Software Engineer Interview Experience - San Francisco, California
Process
The process started with a contact from a recruiter on LinkedIn.
Afterwards, I was given a code challenge on HackerRank. It was a pretty straightforward challenge. Then I spoke with someone from their development team.
Following that, the recruiter contacted me again and set up a code challenge project. It seemed like a project they reuse across interviews. It wasn't too difficult, but it was quite time-consuming.
Afterwards, they invited me for an onsite interview. The onsite included an engineer, a lead engineer, a UX designer, and the recruiter.
We completed a pair programming challenge, followed by standard interview questions with the non-engineers, which felt like a personality assessment. There was no whiteboarding, which was a huge plus.
Questions
What was something you did wrong, and how did you fix it?
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 5 interview experiences for the Instacart Software Engineer role in San Francisco, California.
Success Rate
Instacart's interview process for their Software Engineer roles in San Francisco, California is very selective, failing most engineers who go through it.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having very good feelings for Instacart's Software Engineer 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.
- 4.0A solid place to work with nice people!Software Engineer • Former EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesSeptember 9, 2025Pros: Business is doing well. The company IPO'd, so the equity is liquid. The stock price is above the IPO price. People are friendly. Remote-friendly with in-office availability if you want. Work culture is busy, but there is no expectation of working on weekends (unless you are on-call and your system fails).Cons: • Lots of leadership turnover recently. • The recent focus on coding metrics has people worried. • Eng managers are not very technical on average.
- 3.0Remote is its biggest strengthSoftware Engineer • Former EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesMay 1, 2025Pros: Fully remote, OK pay, smart coworkers.Cons: Some folks feel overworked. The team is dependent. Promotions are slow.
Instacart Interview Questions
