Principal Software Engineer Interview Experience - Brisbane, Queensland
Process
I applied online and had a phone conversation with HR, followed by two coding interviews with an engineer and an architect. All coding questions were answered on time and with good explanations, but I received a rejection three weeks after the interviews.
The coding/design interview process is flawed. There is only one person in the interview, so you are dependent on the mercy of that person. After each coding interview, the interviewers told me everything was great and fantastic, but they gave bad feedback. You are always dependent on the current mental state of the interviewer.
The interviewers were not interested in what you were doing. I don't know how this company hired these useless people.
My understanding is that they don't want to hire a principal engineer. The advertised position always stays on their website.
So, my advice to you is: DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME with Atlassian. Atlassian is now full of ignorant and incompetent people. They don't want to hire anybody. Probably interviewers are getting bonuses for referrals, so they want to give good feedback on their referrals.
Questions
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Rate limit for a given customer
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Ballot voting
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 2 interview experiences for the Atlassian Principal Software Engineer role in Brisbane, Queensland.
Success Rate
Atlassian's interview process for their Principal Software Engineer roles in Brisbane, Queensland is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having very negative feelings for Atlassian's Principal Software Engineer interview process in Brisbane, Queensland.
Atlassian Work Experiences
- 1.0Wfh Only, Chaos & PoliticsPrincipal Software Engineer • Current EmployeeNovember 16, 2025Pros: Allows WFH. That's literally it.Cons: Clueless Directors and VPs. No strategy. Just ad hoc projects shoved down the throats of engineers with crazy deadlines. Extreme politics. Extreme favoritism. There are P70s and P60s who slack off and don't land any impact, but they are blessed every half for kissing behinds. APEX is the Hunger Games. Over hiring. No impactful work = dog eat dog. Zero product strategy. Zero customer focus. Horrible WLB. Chaos.
- 3.0Was a great place to work, but no morePrincipal Software Engineer • Former EmployeeSydney, New South Wales, AustraliaNovember 3, 2025Pros: Great products, smart colleagues, good perks.Cons: Was all about the team, but now seems "all about me." Lots of pressure to set and meet personal goals that distracts from getting stuff done. No job security when there are brutal and apparently arbitrary job cuts.
- 1.0No leadership or management. Just ad hoc executionPrincipal Software Engineer • Former EmployeeBengaluru, Karnataka, IndiaOctober 30, 2025Pros: 1. Good salary and benefits. 2. The team that I joined had good opportunities, but only in the short-term. (The cons nullify this.)Cons: 1. No planning. Upper management (won't call it leadership as there was none) will just give some ad hoc tasks with unrealistic ad hoc deadlines without considering the effort involved because estimating effort requires some planning. As a result, the team is always in fire-fighting mode with no work-life balance. 2. No ownership. The engineering manager micromanages with no sense of ownership provided to the team members. Everyone from P40 - P60 is doing P40 work. 3. No designing, just execution. Regardless of the size of the work, the expectation is that you will design it in 2-3 days and then jump into execution as if you are aware of all the systems involved, irrespective of your experience in the team. As a result, people do half-baked designs upfront, and then all kinds of dependencies and blockers get discovered during execution.
Atlassian Interview Questions
