Santander Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process was structured in several phases. First, there was a presentation about the company and the position. Then, there were technical questions and knowledge tests. Throughout the process, they evaluated skills and experience, and also presented practical scenarios. They also included questions about work methodology and problem-solving. However, they didn't detail conditions like salary, benefits, or work modality, which created uncertainty about certain key aspects of the position. Finally, there was a feedback phase where they informed about the next steps without specifying concrete deadlines.

I interviewed with Santander Auto Software, which is a separate software house for Santander, a few weeks back. The process had three parts: a casual chat with a recruiter, a screening with a Principal Engineer, and then a longer technical/behavioral interview with that Principal and a manager. The screening involved a small coding challenge and some random tech questions. The challenge was simple, but the expected solution was a one-liner Java stream with a side effect on a hashset, which is generally a bad practice in functional programming. The tech questions were easy, but the interviewer kept debating my answers even when they were correct core concepts. Some questions were poorly worded, and it felt like a loop until I somehow gave the exact answer they were looking for. The final interview was heavy on behavioral questions. They only asked me to describe my current project towards the end when I was tired and had little time left. Again, the Principal Engineer debated my answers, even though the info was easily verifiable in official documentation. I didn't pass this stage and got harsh feedback that seemed biased and inaccurate. For instance, they claimed I lacked AWS knowledge after just one question, and another follow-up question apparently required a lot of probing to understand. However, the main reason I didn't move forward was not knowing some of their tech stack, despite me being clear about it in the screening. While I'm not saying I deserved to proceed, the interview process itself was handled poorly.

The whole thing took 3 weeks, back in August 2023. It had 3 steps. First, a chat with a recruiter who was pretty chill. He introduced himself and the company, then asked me to talk about myself and threw in some easy behavioural stuff like why I applied and about a tough technical problem I'd solved. Next up was a technical interview with a Principal Engineer. They gave me a coding challenge to do in 20 minutes, and then asked some Java and database questions. It lasted an hour. I messed up the coding challenge, kinda easy but I was too nervous and didn't pass. The last step was supposed to be another technical interview, 1h 30min, with two senior engineers. Overall, it was a good experience even though I failed.