Software Engineer Interview Experience - Berlin, Germany
Process
An internal recruiter reached out to me on StackOverflow, stating they found my profile interesting. After a quick phone call with the recruiter, I was invited for an interview a few days later, which, out of curiosity, I accepted.
During the tour of the Berlin office, as we passed the Human Resources department, they proudly announced that they call it "Talent Management" instead (with a giggle). However, they then put me through the same broken interview process as every other company, except this one took 3.5 hours and was conducted in a very small room without ventilation.
The interview itself was split into:
- 1.5 hours with an engineering manager and one developer
- 1.5 hours with another engineering manager and another developer
- 1.5 hours with two more developers
Before the interview, I looked up the interviewing developers and engineering managers on LinkedIn and GitHub. None of them had any open-source contributions.
Since I regularly contribute to open source, and most projects use open-source software, I asked them during the interview what they thought of open-source contributions. They said they are primarily "business-oriented," meaning they don't care about or encourage contributing back to the projects they use to build their software.
When I asked about the standards they follow, they told me they use their own coding standard and indent PHP code with 2 spaces.
When I asked about their stance on Test-Driven Development (TDD), they said they are very pragmatic about it, meaning they don't encourage or require developers to write tests but are fine if they do.
After a week, they got back to me and stated they do not wish to continue with the application at this time, offering no explanation "because of legal reasons."
Would not recommend.
Questions
How would you design a database schema for a very simple shoe shop?
If you had two animals (a duck and an alligator), and they could swim and walk, how would you implement them?
If the complicated part was the swimming, however, and the animals would swim with different speeds, how would you implement that?
Review this piece of code and tell us what could be improved, please.
How would you implement a URL shortener service?
What kind of person are you? What do you do in your spare time?
What was the worst mistake you have ever made?
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 7 interview experiences for the Wayfair Software Engineer role in Berlin, Germany.
Success Rate
Wayfair's interview process for their Software Engineer roles in Berlin, Germany is fairly selective, failing a large portion of engineers who go through it.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having good feelings for Wayfair's Software Engineer interview process in Berlin, Germany.
Wayfair Work Experiences
- 4.0Friendly Team, Management Needs HelpSoftware Engineer • Former EmployeeJanuary 26, 2021Pros: Good Place to Work and Friendly TeamCons: They should look after their management team.
- 1.0Stressful, unfriendly culture, especially with the 3 and 6-month swordSoftware Engineer • Former EmployeeBoston, Massachusetts, United StatesJuly 27, 2017Pros: You will learn a lot, as there is a sword hanging over your head every time. Having said that, it creates an environment of continuous anxiety.Cons: 1. Hire and fire culture - More than 12 people from a batch of 30 people in Wayfair Labs were fired within 10 months. Those who survived looked stressed and feared for their jobs all the time. 2. Continuous evaluation/micromanagement of work until they let you go. 3. Stressful, unfriendly environment; everyone looks stressed, and employees always work overtime, with no work-life balance. 4. Low pay: ~80k base salary, not enough to sustain in an expensive city like Boston. Other companies pay much better. 5. No appreciation of work. 6. No work visa sponsorship initially; they fire you before the visa sponsorship time comes. 7. Managers do not have a personal relationship with employees; racist environment. DO NOT join.
- 4.0Wayfair is the best company to work forSoftware Engineer • Current EmployeeBoston, Massachusetts, United StatesAugust 5, 2020Pros: I have been at Wayfair for a year to this day. I had never worked in a well-established company before. I enjoy my work here. Though I am nervous and feel less knowledgeable as compared to others on the team, no one looks at me that way. My manager and my other teammates boost my confidence and push me to do more. The environment and people outside my team are friendly and helpful. No one criticizes anyone; instead, everyone works towards lifting everyone up. The tech stack that my team works with is great: C#, SQL, Kube, Kafka, etc. I want to learn and grow more here.Cons: Umm, too competitive. Could chill a bit.
Wayfair Interview Questions
