Wealthfront

Software Engineer Interview Experience

January 14, 2016

Positive ExperienceNo Offer

Process

Overall, Wealthfront is a fantastic engineering company, and their interview process is very direct and transparent. There are several stages.

First, a phone screen with a talent recruiter/HR person to talk about past experience, with some quick Java syntax questions.

Second, a technical coding interview with one of the engineers (about an hour).

Third, a final round interview with two technical interviews and one engineering practices interview (design, and prior experience with testing/code review).

All of these interviews usually happen remotely.

Fourth and finally, if you pass the final round, they'll fly you out to visit the company onsite. I'm not sure if this part is technical.

Overall, they have some really cool technology and were very honest and direct throughout the entire interview process. Pretty much a Java shop, if that makes any difference.

Questions

Standard data structures and algorithms, some DP optimization questions.

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Interview Statistics

The following metrics were computed from 44 interview experiences for the Wealthfront Software Engineer role in United States.

Success Rate

20%

Pass Rate

Wealthfront's interview process for their Software Engineer roles in the United States is very selective, failing most engineers who go through it.

Experience Rating

Positive57%

Neutral16%

Negative27%

Candidates reported having very good feelings for Wealthfront's Software Engineer interview process in United States.

Wealthfront Work Experiences

Great fintech startup

Software Engineer • Former Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

November 11, 2015

Pros: I was there during 2014 and left in early 2015. There was a lot of growth while I was there, and from what I understand there still is, which is exciting for a startup. The people are pretty talented and there are lots of interesting things to work on. I'd recommend it if you are looking to join a fast-paced and interesting startup. For software engineers, one interesting aspect of Wealthfront is that their front end is in Ruby on Rails, while their back end is in Java. In the job market, there are lots of software engineers who know primarily one or the other (e.g., learned mostly Java in college, or learned mostly Ruby and JavaScript at a coder academy). If you fall into one of these groups, it would be pretty beneficial for you to work at Wealthfront because you'll get to learn the other area that you don't know as well. They also have some R code.

Cons: There are a lot of regulations in finance, which means you may have to do some extra things you wouldn't otherwise do. But that's just the price any company has to pay to be in this space. If you want to really "move fast and break things," you'd be better off at Facebook. Wealthfront doesn't want to break things. That being said, they actually deploy pretty often, which you can see at their /engineering page. The regulation is just one thing you have to keep in mind, but it doesn't substantially slow down their rate of progress.

Great fintech startup

Software Engineer • Former Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

November 11, 2015

Pros: I was there during 2014 and left in early 2015. There was a lot of growth while I was there, and from what I understand there still is, which is exciting for a startup. The people are pretty talented and there are lots of interesting things to work on. I'd recommend it if you are looking to join a fast-paced and interesting startup. For software engineers, one interesting aspect of Wealthfront is that their front end is in Ruby on Rails, while their back end is in Java. In the job market, there are lots of software engineers who know primarily one or the other (e.g., learned mostly Java in college, or learned mostly Ruby and JavaScript at a coder academy). If you fall into one of these groups, it would be pretty beneficial for you to work at Wealthfront because you'll get to learn the other area that you don't know as well. They also have some R code.

Cons: There are a lot of regulations in finance, which means you may have to do some extra things you wouldn't otherwise do. But that's just the price any company has to pay to be in this space. If you want to really "move fast and break things," you'd be better off at Facebook. Wealthfront doesn't want to break things. That being said, they actually deploy pretty often, which you can see at their /engineering page. The regulation is just one thing you have to keep in mind, but it doesn't substantially slow down their rate of progress.

Deep Strategy, Long Haul

Software Engineer • Current Employee

January 6, 2018

Pros: Best business strategy education in the valley. Andy Rachleff is one of the deepest thinkers in the world and communicates the 'why' very clearly with our team. We focus on a few things at a time and try to do them exceptionally well. This type of clarity in strategy (everyone understands both the benefits and risks) and focused execution makes it a really fun place to work.

Cons: We don't take anything for granted. We recognize that it takes grit and patience to build out a strategy such as ours, so come in prepared to weather both ups and downs and be in it for the long haul.

Deep Strategy, Long Haul

Software Engineer • Current Employee

January 6, 2018

Pros: Best business strategy education in the valley. Andy Rachleff is one of the deepest thinkers in the world and communicates the 'why' very clearly with our team. We focus on a few things at a time and try to do them exceptionally well. This type of clarity in strategy (everyone understands both the benefits and risks) and focused execution makes it a really fun place to work.

