Shopify Sr Software Engineer interview questions

It was absolutely useless and a waste of time. I had the 1 technical screening and a “growth path interview”. Screening was a practical technical challenge you’d probably deal with day to day as an engineer. But the fella who interviewed me was absolutely not prepared for it. After screening, I had the “growth path interview”. The description for this screamed red flags all over it. A very ill defined process where the interviewer was an HR person who asked me why I left my previous companies and my salary expectations. There wasn’t a probing question or any deep discussion. The response I got was a generic “other candidates were a closer match to their needs at this point in time”. When asked what the need was they did not disclose - I am owed this for my time at least. So it could easily be based on personal bias, judging also by the fact that they don’t seem well prepared for their interviews. This could have been prevented by reading my CV.

They seem to have simplified the process from 5 interviews down to 3. The first interview is an online coding challenge, followed by pair programming on a slightly in-depth challenge, followed by a technical deep dive. The overall process is great, the technical recruiter sends you an email with calendar link to book your interview, along with information on what is to be expected in the hiring process. It is extremely easy to book and reschedule your interview. My interviewer was one of the Software Development Managers at Shopify. He was very patient and empathetic, and even though I was slightly nervous before the interview because I had no pervious experience with timed online challenge, he put me at ease and even helped me with copy pasting the problem data for tests. Unfortunately I ran out of time just as I was about to pass the final test, the method output was off by 1 and I did not have any more time to investigate it further. I got the rejection email the next day but without the feedback I was hoping for. Which I think can be improved. Advice to Shopify: There is a lot of good information on the private Shopify site for interviewees which is good but perhaps some tips could be added for those who us with no experience of timed coding tasks e.g. should candidates write tests for the initial interview in the limited time provided? Advice to candidates: Although the task itself is easy to medium, be really mindful of time. I started with TDD which might have been the wrong choice because it meant I had to write double the code. I was worried that not starting with a test might be viewed negatively, however, on reflection there is nothing in the provided information (it can be improved) which implies that they would be looking for good practices in the first interview. It seems the only thing they care about is solving the problem in time for all the examples they provide in the problem statement. Because even the interviewer acknowledged that I was on the right track and would have solved the problem in a few minutes but that apparently counts for nothing. If unsure, ask the interviewer. From my singular experience, the interviewer was kind and approachable.