I applied online. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Klarna (Berlin) in Oct 2021
Interview
First round: Talk to the HR. (HR was late to call by 10 minutes or so and he didn't even bother to apologise for being late)
Second round: Codility test with 3 questions
Third round : Logic test which was pretty easy if one prepares with the given resources by the HR before the round
Fourth round (2 sets of interview)
i. Bar raise interview (Pretty normal work situation questions nothing technical)
ii. Technical interview (interviewer had a pre-decised answer in mind and if we don't come up with that answer then he suggests we write a working code for the answer he says)
Fifth round (2 sets of interview)
i. Technical interview (system design interview, the interviewer kept asking the same question again and again even after I have given an answer for the questions. Some I gave an answer and for a question I didn't know he just kept asking give me an answer for it even though I told him I have no idea about it)
ii. Bar raiser interview (Same as before with some normal work situation questions nothing technical)
Finally, the HR called unannounced and told me that they offer me the job with a €10K lower than my current salary and telling me that it is a good offer as Klarna is the second largest fintech company in the world and also they are growing in US at a huge pace, and after 1-2 years, people who have worked at Klarna have a good job prospects outside
I don't know if Klarna wants to retain talent or do they just want people to work for them at a lower pay as they seem like they expect people to leave them after a year or two for a better job as they are ex-Klarna.
The exact words of the HR "Having worked for Klarna (as the world's 2nd most valuable FinTech) will unlock a lot of opportunities for you in 1-2 years down the road as Klarna engineers as very well sought-after just like from the big American tech companies."
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
A Codility challenge.
Pretty usual system design questions.
I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Klarna (Berlin) in Sep 2021
Interview
I applied through company website for Berlin location. Got an email after almost 2-3 weeks that I have been shortlisted and first round would be HR round.
I had to book a slot for 2 weeks later as almost all slots were already booked for the next 2 weeks. Once I booked a slot, I could not access the link again and modify that. Anyway, I had the interview with the recruiter. It was about 30 minutes long. He asked about my current job, role and team structure, then asked general questions off a list about work style, skills and leadership experience. I answered everything. Interview seemed to go pretty well. At the end, the guy told me that I seemed like an interesting candidate and he would talk to his internal team and try to schedule the next round as soon as possible, earliest by next week. It seemed all positive.
Even I was happy with the interview. I have taken several interviews for global companies, especially for Germany... Got shortlisted for almost all. This went the best compared to others. However, after a week, right before he said he would get an interview scheduled... I got an email from the recruiter saying they won't be moving forward with my application.
Honestly, I don't even understand. They didn't provide an actual reason other than automated email. Wasted my time. It felt weird thinking the recruiter lied to me during the interview. Either he says that to all candidates or I don't know. This was a weird experience tbh as I was hopeful.
But I'm happy that I didn't go on. Might have been a waste of time.
Online assesment consists of 2 tasks with 1:30 to complete each of them (3h total). Bad thing was my timer didn't stopped after first task, and I had to sit down for another hour and a half to complete the assessment.
Once passed I had two additional interviews with two people. First was about Klarna culture, second was pair programming and brief discussion about distributed systems.
The part that bugged me the most was the logic test. It was not that difficult as one you can find on the Internet. But they don't tell you that and you prepare using really hard problems.
Overall it was a very positive experience, everyone I met was very highly skilled.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
SD was around an app on single machine. Once it fails, how will you ensure its reliability in the future?