Sonar Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

I was about halfway through their very long interview process getting great feedback and I knew I aced the first technical interview before I was abruptly told they were no longer hiring for this position. It’s frustrating to invest significant time and energy across so many steps, excel in them, and consistently hear positive feedback, only for the opportunity to disappear for reasons unrelated to performance. The stages were: 1. Online Coding Test 2. Recruiter Interview 3. First Technical Video Interview 4. TestGorilla Assessment - Culture Fit 5. Technical Assessment 6. Cross-Functional Interview 7. Leadership Interview

First there was an HR call, then an online assessment on Codility with two easy-medium leetcode-style problems to solve in 1h+. After that, a 45-min live coding session where I had to solve an easy problem and answer some questions about design patterns. This was followed by a 3h live coding session, split into 3 sprints, where I had to implement a CSV parser. The problem itself was easy, but the focus was on clean code, SOLID principles, and making it as configurable as possible. Then, I had a 30-min cross-functional interview with someone from another team, who asked about my experience and how I'd handle different situations. Finally, there was a 20 min discussion with the CIO, Andrea Malagodi. I was rejected after this. His general tone was pretty arrogant from the start. When I mentioned that at my current job we come to the office one day a week, he sneered and said Sonar's policy is 3 days/week, and he recommends people come 5 days. I should have asked why, but I was too nervous. I also mentioned wanting to switch jobs because I felt I'd plateaued, and he replied, "you were only for 2 years at your current employer." Then I got the rejection email, vaguely stating there wasn't enough "alignment" with the role, which was odd given the positive feedback from previous rounds.

So the interview process took a few weeks, stages were usually separated by a few days depending on schedules. It started with an introduction, then a short 1-on-1 coding interview where we worked on absolute path conversion. After that, there was a 4-hour coding session with two interviewers, simulating sprints by extending a console calculator. This was followed by an HR chat about culture fit. The last step was a meeting with the CEO, who was a bit hard to pin down. I didn't take the offer because the salary wasn't high enough, but the company and people seemed really good.