Justworks Software Engineer Interview Guide

The most surprising part of the process was the onsite coding round: instead of a standard algorithm problem, I was given a confusing script involving employee lists and asked to get the tests passing. Once it worked, the discussion shifted to how I would make the code more efficient. It felt closer to debugging and code review than a typical whiteboard exercise, so being able to read unfamiliar code quickly mattered.

The process began with a recruiter phone screen, followed by an online CodeSignal-style coding assessment with four levels. I then spoke with the hiring manager in a round that mixed technical discussion with behavioral questions. The behavioral portion focused on my past experience and cross-functional collaboration, including how I had handled implementing a project when the requirements were vague.

The final stage was an onsite with several conversational and technical meetings. In addition to the debugging session, I did a system-design whiteboard interview, met with a PM, and spoke with an engineering manager. Those latter conversations were mostly behavioral, with an emphasis on communication, collaboration, and how I work through ambiguity with partners outside engineering. Overall, the process was straightforward in structure, but the debugging exercise was more challenging than I expected because the starting code and task description were unclear. I did not receive an offer. My main advice is to practice debugging an unfamiliar, test-driven codebase and explaining concrete examples of cross-functional work and delivering under vague requirements.