I would read the below before applying. For me, it felt like a waste of time interviewing with Capital One.

I recommend having at least two interviewers present per interview. This would avoid the issues I encountered and provide checks and balances.

The final interview had four steps. Two of the steps felt very well executed: system design and behavioral.

During the case interview, one interviewer was condescending and rude, treating me as if I were new to programming. They interrupted me and didn't take the time to listen to some of my explanations. I don't believe they were qualified to conduct this interview. Perhaps something about me rubbed them the wrong way? I have no idea.

The interviewer for the live algorithmic puzzle problem was kind, but not entirely helpful and had difficulties speaking English. They told me, "Just read the prompt," about ten times. Algorithmic puzzle problems are typically studied in college, and some in the industry practice them extensively despite their limited correlation to actual software engineering skillsets. I feel qualified to say this; I've interviewed over a hundred engineers in my career, and many colleagues have mentioned the same. I wouldn't call this a pair programming interview, as it was essentially them watching me work through and talk through various approaches to the problem with minimal input.

Interestingly, the system design interviewer (a Senior Engineer) also mentioned they avoid running the live algorithmic puzzle problem interviews because they don't consider it a good interview and would personally need to brush up on their algorithm skills from college.

It seems like a good company to work for, but I am disappointed with who I was paired with for these two interviews. As mentioned above, having at least two interviewers present for each interview would likely have avoided the issues I encountered by providing two perspectives beyond the interviewee's.

Not going to share specifics.

Standard behavior questions.

System design was easy based on your experience.

Algorithmic puzzle problems: I did just okay on, but not great.

Case interview was interesting, but not a good experience.