.