Shift Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

The recruiter reached out about the job, and I set up a call for the initial phone screen. After that, I had a chat with the engineering manager, followed by three technical interviews as part of the virtual on-site. The people I interviewed with were really nice. The recruiter contacted me the day after the virtual on-site, saying they wanted to move forward because the feedback was good. During the call, the recruiter mentioned compensation that was lower than we'd agreed on. He promised to fix it and wanted me to speak with the CTO the next day. I followed up because I hadn't heard back and was told I'd get an update soon (they were apparently still scheduling). I decided to pull out of the process after not hearing from Shift for over a week.

A Jobspring recruiter contacted me on LinkedIn to arrange an introductory call with a Shift recruiter. When scheduling the interviews, I was dealing with both recruiters, and it got a bit confusing because they sometimes reached out to me separately. First, there was a 30-minute intro call with the Shift recruiter where we discussed my interests, background, the role, and the company. Then, I had two 1-hour technical phone interviews back-to-back, conducted via CoderPad. Each focused on an easy problem with follow-up questions requiring me to build on the initial solution. The onsite interview in SF had four 1-hour technical rounds. There was a 1-hour lunch break in between, followed by a quick wrap-up with a recruiter. Each of the four interviews involved a medium Leetcode problem with follow-up questions on topics like algorithm complexity, and I also had time to ask my own questions. Three of these were done in CoderPad with some whiteboard brainstorming. The fourth interview, which focused on time and memory complexity and selecting the optimal solution based on various factors, was done on a whiteboard without coding. I received feedback within a day or two after the onsite. Overall, the entire process from introduction to offer took less than a month, though it could have been faster if my schedule had allowed me to go onsite earlier.

The technical team members were great and the conversations were pleasant. The recruiter initially gave verbal confirmation of the offer details, but then took it back a few days later. My advice is to get a written offer first and not to trust what they tell you verbally.