I applied online. The process took 3 months. I interviewed at TikTok (Seattle, WA) in Oct 2023
Interview
It was a four-round interview process over a period of three months. The first round involved coding exercises similar to those found on LeetCode. The second round assessed knowledge of machine learning basics and statistics. The third round focused on discussing work experience and machine learning system design. The fourth round, with the hiring manager, included further discussion of work experience and a LeetCode-style problem. Despite excelling in all four rounds, they ghosted me.
Surprisingly straightforward — I expected a tougher challenge for a machine learning role. After a quick recruiter screen, the first technical round focused on implementing K-means clustering, which felt familiar. Handling edge cases for empty clusters was tricky, though. What really helped me prep were the algorithm explanations on PracHub, which gave me confidence going in. The final interviews were a mix of problem-solving and behavioral questions, and in the end, I received an offer that I accepted. Overall, it was a decent experience.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
implementing K-means clustering from scratch and handling empty cluster edge cases
three rounds, each has coding + ml basic + resume related questions
understand all the details in resume is important, since might go very deep down the project you have worked on
The first round was mainly a CV walkthrough.
The second round focused in depth on one specific project.
Both rounds also included LeetCode medium-level problems.
The third round was with the hiring manager with both project and problems for their business.
