Shipt Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process started well. First, I had a phone screening with the recruiter, who was friendly, easy to talk to, and gave me all the info I needed. Then, I had a chat with the hiring manager, which was also nice. It was a chill and honest talk, and he said he'd set up the next round, which would be technical. He said he'd tell the recruiter to set it up. I sent a thank you note to the hiring manager the next day. After a few days without hearing from the recruiter, I reached out with my availability for the next week, hoping to speed things up. Sadly, I got no reply. Almost two weeks went by with no contact. At this point, I wasn't sure if I'd move forward, but I still wanted a response. I emailed again, giving my availability and asking for an update. They finally got back to me, saying they'd gone with another candidate. Even though Shipt seems like a cool place to work, the interview process was a letdown.

A recruiter reached out after I applied online. We had a quick phone chat, then I got a coding assignment using Go and DynamoDB that I had 5 days to finish. I hadn't used either before but was told they'd assess my ability to learn quickly. I completed the assignment, meeting all requirements, and was happy with it given the new tech. A few days later, I had a Zoom call with a tech lead to go over my code. It was okay, but there was a bit of a communication hiccup on a question after I asked for clarification. After that, the recruiter let me know I didn't move forward, without a specific reason, which was a bummer but not surprising. I felt I did enough to get to the next stage (onsite), but something must have turned them off. Despite not working out, I think the company and product are good and I'd be interested in future opportunities.

So the whole process was like 3 phone calls first and then a big virtual onsite with 8 rounds. The very first call was with the recruiter, just chatting about my background and if I was interested. Then I spoke with the hiring manager to see if I'd be a good fit for the team and the company vibe. After that, there was a 45-minute live coding session. They sent me a CoderPad link with about 10 questions, and I had to explain my thinking while coding in JavaScript, since the job needs React. I got 7 out of 10 done in 30 minutes, with the rest of the time for introductions and questions. The virtual onsite was a marathon, like 5 hours and 15 minutes with 8 interviews. The first 15 minutes was with the recruiter again to connect, and the very last 15 minutes was with the hiring manager for final chats. In between, there were 6 interviews, each lasting 45 minutes, with a 30-minute break. Five of these were technical interviews, and one was with a designer to see how I'd work with them as a frontend dev. Two of these technical rounds had a single coding question each, again in JavaScript. The other technical interviews were more about discussions and scenarios, because coding on the spot for frontend is tough, I guess. They also wanted to see if I'm a team player and how I communicate, 'cause I think having a chill, balanced team is super important. The rounds were back-to-back, so it was intense, but actually pretty fun.