I applied through a recruiter. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at ByteDance in Oct 2021
Interview
A recruiter reached out to me and recommended me to interview for one of the new grad roles. Failed the first interview, which is partly on me as I did not prepare much for the interview, considering that ByteDance was one of the first few companies I was interviewing for. However, the interview experience was bad. The first part was some theoretical questions and the second part was a medium LC question. The interviewer was Chinese and could not speak English properly. I had a lot of difficulties understanding what he was asking and saying most of the time. He felt impatient and rude when I could not answer some of the questions clearly. I actually managed to answer the algo question pretty quickly, but he did not ask me to run the code or even run through with him how the code works. I think it might be because I already failed the interview before the algo question as I did not answer well for quite a number of the theoretical questions in the first part. But, this goes to show how unprofessional the interviewer is. I had 20+ interviews with other companies after this, and I can say that all of the interviewers were much more professional than him. I hope that I am just unlucky to get such an interviewer and other interviewers at ByteDance are better. Otherwise, I would be very thankful to have failed the interview, as I definitely would not want to work with such colleagues. Lastly, small thing, but he did not on his video camera for the interview.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
The first part was some theoretical questions and the second part was a medium LC question.
The entire interview processes was a recruiter call plus three rounds of technical interviews. Interviewers were friendly. Technical coding questions and work related questions were asked based on your past work experiences. Each interview saved time for the candidate to ask questions.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Technical questions related to past work experiences.
Scheduled with recruiter. Scheduled and interviewed. It was well organized. Interviewer are good. HR, manager, hiring manager. Some of the interview organized around 8pm. Some of the interview organized around 8pm.
The interview process was well-structured and relatively efficient. It typically consisted of multiple rounds:
Online assessment / initial screening: Focused on data structures and algorithms, with medium-to-hard LeetCode-style problems.
Technical interviews (2–3 rounds): Covered core computer science fundamentals (data structures, algorithms, system design basics), along with problem-solving and coding in real time. Interviewers also asked follow-up questions to evaluate depth of understanding and optimization.
Project discussion: Detailed discussion of past projects, including design decisions, trade-offs, and real-world impact.
HR / behavioral round: Focused on communication skills, teamwork, and cultural fit.
Overall, the process emphasized strong coding ability, solid fundamentals, and the ability to think clearly under pressure. Interviewers were generally professional, though the difficulty level was on the higher side, especially for algorithm questions.
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