Garmin's software engineer interviews usually combine an HR phone screen, a technical round testing CS fundamentals and light live coding (often in C or Java), and for some candidates an in-person onsite. Round count and depth vary by team and level.
$110K
Avg. Base Comp
$129K
Avg. Total Comp
3 rounds
Typical Rounds
Not reported
Process Length
Garmin's software engineer interviews generally begin with an HR phone screen covering your resume, a project walkthrough, a behavioral question such as a time you faced a difficulty, and why you want to join Garmin. This stage is usually light on technical content, though one candidate's 30-minute screen also included a stack-versus-heap question and a fizzbuzz-level coding problem.
From there, most candidates move into a technical round that blends core computer-science fundamentals with short live coding. Expect fundamentals questions on threads and semaphores, stack versus heap memory, what an operating system does, and OOP ideas like polymorphism, paired with an easy coding problem. Reported problems include:
Language matters. Several intern and entry-level reports point to C, while one full-time candidate was required to code in Java even though the posting listed other options, so confirm the language in advance.
Later rounds are often in person. One candidate described an onsite in Olathe, Kansas, and another a roughly 3.5-hour onsite that repeated the background-then-technical pattern. One full-time candidate's in-person day with two architects and a hiring manager added system design, design patterns, Spring/SpringBoot, and database design, so backend roles can go deeper than the fundamentals screens suggest. An internship candidate, by contrast, had a single 45-minute round.
Follow-up was a recurring weak spot. One candidate described repeated reschedules and poor communication after the onsite, and another heard nothing for two months after a phone screen. Ask directly about next steps at each stage.
Synthesized from 18 candidate reports by our editorial team.
Had an interview recently?
Share your experience. Unlock the full guide.
Real interview reports from people who went through the Garmin International process.
Share your own interview experience to unlock all reports, or subscribe for full access.
Sourced from candidate reports and verified by our team.
Topics based on recent interview experiences.
Featured question at Garmin International
Given an integer N, write a function that returns all of the prime numbers up to N
| Question | |
|---|---|
| Maximum Profit | |
| Valid Anagram | |
| Seller Type Modeling | |
| 2nd Highest Salary | |
| Find the Missing Number | |
| Random SQL Sample | |
| Upsell Transactions | |
| Recurring Character | |
| Retailer Data Warehouse | |
| Hurdles In Data Projects | |
| Twenty Variants | |
| Equivalent Index | |
| Completed Shipments | |
| Detecting ECG Tachycardia Runs | |
| One Element Removed | |
| Size of Joins | |
| Cyclic Detection | |
| The Brackets Problem | |
| Google Maps Improvement | |
| Paired Products | |
| Four Person Elevator | |
| Nearest Common Ancestor | |
| Groups of Anagrams | |
| Exam Scores | |
| Three Zebras | |
| Radix Addition | |
| Cumulative Sales Since Last Restocking | |
| Find Duplicate Numbers in a List | |
| Swapping Nodes |
Synthesized from candidate reports. Individual experiences may vary.
Most candidates start with a call with HR, around 30 minutes in reported cases. It covers resume background, a project you worked on and its impact, a behavioral question such as a time you faced a difficulty, and why you want to join Garmin. It is usually non-technical. One candidate's screen also included a stack-versus-heap question and a fizzbuzz-level coding problem that had to be written in Java.
A technical interview typically mixes fundamentals with easy live coding. Fundamentals have included what an OS is, semaphores and threads, compile versus execution, and polymorphism. Reported coding problems include C string length and reversal, string-to-integer conversion, an anagram problem, Fibonacci, a bit mask function, summing the digits of a number, and a max-difference array scan. One candidate had two interviewers on a remote call, and another had the round split into a concepts half and a live-coding half.
Some candidates continue to an in-person round, such as an onsite in Olathe, Kansas, or a roughly 3.5-hour onsite that followed a background-then-technical pattern. One full-time candidate met two architects and a hiring manager, and that day covered Java fundamentals, system design, design patterns, Spring/SpringBoot, and database design. One internship candidate instead had a single 45-minute round.
Follow-up varies. One candidate experienced repeated reschedules and poor communication after the onsite, and another heard nothing for two months after a phone screen. If timeline matters to you, ask directly about next steps at each stage.
