THE airbnb INTERVIEW
Looking to land a job at Airbnb but don’t know what the process looks like?
Well, you’ve come to the right place. Detailed in this post is a look at the timeline of the interview process, preparation guidelines, and what's different or unique about Airbnb's interview process as opposed to other tech companies.
THE Airbnb INTERVIEW explained
BACKGROUND
In the Airbnb interview you will face around 5-7 interviews testing you on: algorithms, data structures, system design, and behavioral aspects.
BEFORE THE INTERVIEW
update your RESUME
Make sure you’ve updated your resume and in particular your LinkedIn profile; use deliverables and metrics when you can as they are concrete examples of what you’ve accomplished. Make sure to be as specific as possible.
PREPARATION
Here is our guide on how to prepare for the coding interview with a 12-week plan.
CHOOSING YOUR LANGUAGE
Airbnb does not require that you know any specific programming language before interviewing for a tech position. However, you should be familiar with the syntax of your preferred language such as Java, Python, C#, C/C++. You should also know some of the languages’ nuances, such as how memory management works, or the most commonly used collections, libraries, etc. Choose one you’re most comfortable with and stick to it.
Prescreen with recruiter
After reviewing your resume, you’ll be paired with a recruiter who will be your guide through the interview process at Airbnb. This will be a 30 minute conversation.
online coding challenge
The online challenge will most likely be administered through HackerRank. It's best to study up on your data structures and algorithms and practice solving problems under pressure. You'll have about 1 hour to complete this challenge.
ON-site interview
Coding Rounds (2 rounds):
You can expect about 2 of your onsite interviews to focus on coding questions (i.e. data structure and algorithm questions).
System Design:
This is probably one of the more important interviews and very well may be the judge of you getting the position or not. Be sure to study up on system design principles. These types of questions usually don't involve coding so be prepared to talk about architectural and design tradeoffs.
Behavioral (2-3 rounds):
You'll want to make sure to read up on Airbnb's core values and their mission because it will be the basis for a lot of questions.
THE OFFER / NO offer
From on-site to offer will take about another week or two. This is so management can either evaluate other candidates or to draft up your offer letter along with other logistics.
In the event that you don’t receive an offer, you’ll most likely have to wait six months to a year to re-apply. Don’t expect any feedback after your interview, but you can conclude that you either didn’t have enough experience or that it just wasn’t a fit culturally.
If you do receive a job offer, the hiring manager will call you to discuss salary, start date, etc.
Need help preparing for the interview?
Check out the Definitive Interview Prep Roadmap,
written and reviewed by real hiring managers.