Spotify Interview Questions

Interview

Music is definitely a big passion of everyone there and you can tell.

SWE style questions. One or two basic data questions. They are really looking for a SWE who read a blog post about machine learning. Not really interested in real expertise in that domain.

Interview Questions

Application

I applied through other source. The process took 2+ weeks. I interviewed at Spotify (New York, NY).

Interview

The process was good. First a Spotify recruiter contacted me and we scheduled a phone call. He did a first round of interview and we had a nice chat. He asked me questions about my professional experience and some leadership questions, kind of warming up for the following interview.
After that, I had 3 other google hangouts:
- one with a chapter lead from the same tribe, he covered leadership questions. Advice: be ready with examples
- the next one with a senior engineer "architect", to cover design and technical questions,
- a third one with the VP of Engineering, which covered situational leadership questions, we also talked about my experience and the chapter lead role.
Everyone was very professional, got feedback in every single step. Even though the last step didn't have much feedback other than I was being considered to a different team however another candidate was selected.

Interview Questions

Application

I applied online. I interviewed at Spotify (New York, NY) in June 2017.

Interview

The interview process was simple - an initial phone screening, a G+ hangout interview with coding exercise, and an onsite interview that lasted 3 hours with 3 separate interviewers.

- The initial interview went well. No problems

- The second interview is where things started becoming awkward. I started with a senior there who asked a few of the standard questions, as well as more complex topics like GC and distributed systems, of which i was able to answer most of them (though, I was not trying out for any of the tuning or infrastructure jobs), but the coding exercise was strange. He asked a question about how to find the max of an array, which was an easy O(n) problem which was implemented perfectly. I mentioned that max could be done in terms of fold, and as soon as I said that, he seemed to become confrontational, immediately asking me to implemented fold, which I did. Then, with 10 minutes before the close of the interview, he asks me to do a maximal subsequence problem in java, of which I'm not the most familiar, because i'm a Scala programming (i.e. what they were hiring me for). I gave the basic algorithm, but because we don't see dynamic programming too much in Scala, it was a tough sell, not to mention an impractical amount of time to ask such a question.

- The onsite interview reflected more of the same, though, I came prepared for more dynamic programming questions and nailed the first and last interviews, while the 2nd (on constructing a distributed system) was not the best. To add to that, the interviewer used terminology that I don't think he understood (for instance, asking to construct a real-time event feed, but then the solution being more of a micro-batch update feed), and was confusing to someone who understood the terms.

The takeaway from all of this is that the job listings are not quite accurate, the interviewers are very VERY naive when it comes to interviewing as far as time to answer questions go, as well as with content. Since when are vector clocks and in-depth knowledge of garbage collection algorithms considered CS fundamentals? Especially for an FP role?

Interview Questions

Application

I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Spotify.

Interview

The process from start to finish was a complete joke. That said, I should have gone with my gut after the initial phone screen with a member of their talent acquisition team. Why companies don't see the value in hiring smart and qualified recruiters is beyond me. As the first point of contact a candidate has with an organization - these folks should be able to speak to a mission and vision, or at the very least be able to articulate a thought or idea. Anyway, being a fan of the product I pushed forward.

Get to the onsite and the experience was just as much (if not more) of a joke. Again, the process is so disjointed and sophomoric you would think kids are running the show. You have a series of 3 to 4 30 min interviews where the first 15 minutes is spent talking about the same thing you just told the previous interviewer. What are you actually being assessed against? You ask the talent acquisition team questions and they don't know the answers, you ask the business questions and they roll their eyes - it's truly the blind leading the blind. Spotify is a great example in the idea that even the best product, if poorly led, will fail.

Spotify - your current talent won't hire anyone smarter because then they will be out of a job! You need to fix your process, trim the fat, and start raising your bar.

I also deleted my Spotify app.

Interview Questions

Application

I applied online. The process took 5+ months. I interviewed at Spotify (New York, NY).

Interview

- 1 x HR screening over phone
 - 6 x video calls (hiring manager, service delivery lead, peer, three clients who would be supported by this role)
 - Did not have onsite interviews contrary to what was mentioned in screening call
 - Interviewers split between Stockholm and New York.
 - 2-3 weeks gap between interviews
 - No communication for 1-2 weeks post interview on whether interview was successful or not
 - Needed to follow up with HR to confirm status after each round of interview
 - Some interviewers did not show up at the scheduled time, as they were not made aware they had been scheduled
 - One interviewer was not provided any information about the role or the candidate until the interview had started. I sent them my resume and role info when we started the call.
 - Google Hangouts is not the most reliable video conferencing program and required new links to be sent out before the meeting could start.
 - HR Screening to Offer Letter took 4 months.
 - Mobility Team refused to proceed with work permit application after offer was accepted. Did not provide any reason for rejection. I am Canadian.
 - Role cancelled and responsibilities split up between existing team members.
 - Could have saved everyone 5 months, money and stress if they knew they did not want to hire Canadian applicants.
 - Mental Opportunity Cost = Priceless

Interview Questions

Application

I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Spotify.

Interview

Around 1 hour long video interview. Questions about background. Questions about distributed architecture. Was given a problem to live code on a shared console without any external resources or the ability to run the code.

Interview Questions

Application

I applied online. The process took 4+ weeks. I interviewed at Spotify (New York, NY).

Interview

Applied Online. After the initial phone screen, was called in for an in person interview. Went to their office in NYC all the way from Philadelphia after taking a day off and all that travel without any reimbursement. I was made to wait the better part of the morning at the front desk. In the afternoon, I was told that the two managers who were supposed to take he interview were out on vacation and they forgot to reschedule me to a different day.

It was completely unprofessional. Did a Hangout interview much later and the managers seemed completed uninterested and bored about taking the interview. As if they were forced to take this thing. So unprofessional.

After that I never heard back from any of them again. Puff and gone. But I am glad I didn't join them.

Interview Questions

Application

I applied through an employee referral. I interviewed at Spotify (New York, NY) in May 2017.

Interview

I was contacted by recruiter through referral. I was scheduled for a phone interview on google hangout. I was able to provide the answer and code it. It was mix of behavioural and technical. the interviewer was very cool. On qualifying for first round I has another skype round. This round was to push me out of my comfort zone. The question was asked on one my weakest areas. I tried to code the solution but failed to do it completely.

Interview Questions

Application

I applied online. I interviewed at Spotify.

Interview

2 Google Hang Out Interviews, very low stress, very friendly, no cases, just general getting to meet each other, asking why Spotify and about my resume. If you have good experience in the field you are applying to, make sure you know how to sell that. It sounds like a general advice, but it is in the end what they will ask you.

Interview Questions

Application

I applied through other source. I interviewed at Spotify (New York, NY) in April 2017.

Interview

Interview process went well, there were 4 parts to the interview. A standard behavioral part, an algorithm part, a systems design question. And each of the interviews were 45 minutes long.

Interview Questions