Senior Software Development Engineer Interview Experience - Seattle, Washington
Process
I was contacted by a recruiter and had a chat with them. Following that, I scheduled a phone interview, which was then followed by a full onsite loop.
Overall, the interviews were pretty straightforward, and there was nothing surprising in terms of the questions asked. I admit that the interviewers did not project any enthusiasm about the company, and it felt to me like a very "gray" workplace.
Zillow performs a one-hour session for each interview, making it one of the longest interview loops I've been to.
After a couple of days, I received a rejection. I tried to understand why, but I was told that it's against their policy to share feedback.
Based on other reviews I've seen here, it seems to me that Zillow fancies bringing candidates to a full onsite just to waste their time. This was a complete waste of time, and I gained nothing from this day. I wish I hadn't gone at all.
Questions
Signed an NDA.
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 6 interview experiences for the Zillow Senior Software Development Engineer role in Seattle, Washington.
Success Rate
Zillow's interview process for their Senior Software Development Engineer roles in Seattle, Washington is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having very negative feelings for Zillow's Senior Software Development Engineer interview process in Seattle, Washington.
Zillow Work Experiences
- 4.0Solidly supportive cultureSenior Software Development Engineer • Former EmployeeSeattle, Washington, United StatesAugust 7, 2023Pros: * Plenty of onboarding / ramp-up time * Work-life balance * Great mix of interesting challenges and reasonable delivery expectations * Company lives its valuesCons: I ran into some team-level "ownership" issues: both "we don't want this particular piece" when it makes sense to include it, and "we want to keep control over this other piece" when doing so makes life difficult for other teams for no good reason.
- 4.0A pretty good place to workSenior Software Development Engineer • Former EmployeeSeattle, Washington, United StatesJanuary 24, 2017Pros: Awesome physical environment. Zillow tends to hire smart people who also have empathy towards others. Lots of room for growth in the business. Decent compensation. No on-call. A lot of promotions from within.Cons: Slow release process. It's being worked on, but we were shipping once every 2 weeks, and sometimes once a month, which can be frustrating when what you work on requires iterations. A lot of the tech stack is the result of hack week projects that don't seem to have much ongoing support. Some teams lack a clear charter.
- 5.0An amazing 5 monthsSenior Software Development Engineer • Current EmployeeSeattle, Washington, United StatesJune 15, 2014Pros: What's better than a job that provides 3 weeks of vacation? A job that provides 3 weeks of vacation, plus 2 'hackweeks' in the year, where you get to team up with anyone else and let your creativity run wild. (I'd even trade one of my vacation weeks for an extra hackweek). To top it off, it doesn't hurt spending the remaining weeks innovating with dedicated and motivated teammates. In five months here, I've had a chance to work on a pivotal feature, win at hackweek, and know that the senior folks are listening if I need them. Zillow places a lot of emphasis on culture and looks for ways to keep innovating. If you're talented and motivated, consider spending your energy at Zillow, and my experience here so far says you'll get more energized in return.Cons: Some of the legacy code can be challenging to navigate. On the positive side, most dev managers seem to be open to refactoring small chunks of code despite the obvious risks.
Zillow Interview Questions
