SoundCloud Backend Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

Too many steps, but some can be done in one day. It included a recruiter call, a home assignment, system design, a bar raiser, product, and hiring manager interviews. The job descriptions were inconsistent, making it hard to know what the role entailed. It turned out I applied for a mid-to-senior role. The recruiter said I was overqualified but I asked to be considered for other roles, but never heard back besides a rejection email.

After a former colleague recommended me, the recruiter reached out and I was given a coding challenge. It was a fun and thought-provoking task, and I appreciated the chance to show my coding skills beyond a typical whiteboard session. The onsite interview at the Berlin office focused more on reviewing my code, pair programming, and system architecture than just whiteboard coding, though there was a bit of that too. Overall, it was a great experience; the engineering team seemed engaged, thoughtful, and easy to connect with.

Applied in August 2020, got an offer in October 2020. The process had an initial screening, a take-home challenge (flexible deadline), then 6 "on-site" interviews done over video call because of the pandemic. The take-home involves refactoring a project in a language of your choice. Feedback on it was detailed and thoughtful. The "on-site" interviews were spread over two days, not back-to-back. I talked to people from different backend engineering teams since there were multiple openings. There were two technical interviews and four behavioural ones. The technical interviews felt like pair-programming, which was low-stress. My only issue was that the whole process took a long time, and communication from the recruiter could have been clearer for a less nerve-wracking experience.