SambaNova Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process
Real candidates share what happened, how many rounds they had,
and how the experience turned out.
Based on 45 interview experiences · FREE TO READ
Candidate interview experiences
First-hand accounts from people who interviewed at SambaNova.
SambaNova
Software Engineer
Intern Average Positive experience Accept offer 4 rounds
Interview process
Phone screen Technical screen Technical screen Technical screen
Interview formats
Technical Coding
We started with a phone interview that included a resume walkthrough and some basic questions about compiler optimizations. After that, I had a virtual on-site with three separate rounds, each lasting about 40 minutes. Each on-site session focused on a single algorithm question.
Confirmed questions3 questions
- Can you walk me through your resume and discuss compiler optimizations?
- Tell me about some basic compiler optimization techniques.
- How would you apply compiler optimizations to this C code snippet?
SambaNova
Software Engineer
Mid Average Positive experience Accept offer 4 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Technical screen Technical screen Onsite
Interview formats
Technical Coding System Design
It took me about a month and a half from last November to January to go through the interview process, taking a break around Christmas. It started with a recruiter call, followed by two technical interviews. The final round involved meeting with three interviewers sequentially. The questions were of medium difficulty and quite specific to the field. The whole process felt very professional, and the questions aligned well with the job description.
Confirmed questions4 questions
- How would you implement a thread-safe queue?
- Can you explain how to perform an in-place matrix transpose while optimizing for cache efficiency?
- Describe how you would rotate a matrix, considering both CPU and GPU execution.
SambaNova
Software Engineer
Entry Difficult Negative experience No offer 3 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Technical screen Technical screen
Interview formats
Technical Coding Behavioral
So first there was a phone call with HR, and then the first screening which was pretty easy, though the interviewer had a hard accent. It had 1 technical question on python and 1 coding question about a matrix moving from top left to bottom right with all possible combinations. Then I talked a bit about my background and experience. The next screening was supposed to be 5 interviews over 2 days. Day 1 had 2 screenings with 2 interviewers. Both were really rude and had an accent. The interview was supposed to be about data structures and OOP, but they only focused on Graph algorithms and coding questions. Even when I tried to solve them, they didn't try to understand my solution and asked nothing else. It was super rude and unprofessional. The 2 coding questions were: 1) finding critical edges in graphs by disconnecting them. 2) finding all possible combination sums for numbers 1 to 9, given the number of elements and the target sum.
Confirmed questions1 question
- The process started with an HR phone call, followed by a relatively easy first screening where the interviewer had a noticeable accent. This screening included one technical question related to Python and a coding question involving a matrix, specifically calculating all possible paths from the top-left to the bottom-right. Following this, I discussed my experience and background. The subsequent screening was scheduled as five interviews across two consecutive days. On the first day, I completed two screening interviews with two different interviewers. However, both interviewers were perceived as extremely rude and had accents. Although the interview was intended to cover data structures and OOP, the focus remained exclusively on Graph algorithms and coding challenges. Despite my attempts to solve the problems, the interviewers did not engage with my solutions or ask further questions, which was considered rude and unprofessional. The two coding questions presented were: 1) identifying critical edges in a graph by determining edges whose removal would disconnect the graph. 2) calculating all possible combination sums using numbers from 1 to 9, given a specified count of numbers and a target sum.
SambaNova Software Engineer Interview Questions
Quoted word for word from SambaNova interview reports.
“What is the probability that a random walk will end up on a particular number?”
Read reports →“Write code to access data in a 2D matrix, given it's stored as a row vector along with its row and column dimensions, following a specific access pattern.”
Read reports →“How would you find the number of connected components in a graph?”
Read reports →“How would you remove duplicates from a list while preserving the original order?”
Read reports →“How can one parse an instruction within a domain-specific compiler?”
Read report →“What would be the output if there were no synchronization primitive used?”
Read report →“What is the difference between Pytorch and Tensorflow, and when would you use each?”
Read report →“Could you explain why ReLU is preferred over sigmoid for nonlinearities?”
Read report →“Can you explain the logic behind the Adam optimizer?”
Read report →Formats, difficulty and experience
Across all 45 SambaNova interview reports.