The process began with a phone call with HR, discussing past experience and general fit for the company.
Next, there was a 1-hour remote coding session. You will be asked to download a starter project 1-2 days prior, allowing you to gain a basic understanding of the assignment. One hour is very tight for this, so come prepared or you will not finish it. Do not expect any help during this session; just work as fast as possible.
Passing the remote interview granted me a 4+ hour onsite interview. This consisted of two technical coding sessions and two behavioral questioning sessions.
One of the technical sessions required me to implement a custom date view within a very short time (less than an hour) while being observed. It's pretty hard unless you've recently done something similar.
The second technical session involved continuing to work on the first project to add half a dozen more features, alone in the room. Again, time was very tight. Only a coding wizard with very fast fingers and/or a wealth of existing codebase to reference can actually finish these challenges. (I was unable to, which I believe was the reason for my rejection).
At this point, they have mostly likely already made up their mind. So, just go through the last filler hour of questioning, and you are done. Do your best to 'brag' about your past achievements during this hour, talk about how you take work seriously, etc.
That's it, enjoy a tour of the office.
Summary: I liked their interviewing process; no complaints there. You need to be very fast at coding. Non-keyboard wizards need not apply. There is no whiteboarding here.
Try to study their starter project for clues.
If you can't figure it out, you won't make it through anyway.
The following metrics were computed from 1 interview experience for the Instacart Senior iOS Software Engineer Interview role in San Francisco, California.
Instacart's interview process for their Senior iOS Software Engineer Interview roles in San Francisco, California is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.
Candidates reported having very good feelings for Instacart's Senior iOS Software Engineer Interview interview process in San Francisco, California.