Candidates describe Pinterest software engineer interviews as an online assessment or recruiter screen, a live coding round, then a loop mixing coding, system design and behavioral talks. Reported timelines run from about two weeks to two months.
$199K
Avg. Base Comp
$314K
Avg. Total Comp
3-6 rounds
Typical Rounds
2-8 weeks
Process Length
Pinterest software engineer candidates most often describe a coding-first process. Many begin with a recruiter conversation or a timed online assessment. Reports include a CodeSignal test with four questions in 70 minutes and a 90-minute assessment with two or four algorithm questions. A live coding round follows, and candidates who advance describe a loop of further coding, system design and behavioral interviews. The loop's shape varies by report: one lists three coding rounds, one system design and one behavioral round, while another lists two programming rounds, one soft-skills round and one architecture round.
The coding questions are mostly LeetCode-style, from easy to medium with some harder follow-ups. Reported topics include strings, arrays, hash maps, trees, graphs, dynamic programming, topological sort, LRU cache, itinerary reconstruction and a sparse matrix class. One candidate was given a Pinterest-style prompt about balancing items of different heights across grid columns, and others mention a React todo list or an elevator scheduler. Several candidates were pressed on time and space complexity, and one said brute-forcing the first part of a multi-part question made the follow-ups much harder.
System design reports include feed and recommendation architecture, a notification system, a rate limiter and a delayed task queue. Behavioral questions touched on motivation, past projects and a conflict with a coworker. Two IC14 candidates describe a team-matching step after passing the technical rounds, so it helps to ask your recruiter early whether the role is tied to a named team. Outcomes in the reports vary: some candidates received offers, many were rejected, and a couple were in team matching.
Synthesized from 35 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 Pinterest process.
The question I kept thinking about after my loop was the system design round, because the interviewer wanted numbers before any boxes went on the whiteboard. The prompt was to design Pinterest's notification system. I was expected to work out the scale first: estimate QPS, consider busy times versus quiet periods, and reason about the size of the user base. Only after that did we move to technology choices and how to meet response time and availability targets. The SLAs were something I had to agree on with the interviewer during the discussion, so I couldn't just assume them.
The process began with a technical screen, a single 60-minute session of medium-to-hard LeetCode-style problems. The final round was three interviews back to back. One was the system design discussion, one was a medium-to-hard LeetCode-style coding problem, and the last was a behavioral interview in the hiring manager style. The recruiter was attentive throughout and kept me informed at each stage.
I did not receive an offer. Looking back, I would spend less time polishing the coding warm-ups and more time practicing estimation-first system design, since the scale numbers came before any architecture and clearly shaped the rest of the conversation.
Prep tip from this candidate
Practice back-of-envelope estimation for a notification-style system (QPS, peak hours, user base) before sketching components, since the interviewer expected the numbers to drive the design. Also agree on SLA targets explicitly with the interviewer rather than assuming them.
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 Pinterest
Write a query to return whether each user's subscription date range overlaps with any other completed subscription
| Question | |
|---|---|
| Size of Joins | |
| P-value to a Layman | |
| Most Repetition | |
| Priority Queue Using Linked List | |
| Ad Comments | |
| Feed Impression | |
| Max Width | |
| A/B Testing a Checkout Button Change | |
| Greater Release Dates | |
| Ranking Metrics | |
| Maximal Substring | |
| Maximum Common Substring | |
| Singly Linked List | |
| Statistically Significant Test | |
| 2nd Highest Salary | |
| Merge Sorted Lists | |
| Employee Salaries | |
| Empty Neighborhoods | |
| Top Three Salaries | |
| Monthly Customer Report | |
| Rolling Bank Transactions | |
| Top 3 Users | |
| Raining in Seattle | |
| Comments Histogram | |
| Job Recommendation | |
| Like Tracker | |
| Random SQL Sample | |
| Weighted Keys | |
| Flight Records |
Synthesized from candidate reports. Individual experiences may vary.
Candidates report starting with either a recruiter conversation about their background and motivation or a timed online assessment. Several describe a CodeSignal test with four questions in about 70 minutes, and two others describe a 90-minute assessment. Questions are described as easy to medium algorithm problems on strings, arrays and hash maps, so practice under a strict clock.
Candidates report a live coding round, with CoderPad mentioned in some accounts. Problems are described as LeetCode-style, from easy to medium with some harder follow-ups. Some interviewers asked for time and space complexity or pushed toward the optimized approach early, so state your intended approach before you start coding.
Candidates who advance describe more live coding rounds, with some reporting two and others three. Reported topics include graphs, trees, dynamic programming, tries and LRU cache, plus practical prompts such as a React todo list. One candidate found little back-and-forth in the technical rounds, so practice narrating your reasoning as you work through a solution.
Several candidates report at least one system design round. Examples include feed and recommendation architecture, a notification system, a rate limiter and a delayed task queue. One candidate said the round emphasized building for large-scale data. Prepare to discuss scalability and tradeoffs clearly.
Candidates report behavioral or hiring-manager conversations covering motivation, past projects, conflict with a coworker and team fit. Two IC14 candidates describe a team-matching phase after passing the technical rounds, where an offer depends on mutual interest with a manager. Clarify the hiring model with your recruiter early.
