Software Engineer Interview Experience - San Francisco, California
Process
Interviewers are generally unknowledgeable of the questions they are asking; they are pulling them from an internal database. I wasted time trying to convince the interviewers of my algorithms, when what I came up with was different than the official solution. For example, I tried to convince an interviewer that a DFS approach works on topological sort.
They require complete, functional code, yet they do not provide proper input to test from. One interviewer presented a 500-line file, cut and pasted, and wanted me to get it into CoderPad.
They are not interested in how you think or approach a problem, only if you can get the final answer or not.
Questions
Shortest path with length cap.
What is the minimum cost of flying from A to B, given the cost of flights, while capping the total number of flights at some constant?
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 82 interview experiences for the Airbnb Software Engineer role in San Francisco, California.
Success Rate
Airbnb's interview process for their Software Engineer roles in San Francisco, California is very selective, failing most engineers who go through it.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having mixed feelings for Airbnb's Software Engineer interview process in San Francisco, California.
Airbnb Work Experiences
- 4.0Friendly culture, great benefitsSoftware Engineer • Former EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesMarch 10, 2025Pros: Everyone is very nice and friendly. The office is gorgeous, and there are lots of skilled and experienced engineers to learn from.Cons: Besides the core product, not much else seemed to take off big.
- 5.0Exciting Work, Cold FoodSoftware Engineer • Current EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesAugust 22, 2013Pros: Great atmosphere, lots of opportunity, still a small company. It's great being a part of such an exciting company. Every day is an adventure, and it's like nothing I've ever experienced.Cons: The food is not very good. It's usually cold, and the vegetarian options aren't great. The food is better than Google, but not as good as Twitter. Being at such a young, immature company means the benefits are young and immature. The salary is okay, but I still took a 40% pay cut to join this company. Hopefully, the stock options will be worth something someday.
- 5.0Good place to workSoftware Engineer • Current EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesDecember 21, 2024Pros: A good place to work if you discover your way of operating there. Generally, there is still high trust in what you can achieve as an engineer.Cons: Some orgs can be a little political, and it's just better to avoid those.
Airbnb Interview Questions
