Backend Software Engineer Interview Experience - Sydney, Australia
Process
Phone screening followed by two rounds of technical interviews.
Even though it was the Sydney office, everyone was Chinese.
Received an offer but declined since they wanted me to go to the office to work.
The interviewer had to move between meeting rooms about three times during the interview, and I could also see other people peeping into the meeting room to see if it was vacant. Clearly, this mandate of going to the office is hindering productivity.
The offered base pay was lower than my current salary and almost as low as L1 salary at my company, even though the offer was for L2.
Questions
Given a sorted array of non-decreasing integers and a target integer k, find the start and end indices of k.
Given a 2D array representing a chessboard, a starting position (i, j), and a length n, find the number of unique paths a knight can travel.
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 3 interview experiences for the TikTok Backend Software Engineer role in Sydney, Australia.
Success Rate
TikTok's interview process for their Backend Software Engineer roles in Sydney, Australia is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having mixed feelings for TikTok's Backend Software Engineer interview process in Sydney, Australia.
TikTok Work Experiences
- 3.0Good tech company to work inBackend Software Engineer • Current EmployeeSingapore, Singapore, SingaporeJune 22, 2025Pros: - Scale is big, so the problems are more interesting. - Compensation is good.Cons: Lack of WLB. Need to be Chinese speaking.
- 1.0China culture, as 95% are from thereBackend Software Engineer • Current EmployeeSingapore, SingaporeApril 24, 2023Pros: Good benefits and competitive salary, but at risk of 0x variable bonus.Cons: You probably have to work outside working hours, worst case after midnight (on-call). But it's not considered in your performance as management doesn't think it's hard work. For non-Chinese speakers, it's not the right company as all of them speak Chinese. * Chinese speakers will get high-performance reviews (good bonus), whereas non-Chinese speakers need to work double hard and will get underperformance (no bonus). * Management doesn't give a zhit about your miseries of not being able to understand Chinese documents. * Chinese speakers are able to understand documents and PM requirements quickly as they all speak the same language. If you don't speak Chinese, steer away from this company or there is a high chance you will get PIP.
- 3.0Decent company to work forBackend Software Engineer • Current EmployeeSingapore, SingaporeFebruary 25, 2025Pros: - Good pay. - Intelligent people to work with. - Opportunity to travel (business trips).Cons: Opportunity to grow into leadership only when you know Mandarin.
TikTok Interview Questions
