Canva

Staff Software Engineer Interview Experience - Australia

June 28, 2023

Neutral ExperienceNo Offer

Process

Multiple stages, difficult.

Recruiter screen (some technical questions)
Interview with hiring manager
System Design
Coding fluency (language of preference / relevant to role)
Algorithms & Data Structures

Questions

Q: Code JSON.stringify from scratch

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Interview Statistics

The following metrics were computed from 2 interview experiences for the Canva Staff Software Engineer role in Australia.

Success Rate

0%

Pass Rate

Canva's interview process for their Staff Software Engineer roles in Australia is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.

Experience Rating

Positive0%

Neutral50%

Negative50%

Candidates reported having very negative feelings for Canva's Staff Software Engineer interview process in Australia.

Canva Work Experiences

Great Wlb, Nice Colleagues

Staff Software Engineer • Current Employee

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

August 31, 2024

Pros: Great work-life balance. Helpful and nice colleagues. No bad politics.

Cons: None yet encountered. Will see what happens in six months.

Great Wlb, Nice Colleagues

Staff Software Engineer • Current Employee

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

August 31, 2024

Pros: Great work-life balance. Helpful and nice colleagues. No bad politics.

Cons: None yet encountered. Will see what happens in six months.

BE grad at Canva

Backend Graduate Software Engineer • Current Employee

Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia

August 21, 2025

Pros: * Good mentorship and culture * Good food * Many opportunities to learn

Cons: * Can get cliquey * Very competitive environment

BE grad at Canva

Backend Graduate Software Engineer • Current Employee

Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia

August 21, 2025

Pros: * Good mentorship and culture * Good food * Many opportunities to learn

Cons: * Can get cliquey * Very competitive environment

Very challenging, but can be rewarding

Senior Software Engineer • Current Employee

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

January 3, 2025

Pros: Very generous benefits and stock options. Lots of great colleagues with strong alignment on values and mission. Heaps of interesting problems to address.

Cons: Some growing pains are still happening. A lot of engineering leaders are not well trained or supported for leadership, which at times results in teams being unfairly punished for poor management. The expectations on staff to deliver are very high, and performance reviews are quite brutal and opaque.

Very challenging, but can be rewarding

Senior Software Engineer • Current Employee

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

January 3, 2025

Pros: Very generous benefits and stock options. Lots of great colleagues with strong alignment on values and mission. Heaps of interesting problems to address.

Cons: Some growing pains are still happening. A lot of engineering leaders are not well trained or supported for leadership, which at times results in teams being unfairly punished for poor management. The expectations on staff to deliver are very high, and performance reviews are quite brutal and opaque.

Great Wlb, Nice Colleagues

Staff Software Engineer • Current Employee

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

August 31, 2024

Pros: Great work-life balance. Helpful and nice colleagues. No bad politics.

Cons: None yet encountered. Will see what happens in six months.

5.0
Great Wlb, Nice Colleagues
Staff Software Engineer • Current Employee
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
August 31, 2024
Pros: Great work-life balance. Helpful and nice colleagues. No bad politics.
Cons: None yet encountered. Will see what happens in six months.

BE grad at Canva

Backend Graduate Software Engineer • Current Employee

Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia

August 21, 2025

Pros: * Good mentorship and culture * Good food * Many opportunities to learn

Cons: * Can get cliquey * Very competitive environment

5.0
BE grad at Canva
Backend Graduate Software Engineer • Current Employee
Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia
August 21, 2025
Pros: * Good mentorship and culture * Good food * Many opportunities to learn
Cons: * Can get cliquey * Very competitive environment

Very challenging, but can be rewarding

Senior Software Engineer • Current Employee

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

January 3, 2025

Pros: Very generous benefits and stock options. Lots of great colleagues with strong alignment on values and mission. Heaps of interesting problems to address.

Cons: Some growing pains are still happening. A lot of engineering leaders are not well trained or supported for leadership, which at times results in teams being unfairly punished for poor management. The expectations on staff to deliver are very high, and performance reviews are quite brutal and opaque.

3.0
Very challenging, but can be rewarding
Senior Software Engineer • Current Employee
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
January 3, 2025
Pros: Very generous benefits and stock options. Lots of great colleagues with strong alignment on values and mission. Heaps of interesting problems to address.
Cons: Some growing pains are still happening. A lot of engineering leaders are not well trained or supported for leadership, which at times results in teams being unfairly punished for poor management. The expectations on staff to deliver are very high, and performance reviews are quite brutal and opaque.

Canva Interview Questions

Basic Calculator

Implement a basic calculator to evaluate a simple expression string. The expression can contain parentheses, addition, and subtraction.

ArraysStringsStacks

Basic Calculator II

Implement a basic calculator to evaluate a simple expression string. The expression can contain non-negative integers, '+', '-', '*', '/' operators, and spaces; integer division should truncate toward zero.

Game of Life

Simulate the Game of Life, updating the state of a board based on the rules of cell survival and death in each generation. Modify the board in place to represent the next generation.

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