Wealthsimple Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

This was a 2-part interview process. First up was a Pair Programming interview, basically a live coding challenge. I won't get into the nitty-gritty of the problem, but it's similar to what others have said. They're more interested in seeing how you collaborate and communicate during this round rather than if you get the perfect answer. The second round was a Project Showcase where you had to present a project you're really proud of. Pick a project that highlights the skills and qualities they're looking for in an intern, and shows how you'd vibe with the company culture, plus some standard behavioral questions about your project. The whole thing from applying to getting an offer took about a week.

I was cold emailed by a recruiter. After some back and forth to set up an intro call, a technical interview was scheduled, followed by a rejection email. Each step took over a week. The first call was a company pitch about products and roles, but it wasn't clear what team or level I was interviewing for. It felt like an assembly line. The developers doing the technical interview were nice, but the interview itself was lacking. After quick intros, I was given a simple problem to code, then asked to update it with new requirements. Before the interview, I got a prep email saying 'Your code should clearly demonstrate your understanding of as many advanced constructs as possible for the language you are using.' The problem was too simple for that, so I tried to force it, explaining SOLID, YAGNI, cohesion, and coupling, but I'm not sure if that was necessary and it took up time. I followed up after a few days, but didn't hear back for over a week, and then got a rejection. The feedback was brief, unclear, and not helpful.

I applied online and a recruiter from HR reached out. They were nice and told me about what the company is looking for. They asked why I was looking to leave my job and if I knew about the company's stuff. Then came the coding interview, which wasn't great. It was supposed to have two people, but only one showed up at first. We waited a bit before starting. The first interviewer said it would be a conversational coding interview, which was good because I don't like silent interviews. They gave me a problem about a robot vacuum that takes commands like 'B', 'F', 'L', 'R'. The position was on a grid, so direction didn't matter at first. Phase 1 was just moving with simple commands. Phase 2 got trickier with a room, charger, and obstacles. The robot might not be able to move sometimes, and its battery could run out. The problem description was super long, over 60 lines, with examples. The interviewer really wanted me to get something working before cleaning up the code, even though there was a lot of repeated code for the directions. About 20 minutes in, a second junior interviewer joined and gave a fake-sounding apology for being late. Even though the first one said it would be conversational, they weren't very helpful or proactive. When I asked for more info, the answers were short and unenthusiastic. It felt really stiff and not collaborative during the coding. After finishing phase 2, I did a quick test, found bugs, and fixed them. I mentioned the duplicated code multiple times and said it could be refactored if there was more time. I felt like they weren't that interested anymore. I asked if I should format the output like their example, and they said yes. This seemed like a big waste of time, just busy work, but I did it anyway. The interview went five minutes over, and I got to ask some questions, but they didn't seem really interested in the answers. The next day, they told me my code had too much duplication and that I didn't plan or communicate well. It's funny because they were the ones who were late, not me. I brought up the duplication issue multiple times, and I felt rushed. I had to prepare for the worst, like getting something working first, because I didn't know if they'd extend the interview. The instructions for the task itself were clear, it was a simple robot vacuum design. I'm a robot vacuum owner, so I got it done quickly. I like the company's products, but the interviewers' attitude made it a bad experience.