I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Twilio in Sep 2014
Interview
Recruiter talk, then a phone interview. The phone interview questions are mainly about Java concepts, like how to make a Hashmap thread safe, what to do in case of collision, what is and the usage of Singleton pattern, and java synchronized keyword. At the end is an coding problem to determine if a ransom letter can be composed using a magazine. The question part took over than half an hour, and the coding part only took a little over 10 mins, which I think should be the other way around.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Had difficulty answering some of the java questions.
I applied in-person. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Twilio (Pittsburgh, PA) in Oct 2013
Interview
Met team at campus recruitment event. Could use previous experience to engage with them. Secured on-campus interview next day. Went well, was mainly technical. Followed by dinner with team. Followed by 2 phone screens. Both technical. Not very challenging but needed basic CS and systems knowledge. Second one quizzed me on specific technology Twilio worked with - things I was somewhat familiar with. Third "interview" was discussion with team lead to discuss position and seal the deal.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Given a hash map implemented as an array of linked lists, how would you make it concurrently accessible?
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at Twilio (San Francisco, CA) in Nov 2011
Interview
The interview process was similar to what others describe. I first had a phone screen. First thing I notice was how hard it was to hear the person on the other line. Apparently they use their own technology which really make it hard to hear. The initial phone screen didn't ask anything difficult just generally who I am and what I do.
The second phone interview was with a senior engineer. Again the phone connection was hard to hear on. He asked a bunch of random python trivia questions (generator interfaces, list implementation) Very specific stuff.
Few days later they schedule an onsite interview. First thing I notice when I get into their office is that the entire room is jam packed with people. It looks very busy and chaotic. Very much seemed like they needed to expand into a new office. They offered me something to drink, gave me an office tour, and made me wait around for a while. Apparently a few people that were going to interview me weren't in that day. Also, several times people tried to take the conference room where I was being interviewed (the only conference room?) and use it. Anyway, I met with one of the senior engineers which gave me a design problem for a RESTful interface for storing data in some connected-grid format. I had to do some whiteboard coding for it. The next interview was with a new engineer and a senior engineer. They gave me another design problem for building a shopping cart api, again with some coding but this time more focused on the design. After that I briefly got to talk to the CTO.
The office itself had a lot of character. The bathroom itself had some fun posters. They have cool t-shirts, and jumpsuits. They had catered food and lots of free beverages. The windows are kind of small and didn't add too much light to the work environment. Overall people seemed pretty friendly was my general impression.
Interview questions [2]
Question 1
Design a RESTful interface for this connected graph data storage system.