Software Engineer Interview Experience - United States
March 1, 2025
Negative ExperienceGot Offer
Process
I was surprised by how cumbersome this interview process was. It involved several rounds, on top of a take-home project.
It's really rigorous for a company that isn't FAANG level.
Honestly, a take-home and a discussion of it are enough technical signal. Instead, it's:
- Take-home project
- Coding interview
- Take-home extension (live)
- Systems design interview
- Values and behavioral session
It's a huge time investment for pay and benefits that are not very competitive.
Questions
Company values alignment and behavioral questions
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 82 interview experiences for the Gusto Software Engineer role in United States.
Success Rate
24%
Pass Rate
Gusto's interview process for their Software Engineer roles in the United States is very selective, failing most engineers who go through it.
Experience Rating
Positive44%
Neutral15%
Negative41%
Candidates reported having mixed feelings for Gusto's Software Engineer interview process in United States.
Gusto Work Experiences
2.0
Leadership lacks vision
Software Engineer • Former Employee
October 16, 2025
Pros: Core product is good. Nice to serve small businesses.
Cons: Lacks focus for product development roadmap.
Leadership is unfocused.
Lots of churn at the upper level of management.
Very reactive culture.
No 401k match.
3.0
Competitive Pay, Toxic Culture Shift
Software Engineer • Current Employee
September 14, 2025
Pros: Compensation is pretty competitive (in lieu of actual stock).
The codebase is getting a little better to work with from all the modularity work, but there's still so far to go.
Cons: Change management is terrible - lots of extreme changes happening in a short amount of time, with little collaboration with affected people.
There used to be a very empathetic culture, but leadership is very AI-minded now.
There's also a dramatic shift to a "high-performance" culture where L4 team lead is now the terminal level (L2 is entry-level), and there's a huge focus on PR count.
5.0
A place where people care about other people
Software Engineer • Current Employee
San Francisco, California, United States
July 13, 2025
Pros: Strong culture where you can feel a good sense of empathy, even from the founders all the way down. I feel like it's a company that will try to do right by their people 100% of the time.
WLB balance is fine, and there's plenty of flexibility.
Cons: - The growth could be faster.
- Some of the team could ship more quickly.
- 2.0Leadership lacks visionSoftware Engineer • Former EmployeeOctober 16, 2025Pros: Core product is good. Nice to serve small businesses.Cons: Lacks focus for product development roadmap. Leadership is unfocused. Lots of churn at the upper level of management. Very reactive culture. No 401k match.
- 3.0Competitive Pay, Toxic Culture ShiftSoftware Engineer • Current EmployeeSeptember 14, 2025Pros: Compensation is pretty competitive (in lieu of actual stock). The codebase is getting a little better to work with from all the modularity work, but there's still so far to go.Cons: Change management is terrible - lots of extreme changes happening in a short amount of time, with little collaboration with affected people. There used to be a very empathetic culture, but leadership is very AI-minded now. There's also a dramatic shift to a "high-performance" culture where L4 team lead is now the terminal level (L2 is entry-level), and there's a huge focus on PR count.
- 5.0A place where people care about other peopleSoftware Engineer • Current EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesJuly 13, 2025Pros: Strong culture where you can feel a good sense of empathy, even from the founders all the way down. I feel like it's a company that will try to do right by their people 100% of the time. WLB balance is fine, and there's plenty of flexibility.Cons: - The growth could be faster. - Some of the team could ship more quickly.
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