Zendesk Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process
Real candidates share what happened, how many rounds they had,
and how the experience turned out.
Based on 123 interview experiences · FREE TO READ
Candidate interview experiences
First-hand accounts from people who interviewed at Zendesk.
Zendesk
Software Engineer
Entry Difficult Positive experience Accept offer 4 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Technical screen Technical screen
Interview formats
Technical Behavioral
We had 3-4 rounds. First was HR, then the EM and Tech Lead(s) interviewed me. It was a realistic interview, and they cared more about my knowledge base than complex algorithmic problem-solving. They wanted to see if I could evaluate the pros and cons of a solution.
Confirmed questions2 questions
- Compress a string: given 'aabbcc', output 'a2b2c2'. For 'aabbccab', output 'a2b2c2a1b1'. Most people used dictionaries for the first question. Discuss the efficiency and memory usage of your solution.
- Discuss the efficiency and memory usage of your solution.
Zendesk
Software Engineer
Senior Average Negative experience No offer 3 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Phone screen Take home
Interview formats
Behavioral Coding
First, I had a tech recruiter call, then a Hiring Manager call. After those, there was a take-home coding test. The first two calls were pretty standard, asking about previous experience and so on. The coding test was a bit confusing tho. I submitted a solution and they came back with a negative. When I asked whats the feedback, they ghosted me. The solution I made was a working production deployable solution.
Confirmed questions1 question
- The coding exercise involved writing a chatbot using an internal API call to a service that recognizes intents. The expected outcome for this solution was to comprehend the intent and formulate a response.
Zendesk
Principal Software Engineer
Staff Average Negative experience No offer 5 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Phone screen Technical screen Onsite Group
Interview formats
Coding Technical Behavioral
The process begins with a recruiter call, followed by a hiring manager call. Then there's a coding session, and after that, a system design and more technical interview. The final stage is a cultural fit interview. The calls with the recruiter and hiring manager went well. During the live coding session, I was paired with a senior engineer from the team. They asked me to write some code, but even though the requirements were simple, they wouldn't let me write any code. They asked a lot of questions about every single thing I typed and said, and they didn't wait for me to finish anything. It felt insulting, and it was one of the worst coding interviews I've had. I don't understand what kind of technical evaluation this was.
Confirmed questions0 questions
No confirmed questions were included in this interview report.
Zendesk Software Engineer Interview Questions
Quoted word for word from Zendesk interview reports.
“Solve the problem of finding an element in a sorted rotated array using binary search.”
Read reports →“Can you determine the encoding method based on a given encoded string composed of letters a through z?”
Read reports →“How would you perform a binary search on a 2D array?”
Read reports →“Could you implement a basic cipher that transforms each letter from a to z into the character 13 positions ahead in the alphabet?”
Read reports →“Could you write code to print the elements of a 2D array in a spiral pattern?”
Read report →“Could you explain what a database is to a child of 8 years old?”
Read report →“Could you explain what a REST API is to someone who isn't technical?”
Read report →“How would you sort books in a library by name or author?”
Read report →“Could you build a Node.js app to get tickets from Zendesk's API?”
Read report →Formats, difficulty and experience
Across all 123 Zendesk interview reports.