Software Development Engineer Interview Experience - Seattle, Washington
Process
phone screen, followed by a long day of on-site interviews.
Horrible experience, especially with recruiters. It seems to me that the recruiters at this company are paid by candidates who receive and accept an offer. I know Zillow is considered a growing company with potential, but during the interviews, my overall experience was that it was not such a happy place to be. The interviewers were polite and acted correctly, but I didn't get any vibe from them – nothing. Very low energy.
By far the worst was the recruiter who called me to tell me that I did not receive the offer. He was rude, unpleasant, and made me feel like I had failed completely. He refused to let me know what went wrong. Luckily, I have offers from other top companies, so that makes me feel much better about myself.
Questions
All the questions were of medium difficulty. You can find some of them in the book "Elements of Programming Interviews". If you practice with this book, you will not be surprised. I wasn't surprised at all by the questions, just by the result.
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 37 interview experiences for the Zillow Software Development Engineer role in Seattle, Washington.
Success Rate
Zillow's interview process for their Software Development Engineer roles in Seattle, Washington is very selective, failing most engineers who go through it.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having very good feelings for Zillow's Software Development Engineer interview process in Seattle, Washington.
Zillow Work Experiences
- 5.0Hands down best company to work for in the Seattle areaSoftware Development Engineer • Current EmployeeSeattle, Washington, United StatesDecember 5, 2016Pros: Witnessing tremendous growth, but still maintaining rock-solid culture. Really like how management cares about employees and listens. Employee surveys are taken seriously, and actions are taken based on that. Innovation is at the core of the company. Always thinking big and moving fast to achieve those goals. It is hard to see from the outside, but that is the reason Zillow dominates the markets and competition keeps playing catch-up. Pretty much still a bottom-up approach, with small teams driving awesome products. There is a level of autonomy given to engineers. Work-life balance is great. I really like how we do all release activities during the daytime with almost no downtime to the live site. We have a really efficient operations team that makes this happen (they can be a little stubborn at times, but they need to keep Zillow running -- understandable). That means no on-call for developers.Cons: Mostly due to the flat organizational structure, it's hard to see clear career progression.
- 5.0Always a challenging environment, full of great people and amazing views!Software Development Engineer • Current EmployeeSeattle, Washington, United StatesFebruary 17, 2014Pros: The company has maintained a small company feel despite our rapid growth over the last three years. The people I work with are insightful, creative, and also really supportive and friendly. The work I do is challenging, and recognition for great work is abundant. People are passionate about their work, and it shows in the meetings and in the presentation of projects. The company is very transparent in its goals and processes, and knowledge sharing is encouraged. There is also a huge emphasis on work-life balance, but people also recognize that sometimes those hours need to be put in to hit a deadline. I haven't had an issue with putting in those extra hours because, in the long run, it helps.Cons: There are some big company politics that have crept in subtly with the rapid hiring that we've done of people from the big boys in the area like Microsoft, Expedia, and Google, but most of it is squashed when they figure out how Zillow operates.
- 5.0Best place to workSoftware Development Engineer • Current EmployeeSeattle, Washington, United StatesMay 7, 2021Pros: Very clear core values, nice and supportive peers, challenging but attainable mission statement.Cons: None that I can think of
Zillow Interview Questions
