Takeaway.com Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

The recruiter contacted me in early November 2020 about new software development teams being set up in Amsterdam. After I expressed interest, I received an interview invitation after three weeks. The first interview was with an engineering manager. He inquired about my background and career aspirations. He mentioned they need people with financial knowledge, which I possess. He advised that the next step would be a remote pair programming technical interview, a decision made by contractors who were initially hired to build the foundation and then tasked with defining the interview process. I found this approach unusual, especially given the contractors' impending departure. Three weeks later, I had the 2-hour technical interview. I was instructed to prepare my coding environment. Two contractors conducted the session, during which we worked on a URL shortener backend. They were critical and demoralizing throughout the session, not constructively. Following this, the recruiter informed me they wished to proceed. However, due to the negative technical interview experience and the interviewers' conduct, I declined to continue.

I had a screening call with a really nice and informative HR rep. It was a great experience overall. Unfortunately, they ended up hiring someone else for the role.

It started with an HR call where I stated my salary expectations. Then, I received and completed a take-home assignment, putting in a lot of effort to cover all bonus points. They liked the assignment and invited me for a technical interview, but scheduling it took a very long time because they don't use calendar apps and share details via email. The technical interview had two interviewers who immediately started asking technical questions, making it feel like an interrogation. After one interviewer asked a question, the other would immediately ask another. This went on for an hour without breaks, and I was exhausted. They seemed to be looking up questions online and asking random things, with no clear structure. After this, HR presented an offer that was 10K less than my expected salary. When I inquired why, they said they had considered me for a Lead developer role before the technical interview but decided after that I was only suitable for the Senior Software Engineer role I applied for, hence the lower salary. It was a waste of time and effort, especially when already stressed.