Elastic

Senior JavaScript Engineer Interview Experience

February 1, 2018

Neutral ExperienceNo Offer

Process

A phone screen, followed by a technical screen, then a live 'pair' coding test with two other engineers. The technical and pair coding tests were done using video chat and screen sharing.

The initial phone screen was just asking a few questions about my current situation and career goals, etc.

The first technical screen involved some technical questions about JavaScript in the context of web development. There were some general questions regarding higher-level functions and concepts.

The coding exercise consisted of designing an algorithm to take a nested JavaScript object and flatten it into a single layer, with the keys of multi-level objects separated by '.'

I finished the coding test without too much trouble. The interviewers congratulated me and implied that most people struggled with this test. We spent time talking shop afterwards, and they talked about their work at Elastic.

I had thought everything was going well, but then I just got a generic 'not interested in moving forward' email.

Questions

What is hoisting in JavaScript?

Live coding: Design an algorithm that will take a nested JavaScript object and condense it into a single level, with the nested keys separated by periods.

Can you describe idempotency with regard to API returns?

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Interview Statistics

The following metrics were computed from 7 interview experiences for the Elastic Senior JavaScript Engineer role in United States.

Success Rate

14%

Pass Rate

Elastic's interview process for their Senior JavaScript Engineer roles in the United States is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.

Experience Rating

Positive14%

Neutral43%

Negative43%

Candidates reported having very negative feelings for Elastic's Senior JavaScript Engineer interview process in United States.

Elastic Work Experiences

Chaotic & no proper vision

Senior Software Engineer • Former Employee

America, United States

October 7, 2025

Pros: - True remote culture - Some good managers and people with passion - Good compensation & benefits

Cons: - Too many management layers without proper decision-makers. - Managers and engineers are afraid to make decisions. This is a result of the last layoff, which was clearly top-level mismanagement. - Personal opinions are valued over common goals. This creates chaos and makes products lack vision.

Chaotic & no proper vision

Senior Software Engineer • Former Employee

America, United States

October 7, 2025

Pros: - True remote culture - Some good managers and people with passion - Good compensation & benefits

Cons: - Too many management layers without proper decision-makers. - Managers and engineers are afraid to make decisions. This is a result of the last layoff, which was clearly top-level mismanagement. - Personal opinions are valued over common goals. This creates chaos and makes products lack vision.

Remote Culture, Slow Tech

Principal Software Engineer • Current Employee

Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel

December 1, 2022

Pros: Great work-life balance. Colleagues around the world. Real remote culture.

Cons: The tech stack is struggling. Transition to SaaS is slow and painful. Leadership is not transparent and moody.

Remote Culture, Slow Tech

Principal Software Engineer • Current Employee

Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel

December 1, 2022

Pros: Great work-life balance. Colleagues around the world. Real remote culture.

Cons: The tech stack is struggling. Transition to SaaS is slow and painful. Leadership is not transparent and moody.

Beyond my expectations. I'm drinking the Kool-aid

Senior Software Engineer • Current Employee

San Francisco, California, United States

Pros: - Everything I hoped for and more. - Distributed by design, the culture needed for this kind of thing to actually work and scale appears to be successfully transmitted. - You talk to older employees, and almost all of them are surprised that it has scaled. - The organization tries to measure and improve employee engagement. - Thoughtful leadership and approach to solving problems in the competitive market has been inspiring to watch. - Leadership really tries to make employees take advantage of paid volunteer time off and "spacetime." - I regularly have peak experiences as I meet different people across the org and hear their opinions on topics from hiring to leadership. It's affecting me positively as a human being. - Autonomy is required for this thing to work, and the organization somehow has nailed it. Makes me feel almost bitter toward past management in contrast because the teams self-organize and execute without being micromanaged. - True engineering company. Engineers are orthogonal to management/leadership, not below them. - Cool problems to work on, and lots of them. Freedom to move to areas of interest.

Cons: There's not much room for juniors to come in as the company is distributed. I don't believe that someone extremely junior could get what they need. The average age in the company is older as a result of not hiring juniors. This is not really a con, just unfortunate that people can't experience Elastic until they are further on in their career. Onboarding can be disorienting. Distributed companies can highlight mental health risks due to social isolation. It requires self-management. There is sometimes some ambiguity in direction, which is challenging to some people. You have to be comfortable standing up for yourself and tackling problems, as you do get a lot of autonomy and freedom. However, that means that the quality of the individuals working in a team is forefront in its success. There's explosive growth, which causes the need to shuffle and redesign the company and working styles. You need to be comfortable and open to handle the change.

Beyond my expectations. I'm drinking the Kool-aid

Senior Software Engineer • Current Employee

San Francisco, California, United States

Pros: - Everything I hoped for and more. - Distributed by design, the culture needed for this kind of thing to actually work and scale appears to be successfully transmitted. - You talk to older employees, and almost all of them are surprised that it has scaled. - The organization tries to measure and improve employee engagement. - Thoughtful leadership and approach to solving problems in the competitive market has been inspiring to watch. - Leadership really tries to make employees take advantage of paid volunteer time off and "spacetime." - I regularly have peak experiences as I meet different people across the org and hear their opinions on topics from hiring to leadership. It's affecting me positively as a human being. - Autonomy is required for this thing to work, and the organization somehow has nailed it. Makes me feel almost bitter toward past management in contrast because the teams self-organize and execute without being micromanaged. - True engineering company. Engineers are orthogonal to management/leadership, not below them. - Cool problems to work on, and lots of them. Freedom to move to areas of interest.

