Soar Tech Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process involved 3 steps - a phone interview, a remote programming test, and an all-day, onsite interview. The onsite interview consisted of various sessions with department heads, testing my technical ability and solving problems on white boards. I was also required to prepare and give a presentation on a technical project I was passionate about. The people at SoarTech are wonderfully kind and helpful, and this was easily the most delightful interview I've ever had. The CEO even took time out of his day to speak with me and get to know me personally. It all made answering the tough, technical questions much less stressful.

The company seemed to only want people with advanced CS degrees and not open to other profiles. The phone interview was okay, but the in-person was rough. It had two parts. The first part involved coding a singly linked list from scratch in Java or C while hooked up to a projector and getting grilled on every tiny detail. It was hard to think straight with constant questioning. The second part was a hypothetical about using sensors to guide a robot from a start to an end point. It was kind of fun, but that's about it. The whole thing felt like a waste of time because I didn't fit their mold. They're missing out on innovation by only hiring from the same local university.

It's a 3-part process. First, a phone screen where they ask about your background, interests, and a simple coding question. Then, there's a remote coding test, which is a bit of a pain. It's 3 hours long - 2 hours for coding and 1 hour to discuss your code, and it felt pretty tough for an entry-level role. You can use online resources, but it still takes ages. Finally, there's an onsite interview with system design and software architecture questions. Even though it's a small company, their hiring process is really thorough and takes a lot of time.