Recruiter reached out via LinkedIn and I replied. Recruiter call followed by 3 technical phone screens, one with Hiring Manager and 2 others with Engineers on the team. 5 onsite interviews and 1 presentation interview about past project.
Hiring manager mentioned that he doesn't believe in Leetcode type questions and there will be not be any in the interview. BUT, all the coding questions were from Leetcode. I could answer most of them, except 1. Here are few more details.
PHONE SCREENS:
1. Recruiter Call
2. Hiring Manager call - Past experience and go over what the team does.
3. Coding interview - 2 Leetcode questions.
4. System Design
ONSITE:
1. Presentation about past project & questions related to that.
2. SRE type questions about troubleshooting.
3. Leetcode medium.
4. System Design.
5. Leetcode medium. Interview is 45 mins but Interviewer thought it was 1 hour, I couldn't complete my answer.
6. 2 Leetcode questions. 1 easy, 1 medium. Couldn't answer the medium question. Fell short of time
After a week recruiter emailed that they don't think I am good fit.
9
Other Senior Software Engineer interview reviews for Tesla
Tesla software engineer interview process includes recruiter screening, technical coding rounds, system design discussion, problem solving, and behavioral interviews assessing culture fit, innovation mindset, and ability to work in fast paced, high impact engineering teams.
I applied online. I interviewed at Tesla (Bellevue, WA) in Mar 2026
Interview
I applied online, and a recruiter reached out to me. We had a regular recruiter screening interview. Moved to online phone screen. They will start with intros on both ends and ask about a project in detail. I explained my project in detail, but the interviewer didn't feel it was very challenging. Well, can't do much about it. Then went for a system design question. I explained till deep dive, and then the time was over. The last 5 minutes were spent asking any questions I had. I feel 20 min is way too little to design and discuss system design. But that's how their process is. I felt the interviewer was condescending.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Explain your best project in granular detail
Design Ticketmaster
Tricky with lots of technical questions would recommend knowing your stuff. Microprocessors were repeatedly talked about as well so worthwhile knowing what they are and now I’m trying to reach thirty words