Cons: We don't take anything for granted. We recognize that it takes grit and patience to build out a strategy such as ours, so come in prepared to weather both ups and downs and be in it for the long haul.

Good Perks, Tough Business

Software Engineer • Current Employee

Redwood City, California, United States

December 2, 2016

Pros: Good location, nice building, and snacks.

Cons: Too many moving parts and a tough business.

Good Perks, Tough Business

Software Engineer • Current Employee

Redwood City, California, United States

December 2, 2016

Pros: Good location, nice building, and snacks.

Cons: Too many moving parts and a tough business.

Great fintech startup

Software Engineer • Former Employee

Palo Alto, California, United States

November 11, 2015

Pros: I was there during 2014 and left in early 2015. There was a lot of growth while I was there, and from what I understand there still is, which is exciting for a startup. The people are pretty talented and there are lots of interesting things to work on. I'd recommend it if you are looking to join a fast-paced and interesting startup. For software engineers, one interesting aspect of Wealthfront is that their front end is in Ruby on Rails, while their back end is in Java. In the job market, there are lots of software engineers who know primarily one or the other (e.g., learned mostly Java in college, or learned mostly Ruby and JavaScript at a coder academy). If you fall into one of these groups, it would be pretty beneficial for you to work at Wealthfront because you'll get to learn the other area that you don't know as well. They also have some R code.

Cons: There are a lot of regulations in finance, which means you may have to do some extra things you wouldn't otherwise do. But that's just the price any company has to pay to be in this space. If you want to really "move fast and break things," you'd be better off at Facebook. Wealthfront doesn't want to break things. That being said, they actually deploy pretty often, which you can see at their /engineering page. The regulation is just one thing you have to keep in mind, but it doesn't substantially slow down their rate of progress.

5.0
Great fintech startup
Software Engineer • Former Employee
Palo Alto, California, United States
November 11, 2015
Pros: I was there during 2014 and left in early 2015. There was a lot of growth while I was there, and from what I understand there still is, which is exciting for a startup. The people are pretty talented and there are lots of interesting things to work on. I'd recommend it if you are looking to join a fast-paced and interesting startup. For software engineers, one interesting aspect of Wealthfront is that their front end is in Ruby on Rails, while their back end is in Java. In the job market, there are lots of software engineers who know primarily one or the other (e.g., learned mostly Java in college, or learned mostly Ruby and JavaScript at a coder academy). If you fall into one of these groups, it would be pretty beneficial for you to work at Wealthfront because you'll get to learn the other area that you don't know as well. They also have some R code.
Cons: There are a lot of regulations in finance, which means you may have to do some extra things you wouldn't otherwise do. But that's just the price any company has to pay to be in this space. If you want to really "move fast and break things," you'd be better off at Facebook. Wealthfront doesn't want to break things. That being said, they actually deploy pretty often, which you can see at their /engineering page. The regulation is just one thing you have to keep in mind, but it doesn't substantially slow down their rate of progress.

Deep Strategy, Long Haul

Software Engineer • Current Employee

January 6, 2018

Pros: Best business strategy education in the valley. Andy Rachleff is one of the deepest thinkers in the world and communicates the 'why' very clearly with our team. We focus on a few things at a time and try to do them exceptionally well. This type of clarity in strategy (everyone understands both the benefits and risks) and focused execution makes it a really fun place to work.

Cons: We don't take anything for granted. We recognize that it takes grit and patience to build out a strategy such as ours, so come in prepared to weather both ups and downs and be in it for the long haul.

5.0
Deep Strategy, Long Haul
Software Engineer • Current Employee
January 6, 2018
Pros: Best business strategy education in the valley. Andy Rachleff is one of the deepest thinkers in the world and communicates the 'why' very clearly with our team. We focus on a few things at a time and try to do them exceptionally well. This type of clarity in strategy (everyone understands both the benefits and risks) and focused execution makes it a really fun place to work.
Cons: We don't take anything for granted. We recognize that it takes grit and patience to build out a strategy such as ours, so come in prepared to weather both ups and downs and be in it for the long haul.

Good Perks, Tough Business

Software Engineer • Current Employee

Redwood City, California, United States

December 2, 2016

Pros: Good location, nice building, and snacks.

Cons: Too many moving parts and a tough business.

4.0
Good Perks, Tough Business
Software Engineer • Current Employee
Redwood City, California, United States
December 2, 2016
Pros: Good location, nice building, and snacks.
Cons: Too many moving parts and a tough business.

Wealthfront Interview Questions

Minimum Number of Steps to Make Two Strings Anagram II

Given two strings, find the minimum number of character changes needed to make them anagrams of each other. You can change any character to any other character.

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