Whatnot Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process
Real candidates share what happened, how many rounds they had,
and how the experience turned out.
Based on 110 interview experiences · FREE TO READ
Candidate interview experiences
First-hand accounts from people who interviewed at Whatnot.
Whatnot
Software Engineer
Mid Average Negative experience No offer 1 round
Interview process
Recruiter call Technical screen Background check Offer
Interview formats
Behavioral Technical
After I applied, the recruiter immediately sent me an interview invite with the hiring manager, skipping the usual intro call or prep. I only knew it would be a behavioral and technical interview. The manager was a bit late and started asking about my current job. Since my team and the one I applied for work on similar systems, we dove deep into our architecture and specific technical challenges. It felt more like a consulting session. The meeting went over the scheduled time. I got a rejection the next day and never actually talked to the recruiter, just got template messages.
Confirmed questions1 question
- Can you describe your past projects in significant depth?
Whatnot
Software Engineer
Intern Easy Positive experience No offer 1 round
Interview process
Recruiter call Take home Technical screen
Interview formats
Behavioral Technical Other
The initial Whatnot interview process involves answering six brief video questions. You'll have one minute to respond to each, with your camera and microphone on the whole time. These questions are designed to gauge your motivation, how you tackle problems, and if you're a good fit.
Confirmed questions6 questions
- Why are you interested in this position?
- Regarding the Whatnot app, what aspects do you find appealing, and what areas do you think could be enhanced?
- Could you provide a summary of your previous internship or work experiences?
Whatnot
Senior Software Engineer
Senior Average Positive experience Accept offer 5 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Technical screen Onsite Background check Offer
Interview formats
Technical Coding System Design Case Behavioral
So after I applied online, a recruiter hit me up to chat first and set up the next steps. They gave me a general idea of the whole thing upfront. Then came a technical screen and a chat with the hiring manager. After that, the recruiter called back with more details on what was left. I then had a system design interview and a product sense interview. The last one was a principles interview. The recruiter then let me know they wanted to move forward with an offer after I sent references. We also talked about salary ranges and agreed on a target total compensation. Once references were checked, the recruiter sent the final offer and it was done pretty fast. The process was clear throughout, and everyone I met was cool and professional.
Confirmed questions4 questions
- Prepare for medium/easy LeetCode style technical questions.
- Be ready for a medium/easy system design question, where functional and non-functional requirements will be provided.
- Get acquainted with the app and be ready to offer your thoughts and feedback.
Whatnot Software Engineer Interview Questions
Quoted word for word from Whatnot interview reports.
“Given two lists of integers, merge them into a single list sorted by the square of each number in ascending order. For instance, given [-5,-3,2,1] and [-2,3], the output should be [1,4,4,9,9,25].”
Read reports →“Can you split the given string into a list of sentences of a fixed length?”
Read reports →“Could you remove all duplicate characters from the string 'aaabbcccd' such that only the last occurrence of each character remains, resulting in 'd'?”
Read reports →“Can you group names from a list if they are anagrams of each other?”
Read reports →“Can you validate rows and columns for an NxN sudoku board to check if it's a valid sub-sudoku?”
Read report →“How would you maintain the k smallest values in a data stream that could be arbitrarily long?”
Read report →“Can you write a function that takes a sorted array of preferences, squares each element, and returns them in descending order?”
Read report →“How would you calculate the number of people in a room given their entry and exit times?”
Read report →“Design a charity donation app that should function for a duration of 7 days.”
Read report →Formats, difficulty and experience
Across all 110 Whatnot interview reports.