Software Engineer (Swe II) Interview Experience - San Francisco, California
Process
I applied through an employee referral.
The Figma SWE interview process was very well organized and overall a positive experience. The conversations felt collaborative rather than overly interrogative, and interviewers were friendly, thoughtful, and genuinely interested in problem solving and engineering tradeoffs. The process focused a lot on practical thinking, communication, and product-minded engineering alongside coding ability. Questions felt relevant to real work rather than purely academic LeetCode-style puzzles. I especially appreciated how transparent and respectful the team was throughout scheduling and communication. Overall, it gave the impression of a strong engineering culture with high standards but also very human and collaborative people.
Questions
One thing they asked me that I actually liked was how I approach engineering tradeoffs in real product situations, not just “can you code this,” but more how you think, communicate, and make decisions as an engineer.
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 1 interview experience for the Figma Software Engineer (Swe II) role in San Francisco, California.
Success Rate
Figma's interview process for their Software Engineer (Swe II) roles in San Francisco, California is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having very good feelings for Figma's Software Engineer (Swe II) interview process in San Francisco, California.
Figma Work Experiences
- 4.0Great culture, lots of growthSoftware Engineer • Current EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesJune 5, 2023Pros: Great coworkers and company culture.Cons: Fast growth comes with its own host of growing pains.
- 5.0High-impact and fun internship at Figma!Software Engineering Intern • Current EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesAugust 9, 2019Pros: The people that I worked with at Figma were all so amazing! Figma has a really great, tight-knit culture of supportive, kind, humble, and smart individuals. I felt very included and welcomed as part of the team. I also loved the fact that I was integrated as part of the team and worked on projects that were actually in the team's roadmap. The things that I worked on didn't feel like an "intern project". It was really cool to be able to ship some high-impact features!Cons: Honestly, I really enjoyed my time at Figma and can't think of anything negative or constructive to say about it.
- 2.0Great technical challenges, but lacking in cultureSoftware Engineer • Former EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesFebruary 22, 2019Pros: - Great team - everybody was working hard but not excessively so. Work-life balance was very valued. - Short shipping cycle - new features were shipped every week and had direct impact on the product.Cons: - Feedback was seriously lacking. Since there was no "direct" hierarchy in place, it was often tough to get good feedback on your work. - Office politics. Since there is no transparent feedback process, it was unclear how promotions were taking place, and those seemed random. - Intransparent hiring policies. It seemed to gear mostly towards ensuring some kind of diversity (whatever definition that entails) and not actual technical skill. - Leadership. The CEO doesn't have good skills to actually manage and provide a direction for the company. There doesn't seem to be a common goal.
