Machine Learning Engineer Interview Experience - San Jose, California
December 29, 2025
Neutral ExperienceNo Offer
Process
I applied through a recruiter. The process took four weeks.
Technical Round (1 hour, interviewed by a peer software engineer):
- LeetCode-style coding (~30 minutes)
- Machine Learning fundamental questions (~20 minutes)
- Behavioral questions and past experience (~10 minutes)
Questions
Coding: Minimum Removal to Make Parentheses Valid.
ML: How to predict the ticket price of a concert.
Was this helpful?
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
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
Good Team, Late Nights
Machine Learning Engineer • Current Employee
San Jose, California, United States
May 18, 2024
Pros: Good teamwork, diversity, and food.
Cons: Works too late into the night
2.0
Good for new grads, but worst culture
Machine Learning Engineer • Current Employee
San Jose, California, United States
November 14, 2024
Pros: You will learn rocket-fast because you are always pushed by overloaded tasks. A fresh NG will handle several senior-level jobs under limited guidance.
Cons: 0 work-life balance. Work, work, work if you are a Chinese speaker. You will be working with people in China during the night for sure.
But for non-Chinese speakers, your life will be much better because the leadership will have 0 expectations from you. You can basically chill all day.
- 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.
- 4.0Good Team, Late NightsMachine Learning Engineer • Current EmployeeSan Jose, California, United StatesMay 18, 2024Pros: Good teamwork, diversity, and food.Cons: Works too late into the night
- 2.0Good for new grads, but worst cultureMachine Learning Engineer • Current EmployeeSan Jose, California, United StatesNovember 14, 2024Pros: You will learn rocket-fast because you are always pushed by overloaded tasks. A fresh NG will handle several senior-level jobs under limited guidance.Cons: 0 work-life balance. Work, work, work if you are a Chinese speaker. You will be working with people in China during the night for sure. But for non-Chinese speakers, your life will be much better because the leadership will have 0 expectations from you. You can basically chill all day.
TikTok Interview Questions
Explore Interview QuestionsTaro 75Google Interview QuestionsMeta Interview QuestionsAmazon Interview QuestionsApple Interview QuestionsNetflix Interview Questions
Explore Interview ExperiencesOpenAI Interview ExperiencesAnthropic Interview ExperiencesPerplexity Interview ExperiencesWindsurf Interview ExperiencesMistral AI Interview Experiences
