Squarespace — Data Engineer ✅ Passed
Level: Junior-Level
Round: Full Journey · Type: Multiple Types · Difficulty: 7/10 · Duration: 360 min · Interviewer: Unfriendly
Topics: Depth-First Search, System Design, Data Structures, Algorithms, Behavioral Questions, Data Modeling, SQL, OLTP, OLAP, Distributed Systems
Location: New York, NY, US
Interview date: 2020-12-15
Summary
Interview Rounds Overview
- Round 1: Phone Screen
- Round 2: System Design
- Round 3: Data Structures
- Round 4: Algorithms
- Round 5: Behavioral
- Round 6: Data Modeling/Analysis
Details
Here's my interview experience for a Data Engineer position at Squarespace.
Phone Screen:
- I was asked a basic Depth-First Search (DFS) question: Given a graph, determine if there is a path from point A to point B.
Onsite (5.5 hours, 5 sessions):
- Round 1: System Design: I had to design a system to collect client HTTP request data, process it, and transform it into a real-time dashboard for analysis. I felt this round was a disaster because I lacked web experience. I thought I would fail because of it, but it seems the weight of this round wasn't too significant. A good performance in this round would likely lead to discussion about higher-level positions.
- Round 2: Data Structures: I was asked a question similar to LeetCode 146
- Round 3: Algorithms: I was asked a question similar to LeetCode 79.
- Round 4: Communication and Impact: This was a behavioral round. I recommend researching Squarespace's principles, which are available on their website.
- Round 5: Data Modeling/Analysis: I had to design an OLTP database and explain how to transform it into OLAP. I also answered SQL questions involving aggregation and window functions.
LeetCode similar: LeetCode 146, LeetCode 79