The TripAdvisor interview process took a long time. I first interviewed in September 2014 and received my offer in December 2014. I really wanted to work for them, so I stuck it through, even though the process was long.

I handed in my resume at my university career fair in September. I was invited to interview the next day on campus. I interviewed with a senior technical manager. He was friendly and asked me two coding questions related to trees; the first one was pretty easy, and the second was more involved. We talked about what I was looking for in terms of what I wanted to work on, and the different office locations for engineers at TripAdvisor.

Since my campus interview went well and I stated I wanted to do mobile engineering, TripAdvisor set up a Skype interview with one of the mobile engineering tech leads. It didn't take long for them to let me know the results of my on-campus interview, but it took a really long time to set up the next interview.

In my Skype interview with the mobile engineering team, the interviewer noticed I had a background in computer networking as well, so he asked a few questions in that area and also asked me some Java-specific questions. Then he asked me a more involved coding question, which I coded on an online code-sharing page.

After that, it took a while for TripAdvisor to respond with my results and invite me to an onsite interview at their Newton office. This also took a while to reschedule, and to reschedule around all the other company onsite interviews I had. The onsite interview could have provided more information regarding the schedule of the day, but it was adequate enough that I knew where and when to go.

During my onsite interview, I interviewed with two hiring managers and one tech lead. Onsite, all my interviewers were very nice. I was asked all technical coding questions and some behavioral questions. They were very interested to know what I wanted to work on if I was hired, which was a refreshing change from other companies where I was told I wouldn't have any say and I would be placed wherever more engineers were needed. One of the hiring managers took me to the catered lunch in the cafeteria, and I had the chance to hang out with the team and eat lunch. I also received a short tour of the office before lunch. I was supposed to interview with the Mobile engineering director last, but he was on vacation, so it was postponed to the following week over Skype.

After that, TripAdvisor was very quick with their responses. In my Skype interview with the engineering director, he was very friendly, and I was asked another technical coding question. I finished the coding question, and we talked about the solution and the time/space complexities. He basically said I was hired, and the only thing left was for me to interview with Andy, who was the senior VP of engineering at TripAdvisor.

Even though all my previous interviews with TripAdvisor had gone well, my interview with Andy was pretty tough. He asked me more knowledge-based questions, and I didn't answer any questions correctly, but it seemed as though he was more interested in my thought process.

The following Monday (I interviewed with Andy on a Wednesday, two days before my first final exam), I received an email from my recruiter saying they were going to give me an offer. We set up a time to discuss the offer. When my recruiter called and told me the offer, I accepted without negotiating since it was a very competitive offer.

I was asked a mix of knowledge-based questions, ranging from Java-specific to UNIX-specific.

There were also networking questions on protocols and commands (like how traceroute works) and coding questions.