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      Solutions Engineer Interview

      17 Feb 2018
      Anonymous interview candidate
      San Francisco, CA
      No offer
      Positive experience
      Average interview

      Application

      I applied through other source. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Algolia (San Francisco, CA) in Feb 2018

      Interview

      One of the team leads contacted me over Hired. It was, to date, the most impressive pitch for a job I've experienced--especially given that I had little interest in it at first. He gave me a great impression of the culture, and a lot of motivation to give it a shot. The coding assignment was longer than the usual 2-4 hour CRUD app, and involved tasks that were very new to me. Nevertheless, it was enjoyable, and certainly worth it to become familiar with the product and to get a sense of the types of challenges you might face in the role. The assignment review was conducted with two other Solutions Engineers, both of whom were as charming and intelligent as the first. They dove into some of the issues with the project and were sure to balance it with words of encouragement when they noticed I was a bit intimidated. It helped build trust, and I was able to learn more about them after the technical portion. I noticed from reading other Glassdoor interviews that, under normal circumstances, the next step would either be a call with the VP of Product or an on-site interview. In my case, I was asked to do an additional technical screening, which made me start to doubt whether I was a good fit. Additionally, when I looked up the person meant to interview me, I discovered a pull request on the main project's GitHub repo that implied I had taken too long on the assignment. I also noticed he had deleted someone's responses, which made me start to worry about the culture. The additional screening turned out to be very easy--just to check if I could rapidly create a basic page and manipulate the DOM with JavaScript. If you're comfortable with positioning elements with CSS and have a good grasp of jQuery or Vue, this will be cake. The interviewer also turned out to be very friendly and encouraging, so I had simply gotten worked up over nothing. I made it to the on-site round. At this point, I realized that the role had become a "dream job", and as a result, the nerves started to really kick in. Their office in SF is nice, and the HR person who greeted me there was wonderful. I had a call with the other team lead in France, followed by a series of three interviews with sales managers and engineers. There was yet another technical screen, this time sorting a JSON file. I concluded the on-site with a brief presentation, followed by a Q&A. Try to anticipate questions such as what you would've improved and how you accomplished each part, since in both cases I made mistakes with my responses. The on-site interview resulted in me being disqualified due to a lack of experience. It was definitely dissappointing to hear, but based on the quality of the people I met, I'm confident they made a decision that would've prevented a bad situation for both of us. I also feel like they took my strengths into consideration and that it wasn't a flippant dismissal. If you're reading this with the intention of applying or in the middle of the process, I understand that my words may discourage you. Please do not let them. If you want to work on an great product with honest, genuine people, you owe it to yourself to give it a shot. Just be prepared and be forthcoming.

      Interview questions [5]

      Question 1

      Remove duplicates in a JSON file and numerically sort the IDs inside it.
      Answer question

      Question 2

      Find a users location using navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition()
      Answer question

      Question 3

      Create a very simple to-do app in 15 minutes that can add items to a list by pressing "enter"
      Answer question

      Question 4

      How would you design a system where, when a user adds a photo, that image gets automatically added to the Algolia index?
      Answer question

      Question 5

      Tell me about a time you failed. Make sure it's a real failure--they'll be disappointed if you tell a "made a boo-boo, but it was alllll okay in the end" type charade. Real transparency hurts.
      Answer question
      5

      Other Solutions Engineer interview reviews for Algolia

      Solutions Engineer Interview

      13 May 2021
      Anonymous interview candidate
      No offer
      Negative experience
      Easy interview

      Application

      I applied online. I interviewed at Algolia in Apr 2021

      Interview

      First interview round was with the hiring manager, tested basic technical knowledge and sales acumen. Gave information about on-target earnings compensation with ratio at 75%/25% with a base salary ranging from $115k-$130k, and described the interview process, technical screen and mentioned that there would be a take-home technical assessment. Second interview round was with the Senior Manager of Solutions Engineering. Covered experience and work history and what I was looking for in my next role. This interview went well and I was informed that they would move me to the next round which would consist of some algorithms and data structures puzzles. There were some schedule conflicts on their side so I didn't get the opportunity to get all my questions answered. I was encouraged to send remaining questions via email which I did however no response to those questions was ever given. Third round included Senior Manager of Solutions Engineering and a Senior Solutions Engineer. For the technical screen they required that I open an editor and share my entire screen in the meeting. Ground rules were no googling for answers, some documentation may be used, e.g. MDN. Wasn't informed about a full on whiteboarding session. In the past this company is known to not use whiteboarding and prefers take-home challenges. Went ahead with screenshare however we ran into a technical issue. The screensharing function was just displaying a black screen. We decided to reschedule after I was able to troubleshoot the issue on my end. They could just use a coderpad for this type of test but apparently have trust issues about candidates googling answers to their leetcode problems? Rescheduled the interview with the coordinator after letting them know what happened and promptly received another meeting invite after being assured that this was no issue. Two hours later I received another email from the hiring manager that stated they decided to move forward with other candidates. Based on other reviews/responses here it seems that there was a change in leadership which might explain why this process was so scatterbrained. Still no excuse to flat out lie to candidates and deceive them about whats expected during the interview process.

      Interview questions [4]

      Question 1

      Describe what an API is.
      Answer question

      Question 2

      Describe the difference between relational/non-relational DB.
      Answer question

      Question 3

      How would you sell [most recent employer/product] to a client?
      Answer question

      Question 4

      What are you looking for in your next role?
      Answer question
      7

      Solutions Engineer Interview

      18 Mar 2021
      Anonymous interview candidate
      No offer
      Negative experience
      Average interview

      Application

      I applied online. I interviewed at Algolia in Mar 2021

      Interview

      I applied online and then a recruiter reached out to me to schedule an interview. The recruiter was really nice and friendly and seem to like my background a lot and stated that it will be a great fit and is looking forward to move me to the next steps of the process. The recruiter thoroughly explained each step of the process and said that the process is usually pretty quick and that I should hear back as soon as the end of the day (it was a Friday) or the latest on Monday. The recruiter also promised to send demo links for me to play around with the product to get more familiar with it. It went great, I sent a follow up email to say thank you. The recruiter might seem overly friendly since the recruiter stated that this process can be expedited because of some special relationship with my next interviewer. I did not put too much thought into it and just shrug it off. Monday comes, did not hear anything. I scheduled a phone call to just follow up since I still have the calendar link from the previous email. The recruiter did not call me. I sent an email to follow up again and reschedule. But received an automated response that the recruiter was no longer with the company. This happened within one week. On the automated email, there were instructions to contact the recruiter's manager. So I contacted the manager. Then an hour after, received an automated email message that they are moving forward with other candidates. VERY UNPROFESSIONAL!

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      Tell me about your self, previous work experience, what are you looking for in your next role
      Answer question
      8
      avatar
      Algolia response
      5y
      Thanks for letting us know about your experience. Unfortunately, we had a contract recruiter that needed to leave her assignment quickly, so we apologize for the handoff. If you want more detail on why your candidacy was declined, please feel free to email recruiting@algolia.com. Best of luck to you in your search! -Kristie Rodenbush, Chief People Officer

      Solutions Engineer Interview

      3 Feb 2021
      Anonymous interview candidate
      No offer
      Positive experience
      Average interview

      Application

      I applied online. I interviewed at Algolia

      Interview

      Very fast response if they want to move forward with your application. Initial call with recruiter, then you speak to the hiring manager, followed by a take home assignment, then a debrief session where you talk through what you did

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      What languages are you familiar with and how do you feel about being technical
      Answer question