Senior Software Engineer Interview Experience - New York, New York
Process
EVIL EVIL EVIL
Don't waste your time interviewing with Snap Inc.
They called me for an initial telephone interview and asked me to solve two tasks. The first task was to understand and explain the logic of provided code, which was simply a token replacer. The second task was to write code in my preferred language to print each word sorted by its frequency in a string. I finished well before the allotted time, and the interviewer remarked, "You finished so early." I thought, 'What the heck?'
Two days later, I received an email from the Snap recruiter stating, "You demonstrated several strengths, but we feel that there is not a perfect match for the qualities sought in the Senior Software Engineer role at Snap Inc. Although it is understandable that you may desire feedback, we are unable to provide recommendations or details regarding specific interview outcomes."
No desire to provide feedback! A complete waste of time!
Questions
Sample code.
Tell what that code is doing.
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 2 interview experiences for the Snap Senior Software Engineer role in New York, New York.
Success Rate
Snap's interview process for their Senior Software Engineer roles in New York, New York is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having very negative feelings for Snap's Senior Software Engineer interview process in New York, New York.
Snap Work Experiences
- 1.0Really, do not work hereSenior Software Engineer • Current EmployeeNew York, New York, United StatesSeptember 24, 2018Pros: You will hone your knife sharpening skills. You will increase your backstab multiplier, if you don’t get fired. You can make your own path to success on the broken backs of your coworkers.Cons: Surrounded with low-quality engineering culture. Secrecy, secrecy, secrecy. No career development whatsoever. Poor decisions all around. Very toxic, mean, exclusionary culture. It's accepted and, worse, expected and rewarded.
- 4.0Review for SnapSenior Software Engineer • Current EmployeeLondon, England, United KingdomJuly 9, 2025Pros: - Competitive salary and generous compensation package - Talented, supportive, and collaborative team - Opportunity to work on cutting-edge, innovative features that impact millions of usersCons: Stock performance has been volatile, which affects the value of equity compensation.
- 1.0Disorganized and ThrashSenior Software Engineer • Current EmployeeSanta Monica, California, United StatesApril 23, 2025Pros: The initial compensation package is the only good thing. Don't be fooled by it, though. Just look at our stock trajectory and you'll realize why it's so high. I joined last year and I'm already 50 percent underwater compared to my joining price. Turns out I actually took a pay cut compared to my last job. There are also constant comp plan changes, which makes being an employee very uncomfortable.Cons: Where to start. 1. Incredibly disorganized for a small company. You'll find multiple teams doing the same work, fighting over credits, and playing the blame game. 2. Thrash with nothing to show for it. Your lead will tell you to drop everything and work on this urgent item at 11 am, but by 7 pm you need to drop that urgent item for another item that they want done yesterday. The WLB is bad, and there's no progress to show for it. 3. There is rushed and poorly thought-out code everywhere. The infrastructure is not in place to support good engineering. Sometimes the build times could exceed an hour, when at my last FAANG company, it would be 15 minutes max with a much larger scale product. Overall, I definitely wouldn't join Snap. If you have an offer in hand, my advice would be to ask a lot of questions about what it means: strike price, on-going equity, out-performance equity, all that. Don't be tricked by the big numbers, like myself.
Snap Interview Questions
