Front End Engineer Interview Experience - San Francisco, California
Process
I went through three rounds of interviews: two phone and one on-site.
The support team behind the interviewing process was delightfully helpful, setting me up with everything I'd need to be prepared for the on-site interview, set (weirdly) in San Francisco. I only say "weirdly" parenthetically because, to me, part of getting an understanding of a candidate is doing so in context, and Portland is not very similar to SF in some pretty important ways.
My on-site interview consisted of a tour of the beautiful facility and three technical interviews along with three non-technical interviews. Each segment was about 45 minutes in length.
The non-technical interviews were refreshing, as I like to talk to people in different focuses to get a better gauge of the company. All of the interviewers were very likable, but a few seemed somewhat uninterested in being there. As someone who's spent a lot of time in the hiring seat, this was a bit of a turnoff. I know interviews take a lot of time and energy, but that's not the candidate's fault.
Even though none of the three interviewers were front-end engineers (all infrastructure), two of the interviews focused on matters I would say are well centered around front-end development. I sailed through those interviews with ease; they were pretty simple.
The other was more of a computer science focus, around a somewhat simple (in hindsight) problem. I have a problem with these questions, though, as they don't gauge anything except whether a person has run into this specific algorithmic problem before and how well they remember the solution. If the company wants a computer that can spit out the ideal algorithm solution to a problem in seconds, there's already a pretty good one called Google. Aside from that, determining a proper algorithmic solution to a problem is a research and test cycle that should, and does, often take a generous amount of time to figure out, well past anything one could accomplish in 45 minutes.
One other gripe I had is that the recruiters said I should be as comfortable as possible, so I should bring my laptop and set it up with my ideal stack and IDE configuration. But when I actually got in, all of the interviewers made me use CodePen, which is glitchy at best and very clumsy to use.
So, even after sailing through the front-end questions and being well-liked from a personality basis, I was still rejected because of my failing the algorithm question. It stings, of course, and I feel Airbnb made an unfortunate mistake. But honestly, if they really want a front-ender who can prattle off algorithms at the drop of a hat, I guess that's what I'll learn next.
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 9 interview experiences for the Airbnb Front End Engineer role in San Francisco, California.
Success Rate
Airbnb's interview process for their Front End Engineer roles in San Francisco, California is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having very good feelings for Airbnb's Front End Engineer interview process in San Francisco, California.
Airbnb Work Experiences
- 5.0Learned A Ton, Great SalarySoftware Engineer • Current EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesSeptember 4, 2020Pros: Have learned a ton, great salary.Cons: None, everything is great here
- 5.0Great Work, Slow ToolsSoftware Engineer • Current EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesJuly 11, 2024Pros: Work from home, interesting work.Cons: Internal tools are slow sometimes.
- 5.0Strong focus on mission and cultureSoftware Engineer • Current EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesJanuary 4, 2015Pros: I would not like to reiterate all the pros and cons other people have mentioned. To me, the most defining difference of Airbnb from other companies I have seen is the company's mission and positive, well-cultivated work culture. Although Airbnb is a for-profit corporation, we put a lot of stress on our mission - "belong anywhere". Before I traveled on Airbnb after becoming an employee, I had different kinds of traveling experiences and started to think traditional, quick, and hurried ways of travel were not right and possibly even wrong. Although Airbnb makes money from guests and hosts, we also try hard to communicate the reason why you should start traveling with locals on Airbnb, instead of using hotels. Travel experiences on Airbnb are very different from person to person and can be transformative. I feel I work for a company that can change the way people think about traveling. Airbnb has a distinctive culture. People are smart and at the same time have interesting stories to share, and everyone values learning from others. During my cultural fit interview (Airbnb is the only company for which I have ever done a culture fit interview for an engineering position), one of my interviewers asked me, “What can you teach me right now?” That was one of the most difficult interview questions I have ever had. After a bit of hesitation, I taught my interviewer how to practice standing meditation, which I learned just a week before the interview at an Insight Meditation session. We ask this question to many candidates. We encourage people to share a "fun fact" when you are first introducing yourself or when you are presenting at team meetings. I have learned people at Airbnb have so many interesting experiences to share and feel humbled to work with them every day. We have a "Hands on Nerds" session organized by one of our engineers where we teach each other "skills." These can be technical or non-technical, like how to do screen printing or how to dance Bhangra, an Indian traditional dance. This culture also applies to day-to-day work. After an incident caused by human errors is resolved, engineers write a postmortem and share it with all product team members to teach and share, not to blame and ask for an apology. Senior engineers are willing to spend time discussing your mistakes to help you become a better engineer. Every weekly engineering meeting starts with appreciation time when people thank others who helped them or had done great work that week. For a general perspective about working at Airbnb, read other people's reviews. Factors like compensation, hours, and perks matter to me, and what is being said by others is largely true. But for me, the mission and the culture are more important reasons that make me feel excited to go to work every day.Cons: I cannot think of major cons, except for things that might happen at any other hyper-growth company. We have a crowded, noisy office on one floor of a building, but in early 2015, we will open up another floor, and things will get better. We had not invested much in new engineer onboarding, but we just started a new 3-week extensive program with classes and code labs, and will keep iterating on the program.
Airbnb Interview Questions
