Tessian Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process started with an online test featuring a medium LeetCode-style question. Following that, there was a technical discussion with an engineer where we talked about my past projects and tech experience. This was followed by a coding exercise using codepair and some questions related to it. Later that day, I got an automated email saying they weren't moving forward with my application. I reached out to two hiring managers for feedback but haven't heard back.

The interview process was pretty standard and very well communicated. My recruiter was really accessible and more than happy to answer any questions I had for her! The process basically consisted of the following four rounds: 1) Hackerrank test: I don't remember the exact question I got - but it wasn't too difficult if you're comfortable in Python and have an understanding of the basic data structures. I took all the time available to me so don't stress if you puzzle around with it a bit. 2) Recruiter call: I was notified that I had passed the technical screen and they would like to invite me to the introductory call. If I remember correctly this was a pretty chilled chat, just asking about my understanding of what and who Tessian is and what they do, and I think there might have been one or two small hypotheticals about the company. Nothing technical or challenging here, I think it's just a way for the hiring team to touch base with candidates and get an idea of your personality. I felt like I was a little bit awkward here but, honestly, if you've done a bit of research on the company and are friendly and genuine you should be fine :) 3) Skills fit/Technical Interview: I was then invited to a technical interview with one of the engineers. This was also pretty standard with a couple of the usual behavioural questions at the beginning and time for my questions at the end. The engineer I was paired with was really friendly and relaxed and the whole interview was really fun! The technical question wasn't too hard, and was along the lines of what other Glassdoor reviews have said. It was mostly working around strings (as is to be expected considering that the company works with emails). As long as you have a basic idea of time and space complexity, and are comfortable with trading off different data structures (arrays/hashtables/sets) you'll be fine here. Once you have coded your solution be prepared for the engineer to maybe add a small addition to the problem (optimise for search time at the expense of initial building of data structure, for example). I didn't exactly get a Leetcode-style problem, but having prepped using Leetcode I was perfectly fine here. I actually really like that Tessian used a more domain-specific problem here, I felt like I got to code a solution more similar to what one would actually do as a SWE instead of an abstract DS/Algo solution. 4) Virtual onsite: Again, the technical was along the lines of what others have mentioned, although I felt my problem for this technical was easier than my round 3 one, you don't need to be a Python wizard here but having an understanding of the built in data structures helps - just chat with your engineer and talk him through your thinking and you'll be good! My behavioural was again pretty standard, going over my past experiences (for majority of my behavioural questions, the focus was on interesting/challenging projects, or projects that excited me). Both engineers were super friendly and excited to chat about Tessian, they were also really good at conversing during the interview so that it felt more like a chat with excited engineers than an interview After a couple of days my recruiter invited me to a call to chat about my interviews, where I was presented an offer! Overall I really enjoyed the interview process, I never felt as though I was actually being interviewed throughout. It genuinely felt like I was just on a call with another engineer and we were working through problems together and chatting about experiences. I reckon that you should just try and make it a conversation between you and whoever you're paired with, ask questions and get feedback instead of launching off scripted answers. Basically, just make sure to include them and have a discussion, it's the best way for them to get to know you!

First, you submit your CV. Then, a recruiter calls you to discuss the role. After that, there's a 1-hour Hackerrank challenge with a Senior Engineer. Finally, there's a 2-hour interview with a group of Tessian employees. I didn't get past the Hackerrank challenge, which was disappointing. It wasn't super hard, but I'm not great with these questions because they test your knowledge of specific data structure syntax in an unfamiliar web-based IDE. My advice to others is to just practice tons of Hackerrank questions online beforehand. It won't make you a better engineer, but you'll pass the test.