Monzo

Back End Engineer Interview Experience - London, United Kingdom

June 29, 2023

Negative ExperienceNo Offer

Process

I applied online. The process took two weeks.

Initial technical call reviewing a past project with Monzo engineers.
You have the choice between a take-home test and a review interview, or a live coding interview.
Systems design.

Pick your project very well, and pick one that makes you look good. My past experience was a perfect fit for the role, but I was rejected after the initial call with very vague feedback. So you essentially have to guess what they're looking for because relevant experience will not be enough. Pro tip for the hiring team: "your experience is not the best match for our current needs" is barely better than no feedback at all.

Questions

General questions about a past project that you completed. 1 answer

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Interview Statistics

The following metrics were computed from 1 interview experience for the Monzo Back End Engineer role in London, United Kingdom.

Success Rate

0%

Pass Rate

Monzo's interview process for their Back End Engineer roles in London, the United Kingdom is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.

Experience Rating

Positive0%

Neutral0%

Negative100%

Candidates reported having very negative feelings for Monzo's Back End Engineer interview process in London, United Kingdom.

Monzo Work Experiences

Great reputation but beware. Allows work from home but deeply toxic management culture and low pay

Quality Assessor • Current Employee

Pros: - I can work from home.

Cons: - Low base pay - Employee share option plan has recently been stopped and replaced with a bonus worth as little as 1/10th. - Bonuses and disciplinary action are now based on 'stack ranking' rather than performance - Trajectory of pay for years across Customer Ops has been real-terms cuts or total freezes, with no recognised union and the threat of outsourcing curbing any meaningful discussions about it - Toxic positivity and gaslighting about cost-cutting and outsourcing - Conflicts of interest between QA and Outsourcing, as you're not really allowed to question or correct poor or dangerous work by partners (who have their own internal QA team that never finds problems)

Great reputation but beware. Allows work from home but deeply toxic management culture and low pay

Quality Assessor • Current Employee

Pros: - I can work from home.

Cons: - Low base pay - Employee share option plan has recently been stopped and replaced with a bonus worth as little as 1/10th. - Bonuses and disciplinary action are now based on 'stack ranking' rather than performance - Trajectory of pay for years across Customer Ops has been real-terms cuts or total freezes, with no recognised union and the threat of outsourcing curbing any meaningful discussions about it - Toxic positivity and gaslighting about cost-cutting and outsourcing - Conflicts of interest between QA and Outsourcing, as you're not really allowed to question or correct poor or dangerous work by partners (who have their own internal QA team that never finds problems)

Radically better than any other job I've had

Senior Backend Engineer • Current Employee

London, England

February 8, 2022

Pros: * Surrounded by smart people working in a thoughtful, structured way towards solving difficult problems * Everyone here is (both emotionally and financially...) invested in the success of the company * Transparent, empathetic culture with a focus on mental health * Data-driven culture * I've been able to maintain a ~40h/week working life over the last 12 months (and have been encouraged to do so) * Working on a product that you interact with day to day that many people have really positive views of * Highly confident that the company has a bright future

Cons: * A lot of technical debt (though there have been some meaningful attempts of late to give this more focus) * Company is getting bigger, starting to feel more stodgy and corporate * 19% AER on lending products like Monzo Flex feels exploitative

Radically better than any other job I've had

Senior Backend Engineer • Current Employee

London, England

February 8, 2022

Pros: * Surrounded by smart people working in a thoughtful, structured way towards solving difficult problems * Everyone here is (both emotionally and financially...) invested in the success of the company * Transparent, empathetic culture with a focus on mental health * Data-driven culture * I've been able to maintain a ~40h/week working life over the last 12 months (and have been encouraged to do so) * Working on a product that you interact with day to day that many people have really positive views of * Highly confident that the company has a bright future

Cons: * A lot of technical debt (though there have been some meaningful attempts of late to give this more focus) * Company is getting bigger, starting to feel more stodgy and corporate * 19% AER on lending products like Monzo Flex feels exploitative

A fantastic place to work

Software Engineer • Current Employee

London, England

October 14, 2022

Pros: - Full of smart and engaged people who are great at what they do - Super friendly and helpful people - People genuinely want what is best for the customer and put that at the front of all discussions- 1 month unpaid leave every year (on top of your standard holiday allowance)- Flexibility on where you work. Home or office it's up to you! (as long as you are available to travel in for the occasional team day or similar)

Cons: As an engineer you are likely going to be working a lot with abstractions which have been built by other teams and will be mainly implementing business logic for your product area. This isn't necessarily a 'con', but you should consider this if you want experience with databases, cloud, CI etc. as you won't get that in most teams.

