I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Spotify (San Francisco, CA) in Feb 2017
Interview
1. HR call - background experience, technology stack, why Spotify etc
2. Google Hangout interview with Engineer - Programming test
3. Onsite interview with specific pattern given in advance
Tip: Cracking the coding interview book will help lot. It covers all the topics they generally ask in interview.
Interview questions [2]
Question 1
Google Hangout Interview:
1. Implement function for fibonacci series
2. Given sorted array, convert into binary tree
Explain time complexity of both
Onsite Interview:
Five hours 2:1 interview with following specific pattern:
1. System Design and Scalibility:
Design a system for "like" button for a blog post website
They expect you to explain detailed design of components and choosing specific technology/software products. Prepare to give answer for large number of users.
2. Programming:
Sketch OOD and write code for Sudoku game
3. Use case:
Cannot describe exact question but you will be given diagram of a system - with all components, how they interact with each other. You can ask all statistics and log information. You will be alert with some problem in the system and asked to find what it is and why?
4. Spotify Value:
Some tricky behavior questions that need preparation.
- what is your favorite work environment
- what do you like - individual or team
- what is an ideal team look like for you
- what is agile - advantages
- what does scrum master do
- if you are appointed for CEO role, what change would you make in company?
- What does your manager do and what is ideal manager look like
- If you get chance to become an animal, what would you like to be?
I applied online. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at Spotify (London, England)
Interview
I had an intital interview, but I knew I would fail, The recruiter seemed disinterested and moody like tired. I got asked the typical questions like salary and stuff, but I knew I was going to fail the interview due to the above.
I think if I had a different more professional interviewer I would have passed.
I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Spotify (London, England) in Apr 2025
Interview
I had 3 rounds:
1. Phone screening with hiring manager: my background, feedback culture. Fairly standard.
2. Technical screening with 2 engineers: tell in depth about one of my recent projects, general technical questions (TCP/UPD, DNS, etc). One easy LeetCode problem.
3. 4 interviews on last stage: values, algo & ds, system design, case study.
Values - normal set of values/behavioral questions that should be answered with STAR.
Algo & DS - 1 medium LeetCode problem.
System Design - basic system design task, not complex system.
Case study - debug previously occurred production incident.
Interview process was good, hiring manager kept me updated during whole process and helped a lot. Interviewers were great and friendly, I did not feel like it was "gotcha" type of interviews, but rather they genuinely tried to know more about me.
My advice: clearly explain and speak aloud your thought process on technical interviews, and prepare STAR format answers for most commonly asked values questions in advance and memorize your answers.
1 phone screen, and onsite 1 technical, 1 system design, behavioral, and case study. All leetcode style. Traditional. They are very slow however. They will compare you with other candidates and get all the feedback at once. It's an employers market most definitely.
