Software Engineer Interview Experience - San Francisco, California
April 1, 2019
Positive ExperienceGot Offer
Process
I started the process with a 1-hour technical phone screen.
After passing that, I was invited onsite for the next round. The day was a mix of technical and non-technical interviews with various people on the team.
Questions
(Technical Phone Screen) Implement a data processing function in Python. The schema and use case were clearly defined, and I received help along the way.
(Onsite) Identify the ML model given some graph.
(Onsite) Implement a decision tree algorithm.
(Onsite) Implement a card game.
(Onsite) Given some data science experiment data, analyze the results and draw some insights.
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 24 interview experiences for the Affirm Software Engineer role in San Francisco, California.
Success Rate
25%
Pass Rate
Affirm's interview process for their Software Engineer roles in San Francisco, California is very selective, failing most engineers who go through it.
Experience Rating
Positive54%
Neutral21%
Negative25%
Candidates reported having very good feelings for Affirm's Software Engineer interview process in San Francisco, California.
Affirm Work Experiences
5.0
Challenging, Rewarding Place to Work
Software Engineer • Current Employee
San Francisco, California, United States
January 5, 2016
Pros: Affirm is innovating in a big space by issuing loans in real-time and providing top-notch loan servicing. The company is still small (~30 people in the tech organization).
These aspects make being an engineer very challenging and rewarding. We are small enough that every contributor needs to learn how to do a lot, with many developers contributing to the full stack.
Each of us needs to develop enough awareness of the lending industry and its regulatory components to maintain a compliant lending system. This leads to a serious engineering culture with a big emphasis on automated testing, as bugs in the financial space can have dire consequences.
Everybody on my team is extremely intelligent and great to work with and learn from.
Overall, Affirm is a great place to work as a developer, especially one who enjoys high-stakes challenges and developing a large breadth of software engineering skills.
Cons: The biggest detractions to working at Affirm relate to the biggest benefits. Since the stakes of what we are doing are so high, things are at times stressful and require us to be extremely focused on our work. In short bursts, work-life balance can be very tilted towards work. Although there's nothing quite as satisfying as deploying a financial product that hasn't existed before, the company still has an unlimited vacation policy. It's understood that folks need a break after putting in tough hours for a sprint. While I've only once in 2.5 years at Affirm had a manager actively tell me to take a break, whenever I ask for some time off, it's never a problem. Work-life balance is achievable at Affirm, but it requires the employee to be proactive about taking care of herself.
4.0
Easy Work, Slow Fixes
Software Engineer • Current Employee
San Francisco, California, United States
August 4, 2024
Pros: Real cushy. Coworkers all sign off at 5 p.m.
Cons: Complacent engineering culture.
Everyone recognizes inefficiencies, but rarely do things get fixed.
5.0
Compelling Vision, Skilled Management
Software Engineer • Current Employee
San Francisco, California, United States
January 20, 2016
Pros: The vision is compelling and very serious, with zero fluff. The management is very experienced and highly skilled. The product team is highly motivated.
Cons: Rent in SF is very expensive.
- 5.0Challenging, Rewarding Place to WorkSoftware Engineer • Current EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesJanuary 5, 2016Pros: Affirm is innovating in a big space by issuing loans in real-time and providing top-notch loan servicing. The company is still small (~30 people in the tech organization). These aspects make being an engineer very challenging and rewarding. We are small enough that every contributor needs to learn how to do a lot, with many developers contributing to the full stack. Each of us needs to develop enough awareness of the lending industry and its regulatory components to maintain a compliant lending system. This leads to a serious engineering culture with a big emphasis on automated testing, as bugs in the financial space can have dire consequences. Everybody on my team is extremely intelligent and great to work with and learn from. Overall, Affirm is a great place to work as a developer, especially one who enjoys high-stakes challenges and developing a large breadth of software engineering skills.Cons: The biggest detractions to working at Affirm relate to the biggest benefits. Since the stakes of what we are doing are so high, things are at times stressful and require us to be extremely focused on our work. In short bursts, work-life balance can be very tilted towards work. Although there's nothing quite as satisfying as deploying a financial product that hasn't existed before, the company still has an unlimited vacation policy. It's understood that folks need a break after putting in tough hours for a sprint. While I've only once in 2.5 years at Affirm had a manager actively tell me to take a break, whenever I ask for some time off, it's never a problem. Work-life balance is achievable at Affirm, but it requires the employee to be proactive about taking care of herself.
- 4.0Easy Work, Slow FixesSoftware Engineer • Current EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesAugust 4, 2024Pros: Real cushy. Coworkers all sign off at 5 p.m.Cons: Complacent engineering culture. Everyone recognizes inefficiencies, but rarely do things get fixed.
- 5.0Compelling Vision, Skilled ManagementSoftware Engineer • Current EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesJanuary 20, 2016Pros: The vision is compelling and very serious, with zero fluff. The management is very experienced and highly skilled. The product team is highly motivated.Cons: Rent in SF is very expensive.
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