Taro Logo

Senior Software Engineer Interview Experience - San Mateo, California

December 1, 2010
Neutral ExperienceNo Offer

Process

First, I had a written test at home to implement a function that validates user input for their Wordy game. I did it over the weekend and submitted it. Then, I was invited for an on-site interview. The on-site interview took four hours.

The first hour involved writing a function to calculate the price of coffee in a coffee machine, depending on size (small, large, etc.) and the selection of condiments (sugar, milk, etc.). I had to program this with the interviewer sitting behind me.

The second hour presented the same problem, but the conditions became slightly more complex: now the price of condiments depended on the coffee cup size.

During the third hour, I was asked to fix some issues in their artificially incorrect implementation of a Set class.

Throughout this time, I practically didn't communicate with the interviewers; they just sat behind me and watched what I was doing.

The last hour was a conversation with the project manager. It was a free-flowing discussion about my experience.

At the end, I didn't get an offer, though I don't exactly understand the reason. I was told that the team was satisfied with my technical skills but didn't feel that I was excited (eager) enough to work for their company, which sounds really weird to me.

Questions

Write a function that calculates the price of a cup of coffee. The price of condiments depends on the size of the coffee cup.

For example, milk costs:

  • 10 cents for a small cup
  • 15 cents for a medium cup
  • 20 cents for a large cup

Was this helpful?

Interview Statistics

The following metrics were computed from 7 interview experiences for the Guidewire Senior Software Engineer role in San Mateo, California.

Success Rate

29%
Pass Rate

Guidewire's interview process for their Senior Software Engineer roles in San Mateo, California is very selective, failing most engineers who go through it.

Experience Rating

Positive43%
Neutral29%
Negative29%

Candidates reported having good feelings for Guidewire's Senior Software Engineer interview process in San Mateo, California.

Guidewire Work Experiences