Toptal Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process
Real candidates share what happened, how many rounds they had,
and how the experience turned out.
Based on 138 interview experiences · FREE TO READ
Candidate interview experiences
First-hand accounts from people who interviewed at Toptal.
Toptal
Senior Software Engineer
Senior Difficult Neutral experience Accept offer 5 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Technical screen Take home Presentation
Interview formats
Coding Technical Behavioral
The interview process involved an initial HR screening, followed by two LeetCode coding challenges, a project discussion, and finally a project defense. Failing either of the LeetCode assessments meant a year-long re-application period. While it wasn't too bad, the process seems to be declining. Back in 2022, there were over 300 job openings for my position, but now that number has dropped to fewer than 60.
Confirmed questions5 questions
- HR questions
- LeetCode problem 1
- LeetCode problem 2
Toptal
Software Engineer
Senior Average Positive experience Accept offer 5 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Technical screen Technical screen Take home Presentation
Interview formats
Coding Coding Technical Presentation
First, you'll have a chat with a recruiter who will lay out the interview steps. Then comes a tough coding challenge focusing solely on algorithms and problem-solving. After that, there's a live coding challenge, similar but less intense. Next, you'll be given a real-world project to complete within a week, which they estimate at 7-12 hours, but realistically will take over 20 hours if you aim to cover everything. Finally, you'll have a call to defend and present your project.
Confirmed questions1 question
- On the Codility platform, solve 3 algorithms of Medium to Hard difficulty within a 90-minute time limit.
Toptal
Software Engineer
Entry Average Negative experience No offer 3 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Technical screen Take home
Interview formats
Coding Technical Behavioral
The platform is professional, but not the people. First, there's a call with HR to check English. Then, an online test with 3 Codility questions (easy-medium). The second round, the technical one, was chaotic. It's supposed to be an hour, but only 30 mins are for live coding. Two questions, 15 mins each to pass tests. The interviewer was quiet, asked basic intro questions, then started the timer for coding. I felt rushed. Finished the first question on time, but not the second fast enough. He said I failed, though it only took a few more lines. Complete silence during coding, which was disappointing as I expected a discussion. Had to ask if he was still there. Who can finish a LeetCode medium in under 15 mins with testing? This company seems to want geniuses; if you're one, FAANG is better.
Confirmed questions2 questions
- Could you figure out the minimum number of coins or notes needed for change?
- Can you construct a string based on a given precedence array?
Toptal Software Engineer Interview Questions
Quoted word for word from Toptal interview reports.
“What are the ways to partition the string "abaccadd" into three substrings such that each substring has an equal number of 'a' characters?”
Read reports →“For a square N x N chessboard, given the Knight's starting position and a target position, what is the minimum number of steps the Knight needs to reach the target?”
Read reports →“Given an array of character precedence, find the word. For example, (["P>E","E>R","R>U"]) should result in PERU. Another example, (["I>N","A>I","P>A","S>P"]) should result in SPAIN.”
Read reports →“How would you calculate the longest sequence of zeros in the binary representation of a number?”
Read reports →“Given an integer X and a non-empty array A of N integers, find an index K where the count of X in the first part of the array is equal to the count of non-X elements in the second part.”
Read report →“Can you write a function to check if a given word is an anagram?”
Read report →“Given a list of precedence rules like "P>E" (meaning P is directly followed by E), can you write a function that determines the word formed by these rules? The word will have unique characters. For instance, findWord(["P>E","E>R","R>U"]) should return PERU. Consider these test cases: findWord(["U>N", "G>A", "R>Y", "H>U", "N>G", "A>R"]) should yield HUNGARY; findWord(["I>F", "W>I", "S>W", "F>T"]) should yield SWIFT; findWord(["R>T", "A>L", "P>O", "O>R", "G>A", "T>U", "U>G"]) should return PORTUGAL; and findWord(["W>I", "R>L", "T>Z", "Z>E", "S>W", "E>R", "L>A", "A>N", "N>D", "I>T"]) should result in SWITZERLAND.”
Read report →“What's a method for sorting a large, mixed collection of coins based on their monetary value?”
Read report →“What's the minimum number of coins or notes needed to make a given amount of change?”
Read report →Formats, difficulty and experience
Across all 138 Toptal interview reports.