TomTom Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

Over a period of three months (August to November 2024), I went through five stages of interviews. A major recurring issue was the need to constantly follow up with HR, as they frequently failed to respond, making me the one to push the process forward. The final stage involved a take-home project that I spent two weeks preparing for, followed by an in-person presentation in their Berlin office, which was well-received with positive feedback. After a three-month wait, I received indications of a positive outcome, with a final decision expected in a week. However, two to three weeks later, I was informed of my rejection via a brief call. While I accept the rejection, the primary concern is the extremely poor management of the interview process, which took 3-4 months and required continuous follow-ups from my end. Despite my performance, the lengthy, poorly communicated, and disorganized process felt unfair and exhausting, especially for a company of their size. It was unacceptable.

This interview process is pretty much like FAANG interviews, but the HR experience can be frustrating. It started with an unexpected call from HR after I applied online. I initially thought it was spam, but they followed up with an email. The initial call quality was poor, with dropped connections and an inconvenient time. However, I did receive a Codility assessment, which was easy. I then had to wait over a week for feedback, and emails to HR went unanswered. Eventually, I was asked to provide availability for four interviews. After submitting my slots, there was another delay before the interviews were actually scheduled. The interviews themselves involved four behavioral questions that seemed repetitive, requiring different scenarios for similar themes. The technical questions were manageable, with a coding part expected to be completed in 20 minutes. After the interviews, getting feedback was difficult due to HR's unresponsiveness. After persistently emailing, HR finally called and mentioned they expected more, possibly in terms of soft skills, as I struggled with answering the same behavioral question multiple times across interviews. The technical part was fine, comparable to real FAANG interviews, but the overall HR experience and the company's market position in maps make me question the value.

The whole process had an online assessment (OA), then a phone screen, and finally a technical interview. The OA had 3 coding problems: the first was pretty basic math, the second involved some data processing and simple problem-solving, and the third was more like a standard LeetCode question. It's hard to say how difficult the OA was since it wasn't standard and didn't have strict time limits. After that, there was a phone screen covering fundamental C++ and CS concepts like OOP, OS, and data structures. The last interview started with general C++ and CS questions, then moved to an OOP design problem, and finished with two common LeetCode problems that were medium difficulty. Everyone I talked to was super nice and made the experience pleasant.