Airbnb Interview Questions

Application

I applied online. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at Airbnb (New York, NY) in October 2011.

Interview

I had a two-hour interview with the woman who would be my supervisor if I had gotten the job. It was completely informal; a "meet-up" in a coffee shop. The woman spent most of the time talking about herself and how much the CEO likes her. She made it sound as if they were dating, but I don't think she meant to--it was just sloppy communication. I don't know if this is ABB's interview process now. They are a very young company, just trying to find their feet.

Interview Questions

Application

I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Airbnb (Washington, DC) in September 2016.

Interview

Did an approx 1.5 hour video chat interview with what would be my direct supervisor plus his supervisor. Interview went well, was professional. Was told I would hear either way in 1 to 1 and a half weeks. I did not. Follow up was very unprofessional. I had to email twice and got no response the first time and a generic email the second time. Was contacted via email today through a generic rejection email I was not selected. Not impressed.

Interview Questions

Application

I applied through an employee referral. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Airbnb (San Francisco, CA) in June 2015.

Interview

1-2 rounds with peers on the team, then with direct hiring manager. All questions and conversations pertain to job related duties and previous experiences that can speak about your likelihood to perform well while on the job.

Then one last 'cross-functional' interview, with a non-team member who's been part of the company for an extensive period of time, which evaluates how you'd do in the company culture vs. on the job itself. Otherwise known as the 'core values' interview which is the final evaluation one must clear before being granted a formal offer.

Interview Questions

Application

I applied through college or university. The process took 6+ weeks. I interviewed at Airbnb (San Francisco, CA) in May 2015.

Interview

They Couldn't make a decision for almost four weeks after the interview, took a long time to get answers, no updates, no clear instructions on what to submit, generally I felt left in the unclear and not provided with enough information

Interview Questions

Application

I applied online. I interviewed at Airbnb.

Interview

Interviewed by a community organizer and then his manager. The interview was easy. The whole process took so long that I lost interest. I eventually took another job because I just needed to work.
It seems like they are really busy and you don't feel like you matter to them.

Interview Questions

Application

I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Airbnb in June 2015.

Interview

The process was a bit confusing. Apparently there were on-contract positions and temp. positions. I sent my resume and interest blurb to a classified on Jobsthatareleft heard back from one employee that scheduled a phone interview. And I also applied online through Airbnb, and was scheduled to do a skype call. Unbeknownst to me, they were for different community organizer positions. I got neither of them.

Interview Questions

Application

I applied online. I interviewed at Airbnb.

Interview

It was just a few emails with what I assume to be the Managing Editor, then a Skype call. The call lasted about 30 minutes, then we set up a test shoot to be able to assess my skills.

Interview Questions

Application

I applied online. The process took 3 days. I interviewed at Airbnb.

Interview

Got an email with an exercise to be finished in 3 days. says will come back to me in a few days once finished. never heard back thereafter. It would be great if they may send me a few lines saying if i passed or not, consider the time and effort i have devoted into the test.

Interview Questions

Application

I applied through a recruiter. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Airbnb (San Francisco, CA) in January 2014.

Interview

After the initial housekeeping with recruiters you do 2 phone screens that last ~45 minutes. Coding questions are the average DS and algo, but wrapped in some use scenario context, which is helpful.
Mine included: lower/uppercase permutations, simple json parsing, implementing a simple socket based client (could lookup docs online).
You need to produce *running code (this is true for both phone and onsite), but that shouldn't make you nervous.

Arch/Design questions is what got me. You're expected to know database/relation design, indexing, different layers of caching and lookup optimization as if you do this all day every day.
You can answer these Q's in either Sql or NoSql context.

Then there are 2 quirky culture/fit interviews. Know why you want to work there, be ready to share some experiences from traveling (and hopefully using AirBnB), and have something new to teach your interviewer in a few minutes. That part is actually fun.

All in all a nice experience and anyone you interact with are pleasant and helpful.

Interview Questions

Application

I interviewed at Airbnb in August 2014.

Interview

I applied through a recruiter, who promptly scheduled a phone screening - the general talk about personal things.

They then quickly scheduled another phone screening, this time with an engineer to test my coding ability (it took about a week between the initial screening and the technical interview). They asked me to code a csv parser in the 45 minutes of allotted time and get it to compile and run correctly. For this reason I chose python (java takes too long to get the peripheral framework ready to run). I would practice getting code to compile and run in about 35 minutes because it takes about 10 minutes to understand their question in detail.

Interview Questions