I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Datadog
Interview
The process is long, but I was accompanied by the HR recruiter, which was very helpful explaining the process and expectations. I reached the end of the process, but did not receive an offer. The process includes LLM design, live coding, AI assisted coding, Backend system design, experience & values. The hiring bar is high, prep well and do your best!! In the worst case, you will learn more :)
Easy interview
Application
I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Datadog in May 2026
Interview
I was approached by a recruiter about the role.
The recruiter screen was below average — brief and surface-level, with little real discussion of the role or my background.
Next up, the hiring manager screen was originally scheduled a week in advance and cancelled 3 hours before it was due to start due to a "calendar conflict." I rescheduled the same day, offering the next two available days. They picked the second — a Friday that happened to be a public holiday in my country — and the only available slots for an EU-based candidate were in the evening. I took the call at 8 PM on a holiday.
The hiring manager joined 5 minutes late with no acknowledgement of either the reschedule or the delay, and no real introduction. The interview itself felt more like a recruiter screen — "tell me about yourself," brief questions about past experience — and lasted about 20 minutes before he seemed ready to wrap up, despite the meeting being scheduled for 45. I extended it to the full time with my own questions about the team's technical direction and roadmap.
His closing line was roughly "thanks for chatting, bye" before hanging up.
No follow-up came from Friday through Wednesday. I reached out asking for any update, and received a reply informing me the position had "just closed." Based on the hiring manager's demeanor during the interview, I suspect the role was effectively filled before or during our call — which raises questions about why the process continued at all.
The recruiter was responsive and professional throughout. The rest of the process was not. If you're considering interviewing here, go in with calibrated expectations around communication and candidate experience.
I applied through an employee referral. I interviewed at Datadog (Paris)
Interview
First of all: the tech recruiters were super kind, helpful and suppportive throughout the entire process, this made for a really good interview experience. The recruiters are also really good at communicating at every steps and give great feedback.
Everyone was super accommodating, I was able to set my own timeline for interviews and have time to properly prepare them. This, to me, was a huge plus as I was able to prepare and schedule all the interviews while being employed, it helped manage the stress of interviews.
Now about the process: it's fairly long, to get to the offer there's at least 7 interviews in 3 phases.
The first phase is screening:
- A first screening call with a first tech recruiter
- A coding challenge with an engineer (leetcode style med / hard)
After this is the final round of 4 interviews with 4 different people:
- Another coding challenge similar to the first one (leetcode med / hard)
- A classic system design interview
- A system design deep dive interview on a project you worked on
- A behavioral interview
After this is the team match interview(s), if your profile is interesting for at least a team you will meet with a manager, it could be your future n+1 or n+2 and you'll get to learn a lot about the team and what they do. These interviews go both ways, they want to learn about you and how you work too!
In between the final round and the team match, a hiring committee will review the feedback from all the interviewers and your profile to validate the final round.
After the team match another committee will decide whether or not to make you an offer.
This all makes for a lengthy process, especially if you spread the interviews a bit but it is well worth it.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me about a project you worked on that was late?
