Saildrone Interview Questions
& Process
Real candidates share what happened, how many rounds they had,
and how the experience turned out.
Based on 14 interview experiences · FREE TO READ
Which role are you interviewing for?
9 roles · 14 reportsCandidate interview experiences
First-hand accounts from people who interviewed at Saildrone.
Saildrone
Mechanical Engineer
Mid Difficult Positive experience No offer 2 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Technical screen Onsite
Interview formats
Behavioral Technical Case
It was a fair and fast process. Started with an HR screen where they asked about my background and previous projects. Then, I had a technical screen with the engineering manager. We went over drawings and stress concepts. This was followed by some design scenarios for maritime mounting and payloads. It was a little tough because everything was done over Zoom.
Confirmed questions1 question
- How would you approach designing a payload for a mast-mounted electronic component?
Saildrone
Software Engineer
Mid Difficult Negative experience No offer 2 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Take home
Interview formats
Technical System Design
After applying online, I had a good chat with the recruiter. Then, I was given a take-home exercise that took me at least 8 hours to complete. They knew it would take that long. It was a system design question. I submitted my work, and the recruiter just sent a generic email saying they weren't moving forward. I asked for feedback, but they couldn't give any. It's frustrating to spend a whole workday on a task and not get any feedback, especially when most tasks take 2-3 hours. For an 8-hour task, not getting feedback is really disrespectful. System design is also subjective, and the same task can be done in many ways. The complete lack of feedback is unacceptable.
Confirmed questions1 question
- Design the data pipeline for Flightaware24's main view features (live flight tracking and detailed flight route/metadata display), assuming a 5-second data stream input and a low-latency HTTP API output, focusing on design choices, data modeling, storage, and query engines to optimize for ingest and access patterns, to be submitted as a design document.
Saildrone
Staff Software Engineer
Staff Average Negative experience No offer 3 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Take home Offer
Interview formats
Behavioral Technical
I first had a chat with the head of HR/recruiting to see if I was a good fit. Since I had a lot of experience in what they were looking for, it seemed like a good match. Then, I met with the director of engineering for a really engaging and positive discussion about the job requirements and expectations. I felt like I was a perfect fit and everyone seemed enthusiastic. After that, I was given a take-home design exercise which I worked on for 3-4 hours a day over the next 3 days. I followed up with both HR and the Director expressing my gratitude and excitement for the opportunity. The following week, HR responded saying they were moving forward with other candidates. They provided no feedback, which was very unprofessional and hurtful given the time and effort I invested. I was aware of the company's negative feedback beforehand, and I now regret wasting my time.
Confirmed questions1 question
- Design/reverse engineer the data pipeline flow for two Flightaware24 app features: live flight view and selected flight route/metadata timeseries history with graphs. Input: stream of live global flight data (sample every 5s). Output: HTTP API for UI polling (response < 100ms). Deliverable: design document (diagrams, pseudocode ok). Explain design, data model, storage/query choices, and how to best match ingest/access patterns. Submission: GitHub pull request for code and design doc.
Saildrone
Staff Accountant
Staff Average Negative experience No offer 6 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Phone screen Technical screen Onsite Background check Offer
Interview formats
Behavioral Technical
The typical interview process for this role involves multiple stages. However, the process seemed influenced by personal biases, and based on other reviews, I'm relieved not to have been selected. The interview itself was disrupted by interruptions, which I found disruptive and caused me to lose my train of thought. Given the company's high turnover rate, it's probably for the best. I was rejected in less than 24 hours, which felt like a blessing in disguise.
Confirmed questions1 question
- Can you discuss your past work experiences?
Saildrone Interview Questions
Quoted word for word from Saildrone interview reports.
“Can you optimize this Python code?”
Read reports →“What C++ feature should be avoided when developing embedded systems?”
Read reports →“How do you configure a VPN connection to AWS?”
Read reports →“How would you approach designing a payload for a mast-mounted electronic component?”
Read reports →“Design the data pipeline for Flightaware24's main view features (live flight tracking and detailed flight route/metadata display), assuming a 5-second data stream input and a low-latency HTTP API output, focusing on design choices, data modeling, storage, and query engines to optimize for ingest and access patterns, to be submitted as a design document.”
Read report →“Design/reverse engineer the data pipeline flow for two Flightaware24 app features: live flight view and selected flight route/metadata timeseries history with graphs. Input: stream of live global flight data (sample every 5s). Output: HTTP API for UI polling (response < 100ms). Deliverable: design document (diagrams, pseudocode ok). Explain design, data model, storage/query choices, and how to best match ingest/access patterns. Submission: GitHub pull request for code and design doc.”
Read report →“What makes you want to join Saildrone?”
Read report →“What would you do in certain 'what if' scenarios?”
Read report →“Describe your approach to managing projects involving both hardware and software components.”
Read report →Formats, difficulty and experience
Across all 14 Saildrone interview reports.