Software Engineer Interview Experience - San Francisco, California
Process
I was referred to Airbnb through a friend, which led to an interview. It was a phone call with a technical person. The senior engineer asked me a question, and I couldn't find a correct answer within 30 minutes. He was cooperative and gave me a hint, but I still couldn't solve the problem.
Questions
Given an array of arrays, implement an iterator class to allow the client to traverse and remove elements in the array list.
This iterator should provide three public class member functions:
hasNext()next()remove()
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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
- 5.0Great Projects, Slow CollaborationSoftware Engineer • Former EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesJune 12, 2025Pros: Interesting projects, cares about employees.Cons: Very layered management. Slow to collaborate between orgs.
- 5.0Great Product, Fast GrowthSoftware Engineer • Current EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesMarch 20, 2018Pros: - Great product. - Very friendly people. - In hypergrowth mode, lots of learning opportunities.Cons: The pain of hypergrowth is that processes being put in can slow work down.
- 4.0Airbnb employees, top to bottom, are very passionate about the productSoftware Engineer • Former EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesJanuary 6, 2014Pros: Employees are young and outgoing. The product is going through rapid expansion. The benefits and food services provided are extremely comprehensive.Cons: There are some growing pains associated with the very rapid growth of the development team. Bottlenecks of few individuals that truly understand the stack are starting to form, and a level of bureaucracy is starting to set in with attempts to maintain a cohesive experience.
Airbnb Interview Questions
