Senior Software Engineer Interview Experience - New York, New York
Process
Coding Screen and Final Loop (Coding, System Design, Behavioral, Tech Experiences)
Recruiters and Coding/System Design interviewers were very friendly, knowledgeable, and respectful. Unfortunately, I did not have positive experiences with the remaining interviews.
In the behavioral interview, the interviewer kept cutting me off and eventually gave negative feedback regarding a lack of direct leadership/mentoring experience (which I was not able to discuss due to the interviewer continually interrupting me).
In the tech experiences interview, the interviewer misunderstood my background and kept quizzing me on frontend JavaScript trivia (despite the role being for backend distributed systems). This interview also did not follow the format laid out in recruiter prep material. The prep material labeled this as a project deep dive, but the interviewer did not let me deep dive into the project I was prepared to present and instead spent the majority of the time quizzing me on adjacent systems to which I did not personally contribute.
Questions
How does concurrency work in JavaScript?
What is AJAX?
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 10 interview experiences for the Datadog Senior Software Engineer role in New York, New York.
Success Rate
Datadog's interview process for their Senior Software Engineer roles in New York, New York is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having very good feelings for Datadog's Senior Software Engineer interview process in New York, New York.
Datadog Work Experiences
- 5.0Technical Work, Good WLBSenior Software Engineer • Current EmployeeNew York, New York, United StatesOctober 5, 2025Pros: French presence means on average, people feel comfortable actually using the unlimited PTO. In-office vibes are good. Hybridly located organizations actually work pretty well, for the most part. Internal mobility program is great. I've actually found that HR really advocates for individual workers too. Overtime, compensation has gotten better.Cons: Your experience varies a ton depending on the team and organization, especially if you're a manager. Level one EMs here can be tech leads or pure people managers. It seems very, very stressful to be a PM here. There are some pretty non-rigorous practices when it comes to design and product. For example, we hire a ton of designers without any UX or market research capabilities who override PM decisions. Retirement matches for US seem underdeveloped.
- 5.0Performance-based evaluation; nothing else is in your waySenior Software Engineer • Current EmployeeNew York, New York, United StatesJuly 3, 2025Pros: Engineers are treated like a high caste within the company. Unlimited PTO. Travel to Paris at least once a year typically.Cons: If your manager thinks you are underperforming, be wary. People are asked to leave without sympathy if you cannot pull your weight. If you can understand how "impact" is measured here, then you can make it through the obscure language used for performance reviews and promotions.
- 4.0Transparent Culture, Inconsistent ManagementSenior Software Engineer • Current EmployeeNew York, New York, United StatesJune 7, 2025Pros: - Culture of transparency - Lots of opportunities - Good work-life balanceCons: - Inconsistent leveling - Inconsistent management - Lower end of the industrial payscale
Datadog Interview Questions
