Engineering Manager Interview Experience - Toronto, Canada
Process
I was contacted by a recruiter. After an initial call with the recruiter, I was scheduled for an interview with a senior manager.
The interviewer was late and, to say the least, I found him fairly arrogant. He mentioned that they are looking for people with more years of experience, which is a fair point. However, when I checked their current team, even their VP appeared to have less experience.
Regardless, if experience was truly the concern, the recruiter gave a totally inconsistent message during our first call.
I got the vibe that the current team believes they possess unique skills that allowed them to reach their current positions, and that others wouldn't be able to perform as they did.
Anyway, I have since landed a better offer. However, I would strongly recommend avoiding leadership positions in Toronto with the current leadership in place.
Questions
Typical management questions:
- How many people have you hired?
- What is your management style?
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 2 interview experiences for the Instacart Engineering Manager role in Toronto, Ontario.
Success Rate
Instacart's interview process for their Engineering Manager roles in Toronto, Ontario is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having very negative feelings for Instacart's Engineering Manager interview process in Toronto, Ontario.
Instacart Work Experiences
- 2.0Good WLB, Bad CompEngineering Manager • Current EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesJuly 17, 2022Pros: Good work-life balance. Good coworkers.Cons: Lots of reorg. Low comp, no refreshers.
- 5.0Opportunity to experience hypergrowth, solve very challenging problems, and grow!Engineering Manager • Current EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesJune 12, 2018Pros: Great market fit and significant growth potential, with a lot of upside. Don't underestimate Instacart stock options! Extremely challenging and rewarding problems to solve (and huge business returns for solving any of them). Smart, fun, and humble people to work with and figure out these problems together. Great people to spend time outside of work as well! Open and transparent management. Feels good to see consistently growing business numbers in addition to a healthy cash position. Inclusive and supportive workplace. Given the state and trajectory of the business, experience here will prepare employees to scalably solve challenging problems, and will be tremendously valued!Cons: - Too few engineers to accomplish too many things. Glad to see a strong push to hire more. - The company needs to make more long-term bets. - Instacart offers stock options, not liquid until IPO, etc. - There are ambitious goals, but less clarity on what the company will be specifically working on one year later.
- 4.0Re-org of the re-org, but not too badEngineering Manager • Current EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesJanuary 29, 2024Pros: - Lots of room for growth - Can produce lots of lines of codeCons: - Some people get moved around constantly. - Engineers held to inconsistent standards. - Leadership wants people to quit.
Instacart Interview Questions