Cons: There's not much room for juniors to come in as the company is distributed. I don't believe that someone extremely junior could get what they need. The average age in the company is older as a result of not hiring juniors. This is not really a con, just unfortunate that people can't experience Elastic until they are further on in their career. Onboarding can be disorienting. Distributed companies can highlight mental health risks due to social isolation. It requires self-management. There is sometimes some ambiguity in direction, which is challenging to some people. You have to be comfortable standing up for yourself and tackling problems, as you do get a lot of autonomy and freedom. However, that means that the quality of the individuals working in a team is forefront in its success. There's explosive growth, which causes the need to shuffle and redesign the company and working styles. You need to be comfortable and open to handle the change.

Chaotic & no proper vision

Senior Software Engineer • Former Employee

America, United States

October 7, 2025

Pros: - True remote culture - Some good managers and people with passion - Good compensation & benefits

Cons: - Too many management layers without proper decision-makers. - Managers and engineers are afraid to make decisions. This is a result of the last layoff, which was clearly top-level mismanagement. - Personal opinions are valued over common goals. This creates chaos and makes products lack vision.

3.0
Chaotic & no proper vision
Senior Software Engineer • Former Employee
America, United States
October 7, 2025
Pros: - True remote culture - Some good managers and people with passion - Good compensation & benefits
Cons: - Too many management layers without proper decision-makers. - Managers and engineers are afraid to make decisions. This is a result of the last layoff, which was clearly top-level mismanagement. - Personal opinions are valued over common goals. This creates chaos and makes products lack vision.

Remote Culture, Slow Tech

Principal Software Engineer • Current Employee

Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel

December 1, 2022

Pros: Great work-life balance. Colleagues around the world. Real remote culture.

Cons: The tech stack is struggling. Transition to SaaS is slow and painful. Leadership is not transparent and moody.

3.0
Remote Culture, Slow Tech
Principal Software Engineer • Current Employee
Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel
December 1, 2022
Pros: Great work-life balance. Colleagues around the world. Real remote culture.
Cons: The tech stack is struggling. Transition to SaaS is slow and painful. Leadership is not transparent and moody.

Beyond my expectations. I'm drinking the Kool-aid

Senior Software Engineer • Current Employee

San Francisco, California, United States

Pros: - Everything I hoped for and more. - Distributed by design, the culture needed for this kind of thing to actually work and scale appears to be successfully transmitted. - You talk to older employees, and almost all of them are surprised that it has scaled. - The organization tries to measure and improve employee engagement. - Thoughtful leadership and approach to solving problems in the competitive market has been inspiring to watch. - Leadership really tries to make employees take advantage of paid volunteer time off and "spacetime." - I regularly have peak experiences as I meet different people across the org and hear their opinions on topics from hiring to leadership. It's affecting me positively as a human being. - Autonomy is required for this thing to work, and the organization somehow has nailed it. Makes me feel almost bitter toward past management in contrast because the teams self-organize and execute without being micromanaged. - True engineering company. Engineers are orthogonal to management/leadership, not below them. - Cool problems to work on, and lots of them. Freedom to move to areas of interest.

Cons: There's not much room for juniors to come in as the company is distributed. I don't believe that someone extremely junior could get what they need. The average age in the company is older as a result of not hiring juniors. This is not really a con, just unfortunate that people can't experience Elastic until they are further on in their career. Onboarding can be disorienting. Distributed companies can highlight mental health risks due to social isolation. It requires self-management. There is sometimes some ambiguity in direction, which is challenging to some people. You have to be comfortable standing up for yourself and tackling problems, as you do get a lot of autonomy and freedom. However, that means that the quality of the individuals working in a team is forefront in its success. There's explosive growth, which causes the need to shuffle and redesign the company and working styles. You need to be comfortable and open to handle the change.

5.0
Beyond my expectations. I'm drinking the Kool-aid
Senior Software Engineer • Current Employee
San Francisco, California, United States
May 20, 2019
Pros: - Everything I hoped for and more. - Distributed by design, the culture needed for this kind of thing to actually work and scale appears to be successfully transmitted. - You talk to older employees, and almost all of them are surprised that it has scaled. - The organization tries to measure and improve employee engagement. - Thoughtful leadership and approach to solving problems in the competitive market has been inspiring to watch. - Leadership really tries to make employees take advantage of paid volunteer time off and "spacetime." - I regularly have peak experiences as I meet different people across the org and hear their opinions on topics from hiring to leadership. It's affecting me positively as a human being. - Autonomy is required for this thing to work, and the organization somehow has nailed it. Makes me feel almost bitter toward past management in contrast because the teams self-organize and execute without being micromanaged. - True engineering company. Engineers are orthogonal to management/leadership, not below them. - Cool problems to work on, and lots of them. Freedom to move to areas of interest.
Cons: There's not much room for juniors to come in as the company is distributed. I don't believe that someone extremely junior could get what they need. The average age in the company is older as a result of not hiring juniors. This is not really a con, just unfortunate that people can't experience Elastic until they are further on in their career. Onboarding can be disorienting. Distributed companies can highlight mental health risks due to social isolation. It requires self-management. There is sometimes some ambiguity in direction, which is challenging to some people. You have to be comfortable standing up for yourself and tackling problems, as you do get a lot of autonomy and freedom. However, that means that the quality of the individuals working in a team is forefront in its success. There's explosive growth, which causes the need to shuffle and redesign the company and working styles. You need to be comfortable and open to handle the change.

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