Software Engineer Interview Experience - San Jose, California
June 14, 2026
Positive ExperienceNo Offer
Process
I applied online.
The process is one by one: if you pass one, they will set another one for the next, otherwise they stop. There are two technical rounds with the team involving a project and coding, followed by a hiring manager round and then an HR behavioral questions round.
Questions
Dive deep into your project and ask questions around it. There was LeetCode medium-level coding.
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 82 interview experiences for the TikTok Software Engineer role in San Jose, California.
Success Rate
6%
Pass Rate
TikTok's interview process for their Software Engineer roles in San Jose, California is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.
Experience Rating
Positive37%
Neutral39%
Negative24%
Candidates reported having good feelings for TikTok's Software Engineer interview process in San Jose, California.
TikTok Work Experiences
3.0
Speak Chinese, But Bad Wlb
Software Engineer • Former Employee
San Jose, California, United States
April 17, 2025
Pros: If you are Chinese, you get to speak Chinese all the time and travel to China a lot.
Cons: Bad work-life balance, lots of meetings at night.
5.0
Creative Teams, Lacking Balance
Software Engineer • Current Employee
San Jose, California, United States
April 22, 2024
Pros: Fast-growing and creative teams
Cons: Work-life balance is not that good.
1.0
Horrible company with fake culture
Software Engineer • Current Employee
San Jose, California, United States
August 3, 2023
Pros: The CEO is the main pro. Otherwise, the benefits and offerings on campus are not even comparable to what other large companies in tech provide. The best perk is their fitness allowance, I guess. WLB is pretty good too because you don't really need to work, as the company is overhiring.
Cons: If you don't speak Mandarin, you're at a heavy disadvantage. 95%+ of the company is Chinese, so you'll have to get used to being in meetings where only Chinese is spoken and seeing the language spoken in the office and all your chat threads.
Also, it's very obvious that everyone at the company is forced to do what satisfies HQ (aka "China Team").
- 3.0Speak Chinese, But Bad WlbSoftware Engineer • Former EmployeeSan Jose, California, United StatesApril 17, 2025Pros: If you are Chinese, you get to speak Chinese all the time and travel to China a lot.Cons: Bad work-life balance, lots of meetings at night.
- 5.0Creative Teams, Lacking BalanceSoftware Engineer • Current EmployeeSan Jose, California, United StatesApril 22, 2024Pros: Fast-growing and creative teamsCons: Work-life balance is not that good.
- 1.0Horrible company with fake cultureSoftware Engineer • Current EmployeeSan Jose, California, United StatesAugust 3, 2023Pros: The CEO is the main pro. Otherwise, the benefits and offerings on campus are not even comparable to what other large companies in tech provide. The best perk is their fitness allowance, I guess. WLB is pretty good too because you don't really need to work, as the company is overhiring.Cons: If you don't speak Mandarin, you're at a heavy disadvantage. 95%+ of the company is Chinese, so you'll have to get used to being in meetings where only Chinese is spoken and seeing the language spoken in the office and all your chat threads. Also, it's very obvious that everyone at the company is forced to do what satisfies HQ (aka "China Team").
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