Machine Learning Engineer Interview Experience - San Jose, California
February 13, 2025
Negative ExperienceNo Offer
Process
The process included an HR call, a HackerRank interview, and a machine learning algorithms assessment. The interview, scheduled with HR, lasted approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes. The response time and decision took exactly one week, which was very fast compared to other companies.
Questions
Write cross-entropy loss and the AdamW optimizer.
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 29 interview experiences for the TikTok Machine Learning Engineer role in San Jose, California.
Success Rate
24%
Pass Rate
TikTok's interview process for their Machine Learning Engineer roles in San Jose, California is very selective, failing most engineers who go through it.
Experience Rating
Positive31%
Neutral48%
Negative21%
Candidates reported having good feelings for TikTok's Machine Learning Engineer interview process in San Jose, California.
TikTok Work Experiences
3.0
Bad work-life balance
Machine Learning Engineer • Current Employee
San Jose, California, United States
January 23, 2025
Pros: Learned a lot.
Good compensation.
Allows you a lot of work travel flexibility.
Cons: If you don't speak Chinese, you are at a severe disadvantage. I spoke Chinese and was still majorly disadvantaged.
There is no support for new employees. The onboarding process has very little structure.
4.0
Big Company, Good Pay, Tough Test
Machine Learning Engineer • Current Employee
San Jose, California, United States
September 27, 2023
Pros: Big company, good pay, sponsor.
Cons: Code test is not easy.
4.0
Fast Learning, Challenging Wlb
Machine Learning Engineer • Current Employee
San Jose, California, United States
August 29, 2025
Pros: Learn a lot, very fast-paced.
Cons: Bad work-life balance and lack of organization.
- 3.0Bad work-life balanceMachine Learning Engineer • Current EmployeeSan Jose, California, United StatesJanuary 23, 2025Pros: Learned a lot. Good compensation. Allows you a lot of work travel flexibility.Cons: If you don't speak Chinese, you are at a severe disadvantage. I spoke Chinese and was still majorly disadvantaged. There is no support for new employees. The onboarding process has very little structure.
- 4.0Big Company, Good Pay, Tough TestMachine Learning Engineer • Current EmployeeSan Jose, California, United StatesSeptember 27, 2023Pros: Big company, good pay, sponsor.Cons: Code test is not easy.
- 4.0Fast Learning, Challenging WlbMachine Learning Engineer • Current EmployeeSan Jose, California, United StatesAugust 29, 2025Pros: Learn a lot, very fast-paced.Cons: Bad work-life balance and lack of organization.
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