Software Engineer · Phone Screen · Multiple Types

[ OK ] 32915210-0c85-4489-8dbd-90c59179f50c — full writeup

[ INFO ] category: Behavioral · Multiple Types difficulty: 6 freq: first seen: 2026-03-13

[6][MULTIPLE TYPES]String ManipulationSystem Design

$ cat problem.md

OpenAI — Software Engineer

Level: Senior-Level

Round: Phone Screen · Type: Multiple Types · Difficulty: 6/10 · Duration: 120 min · Interviewer: Neutral

Topics: String Manipulation, System Design

Location: San Francisco Bay Area

Interview date: 2026-01-15

Summary

Round 1: Coding

Question: Write a string encoder/decoder, without using special characters.

Round 2: System Design

Question: Design Slack.

Details

In the first round, I was asked to implement a string encoder and decoder, with the constraint that I couldn't use any special characters. The second round focused on designing Slack. I discussed the architecture and key features.

user@intervues:~/experiences/openai$