I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Pinterest (San Jose, CA) in Nov 2023
Interview
The interview consists of an online assessment, a hr call and four rounds virtual onsite (2 machine learning system design interview and 2 coding interview]. The four rounds virtual onsite can be scheduled in the same day or in two days.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Online assessment (75 minutes): 6 choice problems, 1 neural network calculation, 1 coding and 2 ML coding. The ML coding problem is decision tree and random forest
ML system design interview
Q1: how to design the user embedding?
Q2: how to design a ML system for unsafe content detection?
Coding interview: medium to hard level leetcode questions (not the same problem)
The phone screen was a mix of behavioral questions and some basic technical concepts, which was a bit different from what I anticipated. After that, I faced a technical round that focused on implementing sparse matrix operations. To my surprise, the coding question was nearly identical to what I'd practiced in the algorithm section on PracHub just days before. The onsite interview included some more DSA challenges and a discussion on machine learning concepts, which helped me feel well-prepared. Overall, the experience was smooth, and I accepted the offer afterward.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Implement sparse matrix storage, addition, and multiplication
The assessment time was very short and harsh. There were lots of questions with a very limited time. I liked the other big companies' assessments better. For example, Meta and Google assessments are through talking to a person while coding.
I applied for the new grad MLE position. The process included an online assessment, a 20-minute HR call, and four onsite interviews (two coding and two machine learning system design).
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