I applied through a recruiter. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Lightspeed (Berlin) in Aug 2022
Interview
4-steps interview
1. Call with the recruiter
- Discussed about the role, company, salary expectations etc.
2. Technical and Behavioral Interview with the Tech Lead
- Discussed the topics mentioned in my resume. Asked questions about CICD pipelines, architecture and cloud infrastructure. Also discussed my future goals, working mode preferences, the team and responsibilities etc.
3. Technical Pair Programming Interview with two members of the team
- This was a 90 minutes coding round with two members from the team. Discussed some problems I have solved in my previous experience. A close to real world coding problem and how I could solve it. Also discussed some technical details about networking, infrastructure and python.
4. Behavioral Interview with the PM
- This was a behavioral interview with the PM. No specific pattern of questions but we generally discussed my previous experience and decisions behind my solutions. Also different types of testing.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
1. Given a specific problem, how would I scale Kafka consumers?
2. How would I design my CICD pipeline and why?
3. In the coding interview, I was asked to write a solution for a problem and later to make the implementation better.
4. Functional approach to a problem in Python
5. How does decorators work in Python?
6. Unit testing, e2e testing, UI testing etc.
Hi there, thanks for taking the time to share your interview experience with Lightspeed!
Negative experience
Difficult interview
Application
I interviewed at Lightspeed (Berlin)
Interview
I experienced the interview process as very disrespectful. Only during the feedback conversation after my rejection did I learn that the position had effectively shifted toward a mid‑level role, something that had not been communicated to me beforehand. I was told that this feedback that I am, somehow, actually a mid level developer (despite covering the job of a senior) was told to me “for the sake of my future.” In my view, questioning a candidate’s seniority, especially when they have already held comparable roles for years, is inappropriate. I ultimately accepted a senior position elsewhere with higher compensation and full remote, without mandatory “pillar days” of attendance or whatever you called it. For me personally, remaining unemployed would have been preferable to working here.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Mostly technical coding questions that in my opinion really relied on mnemonic knowledge and became obsolete after LLMs
I applied online. I interviewed at Lightspeed (Berlin) in Feb 2026
Interview
The process started with an initial screening round, followed by a technical interview with system design and then a round with deeper technical discussion with code review. The team was professional and direct throughout the process. Communication from HR was clear and timely.
The interviews were heavily focused on core Python fundamentals, concurrency concepts, messaging systems (queues, Kafka/RabbitMQ), transactions, and system design. The technical depth expected was quite high, especially around language-level concepts such as context managers, decorators, and concurrency primitives.
In the later round, the discussion became very detailed around Python internals and low-level constructs. When I wasn’t able to confidently explain a specific core concept (context managers), the interview was concluded early with the feedback that for a Senior role, strong fluency in core Python fundamentals is expected.
What I liked:
Interviewers were technically strong and clearly knowledgeable.
Questions were practical and relevant to backend engineering.
Clear feedback was given directly.
What could be improved:
The process felt somewhat unforgiving; the interview was ended early based on one foundational gap rather than evaluating overall system design and backend experience.
A slightly more holistic evaluation of seniority (architecture, real-world impact, problem-solving) alongside language fundamentals would make the process more balanced.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Decorators
Concurrency (GIL, threading vs multiprocessing)
Transactions and atomic operations
Messaging systems and delivery guarantees
I applied through an employee referral. I interviewed at Lightspeed (Amsterdam) in Jan 2026
Interview
The interview process consisted of a recruiter prescreening call, followed by an interview with the engineering manager, and finally an in-depth technical interview focused on problem solving, system design, and practical engineering skills.
