Abnormal Security Software Engineer interview typically runs 4 rounds: recruiter screen, OA, technical screen, hiring manager. Timeline is a few calls over several weeks, with a notably candid and structured process.
$149K
Avg. Base Comp
$156K
Avg. Total Comp
4-5
Typical Rounds
2-4 weeks
Process Length
Our candidates report a company that cares less about polished performance and more about whether you can communicate clearly under pressure. A recurring theme is the contrast between the two experiences: one candidate described a rigid, yes-or-no screening style and a technical round that felt almost one-sided, while another said the process was candid, upfront, and explicitly framed around mutual fit. That tells us Abnormal is sensitive to signal quality early — they want to quickly separate people who can stay crisp and direct from those who need a lot of interviewer hand-holding.
What stands out most is how much weight they seem to place on ownership of the conversation. In the technical round, one candidate felt the interviewer stayed mostly silent, which means candidates who wait for heavy prompting may struggle. By contrast, the accepted candidate noted that the hiring manager clearly explained what each person would evaluate and invited questions early. We’ve seen that this company responds well to people who can narrate their thinking, connect past work to real outcomes, and make the discussion feel collaborative even when the interviewer is reserved.
The other non-obvious pattern is that Abnormal appears to reward straightforwardness over theatrics. The strongest feedback came from the candidate who said the process felt like a real conversation and that the team valued honesty throughout. That suggests the bar is not just technical competence, but whether your communication style feels calm, direct, and trustworthy — especially in a cybersecurity context where precision matters.
Synthesized from 2 candidate reports by our editorial team.
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Real interview reports from people who went through the Abnormal Security process.
The process started off feeling pretty rushed and a little off. The recruiter call was basically a rapid-fire screen where they pushed through a series of questions and wanted only clear yes-or-no answers. It was recorded by a Zoom bot, and nobody even asked whether I was okay with that, which set a pretty drab tone from the beginning. After that I had an OA and then a technical screen, and the technical round was the part that stood out the most, mostly because it felt more like “you code, I watch” for about an hour than a real back-and-forth interview. There wasn’t much clarification or guidance, and when I tried to understand what signals they were actually evaluating, I didn’t get a useful answer. That made the whole thing feel pretty abnormal and, honestly, a bit frustrating.
The hiring manager conversation was the one normal part of the process. That round was a standard deep dive into my resume, past work, and projects, and the interviewer was very nice. They asked me to walk through a project I had worked on and talked through my experience in a straightforward way. Compared with the earlier screen, it felt much more like a real conversation. Overall, the process had a strange mix of rushed screening and a very passive technical round, followed by a more traditional hiring manager call. I ended up not getting an offer, so my main takeaway is to be ready for a screening style that can feel unusually rigid and for a technical round where you may need to drive the explanation yourself even if the interviewer stays mostly silent.
Prep tip from this candidate
Be ready for a recruiter screen that may be very scripted and yes/no driven, and practice explaining your code out loud during a long live-coding session where the interviewer mostly watches. Also prepare a concise project deep dive for the hiring manager call.
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Sourced from candidate reports and verified by our team.
Topics based on recent interview experiences.
Featured question at Abnormal Security
Select the 2nd highest salary in the engineering department
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| Empty Neighborhoods | |
| Top Three Salaries | |
| Merge Sorted Lists | |
| Closest SAT Scores | |
| Subscription Overlap | |
| Monthly Customer Report | |
| Rolling Bank Transactions | |
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| String Shift | |
| Comments Histogram | |
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| Random SQL Sample | |
| Prime to N | |
| Upsell Transactions | |
| Raining in Seattle | |
| First Touch Attribution | |
| Find the First Non-Repeating Character in a String | |
| Bagging vs Boosting | |
| Job Recommendation | |
| Hurdles In Data Projects | |
| Minimum Change | |
| Recurring Character | |
| Daily Retention Summary | |
| Size of Joins | |
| Address Schema | |
| Download Facts | |
| Retailer Data Warehouse | |
| Permutation Palindrome | |
| P-value to a Layman |
Synthesized from candidate reports. Individual experiences may vary.
The process often begins with a recruiter call that can feel like a rapid-fire screening. Candidates reported a series of direct yes-or-no questions, and in at least one case the call was recorded by a Zoom bot.
Some candidates, especially at more senior levels, had a few candid conversations before the formal loop started. These calls were used to confirm mutual fit and to clarify what the process would look like, including who would be involved and what each interviewer would evaluate.
After the initial screen, candidates may be given an online assessment before moving on to the technical interview. One experience specifically mentioned an OA as the next step after the recruiter call.
The technical round is described as a live coding session where the interviewer mostly watches while the candidate codes. It can feel fairly passive, with limited back-and-forth or guidance, so candidates may need to drive the explanation themselves.
This round is a more traditional conversation focused on resume deep-dives, past work, and projects. Candidates described it as the most normal and conversational part of the process, with behavioral questions about experience, leadership, and fit.
