Software Engineer Interview Experience - San Francisco, California
April 1, 2018
Positive ExperienceNo Offer
Process
The hiring and interview process is good, although very thorough.
I went through a phone screen, a coding challenge, and three in-person, on-location interviews.
If you have the chance to visit, the San Francisco office is amazing. The food is great, and the people seem genuine and interested.
Questions
In general, my interviews focused on big-picture understanding, rather than testing raw coding skill.
An example concept was: Given two very large files, how can one most efficiently check if they are the same file?
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 57 interview experiences for the Dropbox Software Engineer role in San Francisco, California.
Success Rate
18%
Pass Rate
Dropbox's interview process for their Software Engineer roles in San Francisco, California is very selective, failing most engineers who go through it.
Experience Rating
Positive56%
Neutral18%
Negative26%
Candidates reported having very good feelings for Dropbox's Software Engineer interview process in San Francisco, California.
Dropbox Work Experiences
5.0
Best company to work for!
Software Engineer • Current Employee
San Francisco, California, United States
March 13, 2015
Pros: The company has a very employee-friendly culture. A lot of the time, they go out of their way to make sure employees are happy and productive. A few times, they even go too far, making me, as an employee, feel that they are spending too much money or time on small employee perks.
You can easily see the results of Dropbox having a very high hiring bar – everybody here is ridiculously smart.
Cons: Some growing pains are expected, given the company's trajectory and current size. I doubt they could have done it better.
Biggest con: everybody is smart, but sometimes part of the work doesn't require you to be smart, just meticulous. It's sometimes tricky to balance that out (Google had the same problem back in the day).
5.0
Great working environment!
Software Engineer • Current Employee
San Francisco, California, United States
April 10, 2018
Pros: I love the people. My manager is awesome. Amazing, 5-star food every day is nice, too.
Cons: can be a bit chaotic. It still feels like a fast-moving culture despite the size, but this can make you miss the stability.
5.0
Great place to work
Software Engineer • Current Employee
San Francisco, California, United States
May 30, 2013
Pros: I get to work with some of the most intelligent and hardworking people I've ever met. The work is challenging and interesting.
Every perk you expect to see at a stereotypical Bay Area startup is available: a gym, a masseuse, three 5-star meals a day, and a social calendar.
Cons: There are some growing pains. This usually looks like transient bottlenecks, but occasionally involves having management structure form organically rather than deliberately, which doesn't always feel optimal.
- 5.0Best company to work for!Software Engineer • Current EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesMarch 13, 2015Pros: The company has a very employee-friendly culture. A lot of the time, they go out of their way to make sure employees are happy and productive. A few times, they even go too far, making me, as an employee, feel that they are spending too much money or time on small employee perks. You can easily see the results of Dropbox having a very high hiring bar – everybody here is ridiculously smart.Cons: Some growing pains are expected, given the company's trajectory and current size. I doubt they could have done it better. Biggest con: everybody is smart, but sometimes part of the work doesn't require you to be smart, just meticulous. It's sometimes tricky to balance that out (Google had the same problem back in the day).
- 5.0Great working environment!Software Engineer • Current EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesApril 10, 2018Pros: I love the people. My manager is awesome. Amazing, 5-star food every day is nice, too.Cons: can be a bit chaotic. It still feels like a fast-moving culture despite the size, but this can make you miss the stability.
- 5.0Great place to workSoftware Engineer • Current EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesMay 30, 2013Pros: I get to work with some of the most intelligent and hardworking people I've ever met. The work is challenging and interesting. Every perk you expect to see at a stereotypical Bay Area startup is available: a gym, a masseuse, three 5-star meals a day, and a social calendar.Cons: There are some growing pains. This usually looks like transient bottlenecks, but occasionally involves having management structure form organically rather than deliberately, which doesn't always feel optimal.
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