I applied through a recruiter. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Instacart (Toronto, ON) in Mar 2019
Interview
First there was a phone screen. Then there was a pair-programming/remote technical exercise. They asked to schedule another phone call with one of their engineers and have me come for an on-site interview.
They gave me another technical "quiz" about decrypting a password from an endless stream over an API and another about playing some kind of weird matching game over an API - with a 3 hour time limit, to complete both.
I wasn't able to complete the exercise completely, so I just submitted what I had (first question done, second about 50%) - so they just outright cancelled my onsite and didn't bother to message me to say they were stopping the process.
It's OK that the didn't want to move forward but the way the did it was very rude and unprofessional - showing they have no respect for the time of their candidates.
20
Other Software Engineer interview reviews for Instacart
I applied online. I interviewed at Instacart (Toronto, ON)
Interview
I had a couple of interview rounds with Instacart. Overall, I think it went pretty well, except for one round that didn’t feel as strong. I asked for feedback afterward, but unfortunately they didn’t share any. The system design and algorithm questions were manageable, especially if you’re familiar with LeetCode-style problems. One thing I really appreciated is that they clearly explain what to expect in each interview round ahead of time, which helps a lot with preparation.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
One of the rounds was behavioral — they asked questions based on my resume and also about how I work and behave in a team environment.
Four long rounds and ghosted after the interview, even though all technical assessments went well. Tedious process but they do give you a gift card as a compensation for your time and effort.
I applied online. I interviewed at Instacart (Toronto, ON) in Jul 2025
Interview
2 rounds of 60 min coding sessions, a 1hr break after that, 45 min behavioural round, and then an easy system design round for 60 mins. Questions were pretty straight forward and easy. Second coding round has data structures involved, first one is just parsing thru dictionaries. Could not finish the second part of the second coding round. Behavioural interviewer has a dull personality and sort of killed the vibe. Otherwise I did really well on every round but still didn’t get the offer. Looking at Reddit, seems like many people had the same experience and were surprised to not get the offer so I don’t know if it’s worth your time interviewing here.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
[coding round 2]: you have one shopper and multiple orders of varying start times and durations. Calculate the average wait times.
