Mobile Engineer Interview Experience - Seattle, Washington
June 15, 2020
Negative ExperienceNo Offer
Process
About me: I am a software engineer with more than 10 years of experience.
- A recruiter reached out via LinkedIn and asked if I was interested. Later, we scheduled a tech phone interview.
- The interviewer started with a problem that he could not explain. He kept talking and did not let me think through the problem to understand it in the first place. He then mentioned that it's really hard to explain since we are doing this through a web call and he cannot use a whiteboard to make it easy to understand.
It is very frustrating and not fair to put someone with zero emotional intelligence to interview people and struggle to explain a concept or an idea. Then, before we ended that call, he said that the problem he asked was called the Skyline Problem :).
So, he was barely leading through the one-hour interview so I wouldn't figure out this problem. When you see that you struggle to explain, why not say, "Hey, have you heard of the skyline problem?" and maybe the interviewee will understand your point.
Questions
Skyline problem
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 1 interview experience for the Niantic Mobile Engineer role in Seattle, Washington.
Success Rate
0%
Pass Rate
Niantic's interview process for their Mobile Engineer roles in Seattle, Washington is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.
Experience Rating
Positive0%
Neutral0%
Negative100%
Candidates reported having very negative feelings for Niantic's Mobile Engineer interview process in Seattle, Washington.
Niantic Work Experiences
2.0
If you're a passionate game dev, avoid this place
Client Engineer • Former Employee
Seattle, Washington, United States
September 22, 2023
Pros: People were genuinely so lovely and kind and helpful.
Lots of passion from fans around Pokémon Go so many years later.
Great environment if you're also a Pokémon fan!
Cons: Some of the most misguided leadership, especially at the exec level, and a lot of poor product managers. Working on a mobile game, no matter where you work, is soul-sucking. The entire premise of a mobile game is to intentionally leave in friction to make players pay to avoid it. It's scummy and awful.
I worked on Pokemon Go for about a year, and I really do believe PGO is one of the "better" mobile games out there, and it still made me never want to work on a mobile game ever again.
Multiple times I pitched new quality-of-life improvements for the game that were small, easy, and required no new art or designs. I got stopped every step of the way by either my own product manager or a business person, awaiting approval from partners.
All of their reasons were also based on "feel," not on any actual data to support the claims they made that my feature was a bad idea or would hurt revenue. They wouldn't even let me test it on a subset of players to prove my claim. This happened at least 2-3 times before I just said, "Forget it, I'm not coming up with, prototyping, demoing, and pitching new unique ideas at this company if they don't want to hear my ideas."
It was outstandingly infuriating.
If you are a game developer who cares a lot about making quality video games that respect and care about their players, I don't recommend working here or at any mobile game studio. If you're pretty indifferent about it but like games and Pokémon, you might be fine here.
5.0
Great company, really dig my job
Senior Software Engineer • Current Employee
Seattle, Washington, United States
February 13, 2019
Pros: Niantic has a great mission and is headed by smart, enthusiastic, down-to-earth leaders. There are numerous opportunities to learn new technologies, present new ideas, and work with bright engineers and product managers. Honestly, this is the best tech job I've ever had.
Cons: A bit understaffed at the management level. Performance expectations somewhat unclear.
5.0
Had a good experience
Software Engineer(Internship) • Former Employee
San Francisco, California, United States
October 5, 2025
Pros: - Good mentorship
- More emphasis on culture and values
Cons: - Not as high paying.
- RTO policy (3 days a week).
- 2.0If you're a passionate game dev, avoid this placeClient Engineer • Former EmployeeSeattle, Washington, United StatesSeptember 22, 2023Pros: People were genuinely so lovely and kind and helpful. Lots of passion from fans around Pokémon Go so many years later. Great environment if you're also a Pokémon fan!Cons: Some of the most misguided leadership, especially at the exec level, and a lot of poor product managers. Working on a mobile game, no matter where you work, is soul-sucking. The entire premise of a mobile game is to intentionally leave in friction to make players pay to avoid it. It's scummy and awful. I worked on Pokemon Go for about a year, and I really do believe PGO is one of the "better" mobile games out there, and it still made me never want to work on a mobile game ever again. Multiple times I pitched new quality-of-life improvements for the game that were small, easy, and required no new art or designs. I got stopped every step of the way by either my own product manager or a business person, awaiting approval from partners. All of their reasons were also based on "feel," not on any actual data to support the claims they made that my feature was a bad idea or would hurt revenue. They wouldn't even let me test it on a subset of players to prove my claim. This happened at least 2-3 times before I just said, "Forget it, I'm not coming up with, prototyping, demoing, and pitching new unique ideas at this company if they don't want to hear my ideas." It was outstandingly infuriating. If you are a game developer who cares a lot about making quality video games that respect and care about their players, I don't recommend working here or at any mobile game studio. If you're pretty indifferent about it but like games and Pokémon, you might be fine here.
- 5.0Great company, really dig my jobSenior Software Engineer • Current EmployeeSeattle, Washington, United StatesFebruary 13, 2019Pros: Niantic has a great mission and is headed by smart, enthusiastic, down-to-earth leaders. There are numerous opportunities to learn new technologies, present new ideas, and work with bright engineers and product managers. Honestly, this is the best tech job I've ever had.Cons: A bit understaffed at the management level. Performance expectations somewhat unclear.
- 5.0Had a good experienceSoftware Engineer(Internship) • Former EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesOctober 5, 2025Pros: - Good mentorship - More emphasis on culture and valuesCons: - Not as high paying. - RTO policy (3 days a week).
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