A fantastic place to work

Software Engineer • Current Employee

London, England

October 14, 2022

Pros: - Full of smart and engaged people who are great at what they do - Super friendly and helpful people - People genuinely want what is best for the customer and put that at the front of all discussions- 1 month unpaid leave every year (on top of your standard holiday allowance)- Flexibility on where you work. Home or office it's up to you! (as long as you are available to travel in for the occasional team day or similar)

Cons: As an engineer you are likely going to be working a lot with abstractions which have been built by other teams and will be mainly implementing business logic for your product area. This isn't necessarily a 'con', but you should consider this if you want experience with databases, cloud, CI etc. as you won't get that in most teams.

Great reputation but beware. Allows work from home but deeply toxic management culture and low pay

Quality Assessor • Current Employee

Pros: - I can work from home.

Cons: - Low base pay - Employee share option plan has recently been stopped and replaced with a bonus worth as little as 1/10th. - Bonuses and disciplinary action are now based on 'stack ranking' rather than performance - Trajectory of pay for years across Customer Ops has been real-terms cuts or total freezes, with no recognised union and the threat of outsourcing curbing any meaningful discussions about it - Toxic positivity and gaslighting about cost-cutting and outsourcing - Conflicts of interest between QA and Outsourcing, as you're not really allowed to question or correct poor or dangerous work by partners (who have their own internal QA team that never finds problems)

2.0
Great reputation but beware. Allows work from home but deeply toxic management culture and low pay
Quality Assessor • Current Employee
Cardiff, Wales
June 15, 2026
Pros: - I can work from home.
Cons: - Low base pay - Employee share option plan has recently been stopped and replaced with a bonus worth as little as 1/10th. - Bonuses and disciplinary action are now based on 'stack ranking' rather than performance - Trajectory of pay for years across Customer Ops has been real-terms cuts or total freezes, with no recognised union and the threat of outsourcing curbing any meaningful discussions about it - Toxic positivity and gaslighting about cost-cutting and outsourcing - Conflicts of interest between QA and Outsourcing, as you're not really allowed to question or correct poor or dangerous work by partners (who have their own internal QA team that never finds problems)

Radically better than any other job I've had

Senior Backend Engineer • Current Employee

London, England

February 8, 2022

Pros: * Surrounded by smart people working in a thoughtful, structured way towards solving difficult problems * Everyone here is (both emotionally and financially...) invested in the success of the company * Transparent, empathetic culture with a focus on mental health * Data-driven culture * I've been able to maintain a ~40h/week working life over the last 12 months (and have been encouraged to do so) * Working on a product that you interact with day to day that many people have really positive views of * Highly confident that the company has a bright future

Cons: * A lot of technical debt (though there have been some meaningful attempts of late to give this more focus) * Company is getting bigger, starting to feel more stodgy and corporate * 19% AER on lending products like Monzo Flex feels exploitative

5.0
Radically better than any other job I've had
Senior Backend Engineer • Current Employee
London, England
February 8, 2022
Pros: * Surrounded by smart people working in a thoughtful, structured way towards solving difficult problems * Everyone here is (both emotionally and financially...) invested in the success of the company * Transparent, empathetic culture with a focus on mental health * Data-driven culture * I've been able to maintain a ~40h/week working life over the last 12 months (and have been encouraged to do so) * Working on a product that you interact with day to day that many people have really positive views of * Highly confident that the company has a bright future
Cons: * A lot of technical debt (though there have been some meaningful attempts of late to give this more focus) * Company is getting bigger, starting to feel more stodgy and corporate * 19% AER on lending products like Monzo Flex feels exploitative

A fantastic place to work

Software Engineer • Current Employee

London, England

October 14, 2022

Pros: - Full of smart and engaged people who are great at what they do - Super friendly and helpful people - People genuinely want what is best for the customer and put that at the front of all discussions- 1 month unpaid leave every year (on top of your standard holiday allowance)- Flexibility on where you work. Home or office it's up to you! (as long as you are available to travel in for the occasional team day or similar)

Cons: As an engineer you are likely going to be working a lot with abstractions which have been built by other teams and will be mainly implementing business logic for your product area. This isn't necessarily a 'con', but you should consider this if you want experience with databases, cloud, CI etc. as you won't get that in most teams.

5.0
A fantastic place to work
Software Engineer • Current Employee
London, England
October 14, 2022
Pros: - Full of smart and engaged people who are great at what they do - Super friendly and helpful people - People genuinely want what is best for the customer and put that at the front of all discussions- 1 month unpaid leave every year (on top of your standard holiday allowance)- Flexibility on where you work. Home or office it's up to you! (as long as you are available to travel in for the occasional team day or similar)
Cons: As an engineer you are likely going to be working a lot with abstractions which have been built by other teams and will be mainly implementing business logic for your product area. This isn't necessarily a 'con', but you should consider this if you want experience with databases, cloud, CI etc. as you won't get that in most teams.

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