I applied through the common online application portal for interns. The website clearly stated that Spotify would get back to me only in January or so. Nevertheless, I could only assume how many interview rounds the process involved and what the different interviews dealt with. This likely differs for each specific role/internship.

The following process had two interview rounds: the first was technical, and the second was more behavioral. Each should have lasted for 30 minutes.

Once I received the invitation for the first interview, I was already assigned to a team. The interview was led by two engineers from this team and dealt with technical topics. At the beginning, we covered some tech trivia, and then we proceeded to some live coding. The interview lasted a few minutes longer than the initially scheduled 30 minutes.

At the end of the first interview, the engineers were not quite sure how the process would continue. They thought someone would get back to me quite soon and that this would already be the final decision. However, Spotify's reply took a week longer and consisted of an invitation to another interview.

The second interview was behavioral, and technical knowledge was not as important anymore. The interviewer was the manager of the team I was assigned to. The intention might have been to gauge whether the manager felt I would fit into the team. Nevertheless, the manager discussed their own career, the team, and the team's responsibilities. Afterwards, I had the opportunity to ask questions. I asked some deeper questions, and we discussed them at length.

During the second interview, I had a good feeling. It felt like the manager was trying to successfully advertise the job to me. However, towards the end, the manager pointed out that they were interviewing several other candidates who also seemed capable. I was again told to expect a reply quite soon. This time, the interview overran significantly, which was acceptable because we had discussed the available interview time at the start. The style of the interview might depend heavily on the team and the interviewer; consider the interview an opportunity to figure out if the team is a good match.

After the first interview, I could somewhat gauge whether my performance was acceptable. Even though I had a good impression during the second interview, I had no idea what the outcome might be.

I received the actual positive reply the following week (later than expected), accompanied by a very pleasant HR call where I learned about some of the logistical job details. Additionally, I could also ask any questions.

The coding task was less about coding knowledge but more about reasoning; learn to explain your thoughts.