I applied online. The process took 5 weeks. I interviewed at The Trade Desk in Jan 2018
Interview
Started with a 1 hr video call (screening process). Interviewer talked the entire hour and apologetically did not leave time for me to ask any question. Interviewer had to relinquish the room they were interviewing from and we were done.
TDD gave me a coding assignment they believed should take 10+ hours to complete. Upon completing the coding assignment, I was given new requirements for the same project. The new requirements conflicted with the original assignment. Ultimately, I was asked to invest even more time on their exercise.
After completing the revisions, the interviewer told me I had failed because of "reason X" and TDD was not going to continue with the interviewing process. I was shocked because my code had "reason X". I asked the interviewer to clarify "reason X" and their response was “Oops, I messed up. Sorry. Your code was just fine.” Frustrating, but this was good news.
The next step, my code was reviewed by a different committee. Committee responded back with "you fail because reason X". I just about lost my mind. There are 2 options of what happened:
[1] TDD did not spend any time reviewing the time consuming code they asked me to write.
[2] TDD code reviewing team is incompetent.
Either way, I was relieved the process was over and happy to walk away from this hot mess. As an applicant, this has been my worst experience to date.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Design and implement an N-way, Set-Associative cache
60 mins - Algorithm questions. it was generally leetcode med level algorithm questions and they asked 2 questions. They were kind of rushing the interview and didn't seem like they cared about the interview.
I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at The Trade Desk
Interview
Initial Screen: A 30-minute phone call with a recruiter to discuss resume, experience, and interest in The Trade Desk.
Technical Assessment/Case Study:
Engineering: A 90-minute online assessment (often via CodeSignal) simulating real-world projects, focusing on algorithms and data structures.
Commercial/Trading: A take-home case study or data presentation prepared in advance and presented to the team.
Panel/On-Site Interviews: Multiple (4-5) 30-minute, back-to-back, or virtual interviews with team members and hiring managers. Questions focus on past experiences, behavioral scenarios, and problem-solving.
Final Presentation/Cultural Fit: A final, often in-person, interview focused on ensuring candidates align with the company's culture and possess the confidence and skills needed for role
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Banking System Design: A multi-level challenge where you start by implementing basic deposits/withdrawals and scale to "Top K" transaction ranking, scheduled payments, and merging account histories.
I applied online. I interviewed at The Trade Desk (Sydney) in Oct 2025
Interview
I applied for a SDE position in Sydney AU. Online accessed + recruiter call + 4 rounds onsite rounds. The recruiter was super efficient and professional, some interviewers were very professional and friendly, however, the hiring manager had astonishingly bad manners, he gave an ambiguous and topic and didn’t collaborate or specify what aspects to focus on, as I continued to seek clarification, he became visibly frustrated and started yelling. Would recommend the company to improve the mental maturity of this hiring manager from HK before allowing him to become an interviewer again. The hiring manager's terrible manner explains why the same job has been posted again and again on Linkedin but never been filled over the last 2 months.
