Perplexity — Software Engineer ✅ Passed
Level: Staff-Level
Round: Full Journey · Type: Multiple Types · Difficulty: 6/10 · Duration: 120 min · Interviewer: Unfriendly
Topics: System Design, Behavioral, API Design
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Interview date: 2025-08-15
Summary
Interview Rounds Overview
- Round 1: Coding + System Design
- Round 2: Hiring Manager
Details
I interviewed for a Staff SWE position. Here's a breakdown of my interview experience:
Round 1: Coding + System Design
The scenario was designing a Rental Car API.
- Input: (longitude, latitude)
- Determine if the location is in a premium area (returns true) or not (returns false).
My task was to write a function that takes coordinates as input and returns:
- A path to exit the premium area, or
- A coordinate outside the premium area.
The interviewer focused on the clarity of my thought process and the logic's validity (the code didn't need to be runnable).
For system design, the focus was on preventing fraud and API abuse scenarios.
Round 2: Hiring Manager
The questions were standard behavioral questions:
- “How did you resolve cross-team collaboration challenges?”
- My approach: I talked about a cross-team collaboration project, explaining the initial communication barriers, my role and responsibilities, and the specific actions I took (such as establishing alignment meetings and clarifying roles).
- “Give an example of making an unpopular decision.”
- My approach: I explained why the decision was unpopular at the time, how I communicated and persisted, and how the decision was ultimately proven correct.
- “How did you handle requirement changes?”
- My approach: I described a scenario of requirement changes, explaining how I quickly assessed the impact, rescheduled, communicated with stakeholders, and ensured the project was successfully implemented.
I prepared using the STAR method.