Instacart

Sr. Software Engineer Interview Experience - Chicago, Illinois

October 26, 2026

Negative ExperienceNo Offer

Process

They use a 3rd party for their tech assessment. The 3rd-party software is extremely buggy and slow to load. It starts with speaking with an AI, but this feels more like it is testing how quickly you can read large paragraphs, because the AI responds to every prompt with lots of words.

Then the next part also has long intro instructions. Given that you only have an hour to do everything, and you can't use all the IDE features because of the bugs, this was frustrating.

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Interview Statistics

The following metrics were computed from 1 interview experience for the Instacart Sr. Software Engineer role in Chicago, Illinois.

Success Rate

0%

Pass Rate

Instacart's interview process for their Sr. Software Engineer roles in Chicago, Illinois is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.

Experience Rating

Positive0%

Neutral0%

Negative100%

Candidates reported having very negative feelings for Instacart's Sr. Software Engineer interview process in Chicago, Illinois.

Instacart Work Experiences

Strong engineering culture but leadership needs improvement

Sr. Software Engineer • Current Employee

San Francisco, CA

Pros: Good engineering culture and a lot of growth opportunities.

Cons: There were leadership challenges, and the goals were lofty.

Strong engineering culture but leadership needs improvement

Sr. Software Engineer • Current Employee

San Francisco, CA

Pros: Good engineering culture and a lot of growth opportunities.

Cons: There were leadership challenges, and the goals were lofty.

Normal Company, Stocks Dropping

Sr. Software Engineer • Current Employee

January 25, 2024

Pros: It's a normal company; remote work.

Cons: The stock level is dropping down.

Normal Company, Stocks Dropping

Sr. Software Engineer • Current Employee

January 25, 2024

Pros: It's a normal company; remote work.

Cons: The stock level is dropping down.

Like Product, Expect More Culture

Sr. Software Engineer • Current Employee

November 9, 2022

Pros: Like the product that we build.

Cons: I would expect a higher level of engineering culture.

Like Product, Expect More Culture

Sr. Software Engineer • Current Employee

November 9, 2022

Pros: Like the product that we build.

Cons: I would expect a higher level of engineering culture.

Strong engineering culture but leadership needs improvement

Sr. Software Engineer • Current Employee

San Francisco, CA

Pros: Good engineering culture and a lot of growth opportunities.

Cons: There were leadership challenges, and the goals were lofty.

3.0
Strong engineering culture but leadership needs improvement
Sr. Software Engineer • Current Employee
San Francisco, CA
July 5, 2026
Pros: Good engineering culture and a lot of growth opportunities.
Cons: There were leadership challenges, and the goals were lofty.

Normal Company, Stocks Dropping

Sr. Software Engineer • Current Employee

January 25, 2024

Pros: It's a normal company; remote work.

Cons: The stock level is dropping down.

4.0
Normal Company, Stocks Dropping
Sr. Software Engineer • Current Employee
January 25, 2024
Pros: It's a normal company; remote work.
Cons: The stock level is dropping down.

Like Product, Expect More Culture

Sr. Software Engineer • Current Employee

November 9, 2022

Pros: Like the product that we build.

Cons: I would expect a higher level of engineering culture.

4.0
Like Product, Expect More Culture
Sr. Software Engineer • Current Employee
November 9, 2022
Pros: Like the product that we build.
Cons: I would expect a higher level of engineering culture.

Instacart Interview Questions

Average Waiting Time

You're given a list of customer arrival and service times. Calculate the average waiting time for all customers, assuming they are served in the order they arrive.

Find First and Last Position of Element in Sorted Array

Given a sorted array, find the first and last position of a given target value. If the target is not found, return [-1, -1].

ArraysBinary Search

Check if Every Row and Column Contains All Numbers

Determine if every row and every column in a given square matrix contains all the numbers from 1 to n, where n is the size of the matrix. Effectively, check if it's a valid Sudoku (without subgrids).

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