They have very high standards, and it is pretty hard to meet them unless you have startup experience. They seem to focus a lot on scalability. The interviewers were bad communicators and did not explain the requirements clearly. Despite asking follow-up questions to clarify the requirements, they still gave vague answers but expected the solution to mirror their internal one.
Stage 1:
15 Min call (Nothing fancy, they just vet your past experience)
Stage 2: Technical Round
They ask you to build something (usually a function), and the second half of the interview is about writing a function to test whether your implementation works for "millions of queries."
Stage 3: System Design
Depending on which team you will be placed in, a panel will ask you to design an existing system. They then barrage you with questions about scalability.
The following metrics were computed from 2 interview experiences for the xAI Software Engineer role in San Francisco, California.
xAI's interview process for their Software Engineer roles in San Francisco, California is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.
Candidates reported having mixed feelings for xAI's Software Engineer interview process in San Francisco, California.