Groupon

Software Engineer, Backend Interview Experience - Palo Alto, California

October 1, 2016

Neutral ExperienceNo Offer

Process

Got an on-campus interview two days after talking to a recruiter at the college career fair. A week later, they emailed me saying I've passed to the final round interviews. Had 3 Skype interviews back-to-back, each one an hour long a couple of weeks later.

Questions

Explain how you would handle a large amount of data, given you have a limited amount of memory.

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Interview Statistics

The following metrics were computed from 1 interview experience for the Groupon Software Engineer, Backend role in Palo Alto, California.

Success Rate

0%

Pass Rate

Groupon's interview process for their Software Engineer, Backend roles in Palo Alto, California is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.

Experience Rating

Positive0%

Neutral100%

Negative0%

Candidates reported having mixed feelings for Groupon's Software Engineer, Backend interview process in Palo Alto, California.

Groupon Work Experiences

A dynamic company with many moving parts

Software Engineer • Current Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

November 28, 2014

Pros: Good working environment, training budget, meals, good benefits & career progression. Relaxed dress code. People are quite helpful.

Cons: Managers seem to be under a lot of pressure, leading to bad requirements, lots of back and forth, and bug reports. There's a lack of focus on tooling, which leads to slower iterative cycles.

A dynamic company with many moving parts

Software Engineer • Current Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

November 28, 2014

Pros: Good working environment, training budget, meals, good benefits & career progression. Relaxed dress code. People are quite helpful.

Cons: Managers seem to be under a lot of pressure, leading to bad requirements, lots of back and forth, and bug reports. There's a lack of focus on tooling, which leads to slower iterative cycles.

Great place to build solid software engineering skills

Software Engineer • Former Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

October 22, 2016

Pros: Great culture, very friendly people, a very well-established workflow, and industry practices.

Cons: Because it is somewhat of an older company as far as tech goes, it's no longer as "sexy" and they are more established in their ways.

Great place to build solid software engineering skills

Software Engineer • Former Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

October 22, 2016

Pros: Great culture, very friendly people, a very well-established workflow, and industry practices.

Cons: Because it is somewhat of an older company as far as tech goes, it's no longer as "sexy" and they are more established in their ways.

Good Balance, Limited Mentorship

Software Engineer • Former Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

Pros: Pretty good work-life balance. The team was strong. Free food and other perks, like company and team outings.

Cons: Sometimes training and mentorship seems somewhat limited. It does not have a ton of perks like one of the big four companies.

Good Balance, Limited Mentorship

Software Engineer • Former Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

Pros: Pretty good work-life balance. The team was strong. Free food and other perks, like company and team outings.

Cons: Sometimes training and mentorship seems somewhat limited. It does not have a ton of perks like one of the big four companies.

A dynamic company with many moving parts

Software Engineer • Current Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

November 28, 2014

Pros: Good working environment, training budget, meals, good benefits & career progression. Relaxed dress code. People are quite helpful.

Cons: Managers seem to be under a lot of pressure, leading to bad requirements, lots of back and forth, and bug reports. There's a lack of focus on tooling, which leads to slower iterative cycles.

4.0
A dynamic company with many moving parts
Software Engineer • Current Employee
Palo Alto, California, United States
November 28, 2014
Pros: Good working environment, training budget, meals, good benefits & career progression. Relaxed dress code. People are quite helpful.
Cons: Managers seem to be under a lot of pressure, leading to bad requirements, lots of back and forth, and bug reports. There's a lack of focus on tooling, which leads to slower iterative cycles.

Great place to build solid software engineering skills

Software Engineer • Former Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

October 22, 2016

Pros: Great culture, very friendly people, a very well-established workflow, and industry practices.

Cons: Because it is somewhat of an older company as far as tech goes, it's no longer as "sexy" and they are more established in their ways.

5.0
Great place to build solid software engineering skills
Software Engineer • Former Employee
Palo Alto, California, United States
October 22, 2016
Pros: Great culture, very friendly people, a very well-established workflow, and industry practices.
Cons: Because it is somewhat of an older company as far as tech goes, it's no longer as "sexy" and they are more established in their ways.

Good Balance, Limited Mentorship

Software Engineer • Former Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

Pros: Pretty good work-life balance. The team was strong. Free food and other perks, like company and team outings.

Cons: Sometimes training and mentorship seems somewhat limited. It does not have a ton of perks like one of the big four companies.

4.0
Good Balance, Limited Mentorship
Software Engineer • Former Employee
Palo Alto, California, United States
July 26, 2014
Pros: Pretty good work-life balance. The team was strong. Free food and other perks, like company and team outings.
Cons: Sometimes training and mentorship seems somewhat limited. It does not have a ton of perks like one of the big four companies.

Groupon Interview Questions

Sell Diminishing-Valued Colored Balls

You are given an inventory of colored balls, each with a value equal to its count. Determine the maximum total value you can obtain by selling a limited number of these balls, given that each sale reduces the ball's value by one.

ArraysBinary SearchGreedy Algorithms

Find the Winner of the Circular Game

Imagine people in a circle, eliminating every kth person. Determine who is the last person remaining after this process.

ArraysRecursionDynamic Programming

Insert Delete GetRandom O(1)

Design a data structure that supports insertion, deletion, and random element retrieval, all in constant time on average. You'll need to handle edge cases carefully to achieve O(1) complexity.

ArraysArraysDynamic Programming

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