Zipline

Software Engineer Interview Experience

January 17, 2021

Positive ExperienceGot Offer

Process

I applied through a recruiter.

Phone call with recruiter: This was mainly to check if I was interested in the opportunity and see where my head was at.
Phone call with online coding assessment: I was given a challenge and was asked to start the solution online and finished it up as a take-home assessment.
Onsite interview: I had four interview sessions with different people across the company. This was a fun interview for me because I got to talk to different kinds of people and got more insight into the company. I interviewed them as much as they interviewed me.

Questions

Describe a time when you failed at something. I can't remember any of the other questions at the moment.

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Interview Statistics

The following metrics were computed from 21 interview experiences for the Zipline Software Engineer role.

Success Rate

14%

Pass Rate

Zipline's interview process for their Software Engineer roles is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.

Experience Rating

Positive48%

Neutral29%

Negative24%

Candidates reported having good feelings for Zipline's Software Engineer interview process.

Zipline Work Experiences

Really good

Software Engineer • Former Employee

Saint Louis, MO

Pros: This is an excellent team to work with.

Cons: There was nothing I could think of.

Software Engineer • Former Employee

Saint Louis, MO

Pros: This is an excellent team to work with.

Cons: There was nothing I could think of.

Scrappy, gritty and wholesome work environment

Software Engineer • Current Employee

Pros: It's largely a company of peers; everyone is approachable. There's minimal politics in the negative sense. Folk give direct feedback to each other and generally get along. Problems are solved pragmatically. Flight operators and manufacturing are revered by engineering. Individuals are given as much responsibility and ownership as they can handle. Folk at all levels are encouraged to focus on and supported in their personal development. The company has always been proactive, fair, and overly generous with periodic compensation adjustments in my experience.

Cons: It's honestly hard to come up with any cons. It's the best place I've worked and I currently have no plans on leaving. The company has grown quite a bit and there have been cultural pains at times, but it's mostly settled down to a stable equilibrium. I've heard criticisms from friends that are former coworkers, but nothing that I can't attribute to mismatched expectations or burnout. It's possible for folk to burn themselves out at Zipline like any other startup and many folk do, but I can't blame the "management" for that; in my experience, it's a very supportive environment in terms of maximizing health and happiness.

Scrappy, gritty and wholesome work environment

Software Engineer • Current Employee

Pros: It's largely a company of peers; everyone is approachable. There's minimal politics in the negative sense. Folk give direct feedback to each other and generally get along. Problems are solved pragmatically. Flight operators and manufacturing are revered by engineering. Individuals are given as much responsibility and ownership as they can handle. Folk at all levels are encouraged to focus on and supported in their personal development. The company has always been proactive, fair, and overly generous with periodic compensation adjustments in my experience.

Cons: It's honestly hard to come up with any cons. It's the best place I've worked and I currently have no plans on leaving. The company has grown quite a bit and there have been cultural pains at times, but it's mostly settled down to a stable equilibrium. I've heard criticisms from friends that are former coworkers, but nothing that I can't attribute to mismatched expectations or burnout. It's possible for folk to burn themselves out at Zipline like any other startup and many folk do, but I can't blame the "management" for that; in my experience, it's a very supportive environment in terms of maximizing health and happiness.

Toxic environment with impulsive leadership and harassment

Software Engineer • Former Employee

Pros: There are no pros, the leaders at this company are highly incompetent. This is why the company failed to launch a major new retail partner on their app on time and caused them to push back their deadlines.

Cons: Youre senior director will decide on a whim RTO office thats effectively immediately, signal of impulsive leaders. Your manager will give you no actionable advice or roadmap on how to be successful in your role. Your manager will harass/threaten you daily Your co-workers will spread rumors about you, toxic environment. The senior engineers the application team will constantly talk bad about the founder, Ryan, code quality and lack of technical strength. Your manager will expect you to fly to a customer for a simple tasks at moment notice because "everything is better in person".

Toxic environment with impulsive leadership and harassment

Software Engineer • Former Employee

Pros: There are no pros, the leaders at this company are highly incompetent. This is why the company failed to launch a major new retail partner on their app on time and caused them to push back their deadlines.

