I designed a generic cache library, exchanged 30+ emails about design decisions with the technical hiring manager, and attended two onsites.
The interviewer, who was previously at a hedge fund, was incredibly arrogant and appeared threatened by my knowledge of distributed systems architecture. TTD uses a .NET stack, but I implemented my solution in Java as I do not have C# experience. The questions in the onsite almost primarily related to the coding challenge (which we’d already exchanged a glut of emails about). I provided ample examples of how to abstract the architecture to a distributed cache (from a local cache) and provide multi-tier resiliency.
The conversations broke down when the hiring manager asked my compensation. It was a mistake for them not to have asked this earlier, and the hiring manager decided to end the process after that interview.
They could have said I was not a cultural fit or that my comp was too high. But instead, they said I was not technically knowledgeable.
Stay away.
Design an N-way set-associative cache.
The following metrics were computed from 38 interview experiences for the The Trade Desk Software Engineer role in United States.
The Trade Desk's interview process for their Software Engineer roles in the United States is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.
Candidates reported having negative feelings for The Trade Desk's Software Engineer interview process in United States.