Senior iOS Developer Interview Experience - San Francisco, California
Process
I applied online and had a screening interview with the recruiter. After that, I was invited for a pair programming interview online. There seemed to be some confusion, and the interviewer showed up about half an hour late. The pair programming interview involved building a feature for an iOS app. I was given a starter project with several convenience methods to complete the task. This exercise was really simple.
The first pair programming interview went well, and I received positive feedback. I was then invited to a remote on-site interview, as I was based in a different country. The remote on-site interview comprised the following sessions:
- A longer (2-hour) pair programming interview, which was essentially a continuation of the first exercise. I had to build about five features for an iOS app within two hours. The interviewer was late again by about 20 minutes, and I didn't get the full two hours to complete it, but I made good progress implementing all the features.
- A technical discussion with iOS developers – this was a problem-solving session, replacing whiteboarding, which involved building a reusable iOS component. (1 hour)
- Two HR-type interview rounds, each lasting half an hour.
Overall, the interview structure was quite good and practical. I felt I performed well in all the interview rounds and presented reasonably good solutions to all the questions, which the interviewers agreed with at the time.
However, the next day, I received a generic rejection email without specific reasons, even after requesting them. While I appreciate the team's promptness in informing me of their decision, it was disappointing not to receive any feedback, especially considering I spent about six hours interviewing, mostly during odd hours and early mornings on weekends.
Apart from the interviewers being consistently late and the lack of feedback, I believe the interview structure was practical and tested skills well.
Questions
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 1 interview experience for the Instacart Senior iOS Developer role in San Francisco, California.
Success Rate
Instacart's interview process for their Senior iOS Developer roles in San Francisco, California is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having very negative feelings for Instacart's Senior iOS Developer interview process in San Francisco, California.
Instacart Work Experiences
- 4.0Fast-paced Learning With Smart PeopleSoftware Engineer • Former EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesOctober 22, 2025Pros: Learning, smart coworkers, fast pace.Cons: Experience varies depending on the team.
- 3.0Good Perks, Bad CultureMachine Learning Engineer • Current EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesMay 4, 2025Pros: benefits remote company time offCons: political environment poor work-life balance
- 5.0Unique and challenging problems to solveEngineering • Current EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesJune 14, 2018Pros: Opportunity to change the entire grocery industry ($1 trillion). Incredibly hard and unique data science problems to solve. How do you build real-time systems that will deliver the best experience for customers, shoppers, retailers, and CPG? Even though the company has already accomplished a lot, we are only at 10% of what we can achieve in the long run; there is still so much opportunity for people to innovate and grow. Responsibility to shape the future of work. Inclusive and supportive workplace. Chance to work with smart and humble people.Cons: With hyper-growth, it is sometimes hard to navigate the complexity. The company did not focus enough on long-term goals, probably due to the always changing environment (competition, investment market, etc.). We should have hired more in the past.
Instacart Interview Questions