Cons: Youre senior director will decide on a whim RTO office thats effectively immediately, signal of impulsive leaders. Your manager will give you no actionable advice or roadmap on how to be successful in your role. Your manager will harass/threaten you daily Your co-workers will spread rumors about you, toxic environment. The senior engineers the application team will constantly talk bad about the founder, Ryan, code quality and lack of technical strength. Your manager will expect you to fly to a customer for a simple tasks at moment notice because "everything is better in person".

Really good

Software Engineer • Former Employee

Saint Louis, MO

Pros: This is an excellent team to work with.

Cons: There was nothing I could think of.

5.0
Really good
Software Engineer • Former Employee
Saint Louis, MO
March 22, 2021
Pros: This is an excellent team to work with.
Cons: There was nothing I could think of.

Scrappy, gritty and wholesome work environment

Software Engineer • Current Employee

Pros: It's largely a company of peers; everyone is approachable. There's minimal politics in the negative sense. Folk give direct feedback to each other and generally get along. Problems are solved pragmatically. Flight operators and manufacturing are revered by engineering. Individuals are given as much responsibility and ownership as they can handle. Folk at all levels are encouraged to focus on and supported in their personal development. The company has always been proactive, fair, and overly generous with periodic compensation adjustments in my experience.

Cons: It's honestly hard to come up with any cons. It's the best place I've worked and I currently have no plans on leaving. The company has grown quite a bit and there have been cultural pains at times, but it's mostly settled down to a stable equilibrium. I've heard criticisms from friends that are former coworkers, but nothing that I can't attribute to mismatched expectations or burnout. It's possible for folk to burn themselves out at Zipline like any other startup and many folk do, but I can't blame the "management" for that; in my experience, it's a very supportive environment in terms of maximizing health and happiness.

5.0
Scrappy, gritty and wholesome work environment
Software Engineer • Current Employee
April 27, 2021
Pros: It's largely a company of peers; everyone is approachable. There's minimal politics in the negative sense. Folk give direct feedback to each other and generally get along. Problems are solved pragmatically. Flight operators and manufacturing are revered by engineering. Individuals are given as much responsibility and ownership as they can handle. Folk at all levels are encouraged to focus on and supported in their personal development. The company has always been proactive, fair, and overly generous with periodic compensation adjustments in my experience.
Cons: It's honestly hard to come up with any cons. It's the best place I've worked and I currently have no plans on leaving. The company has grown quite a bit and there have been cultural pains at times, but it's mostly settled down to a stable equilibrium. I've heard criticisms from friends that are former coworkers, but nothing that I can't attribute to mismatched expectations or burnout. It's possible for folk to burn themselves out at Zipline like any other startup and many folk do, but I can't blame the "management" for that; in my experience, it's a very supportive environment in terms of maximizing health and happiness.

Toxic environment with impulsive leadership and harassment

Software Engineer • Former Employee

Pros: There are no pros, the leaders at this company are highly incompetent. This is why the company failed to launch a major new retail partner on their app on time and caused them to push back their deadlines.

Cons: Youre senior director will decide on a whim RTO office thats effectively immediately, signal of impulsive leaders. Your manager will give you no actionable advice or roadmap on how to be successful in your role. Your manager will harass/threaten you daily Your co-workers will spread rumors about you, toxic environment. The senior engineers the application team will constantly talk bad about the founder, Ryan, code quality and lack of technical strength. Your manager will expect you to fly to a customer for a simple tasks at moment notice because "everything is better in person".

1.0
Toxic environment with impulsive leadership and harassment
Software Engineer • Former Employee
May 3, 2026
Pros: There are no pros, the leaders at this company are highly incompetent. This is why the company failed to launch a major new retail partner on their app on time and caused them to push back their deadlines.
Cons: Youre senior director will decide on a whim RTO office thats effectively immediately, signal of impulsive leaders. Your manager will give you no actionable advice or roadmap on how to be successful in your role. Your manager will harass/threaten you daily Your co-workers will spread rumors about you, toxic environment. The senior engineers the application team will constantly talk bad about the founder, Ryan, code quality and lack of technical strength. Your manager will expect you to fly to a customer for a simple tasks at moment notice because "everything is better in person".

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