I was recruited to apply for a frontend software engineering position at Airbnb and invited to the office to have lunch and chat with a recruiter.

I was warned that the interview process was incredibly selective and that it would be best to overprepare. Luckily, I wasn't in a rush to leave my current job, so I scheduled my phone screen for two weeks out and spent the time brushing up on data structures and algorithms.

The phone screen was a live coding exercise, which lasted about 45 minutes. They called me up the next day to schedule an onsite for the following week.

The onsite was a bit of a marathon: one general coding interview, two frontend-focused interviews, a break for lunch, then one architecture interview, and two culture fit interviews. Each segment lasted about an hour.

Honestly, it was challenging but not unfairly so. All the questions seemed focused on my ability to do the job, rather than simply brain teasers or hypotheticals. I ended up smiling my way through most of the sessions.

They followed up really quickly; I had a verbal 'yes' the next day and an offer within a couple of days.

I can't give out specific questions, but I feel like the interview is mostly:

1. Can you do the job?
2. Can we work with you?

Be good at what you do, but don't be afraid to treat the interviewer as a collaborator.