Samsara Software Engineer interviews reported coding with practical Markdown parsing, system design, hiring-manager discussion, and behavioral follow-ups. Prepare to test code and explain trade-offs clearly.
$152K
Avg. Base Comp
$221K
Avg. Total Comp
4 rounds
Typical Rounds
3-5 weeks
Process Length
Samsara Software Engineer candidates report a mix of practical coding, design discussion, and behavioral conversations rather than one uniform sequence. One candidate explicitly described four rounds: a Markdown-to-HTML parsing exercise, a hiring-manager conversation about prior projects and trade-offs, a deeper technical discussion, and a final technical-behavioral conversation. That candidate’s feedback centered on waiting too long to run and verify working code, so incremental testing is a concrete part of the preparation for parsing or data-transformation prompts.
Other reports show materially different paths. One candidate began with an online assessment and phone technical screen before onsite technical, system-design, and hiring-manager conversations. That report described easy-to-medium coding, a text-justification-style problem, and questions about language and runtime details. A separate report described live Markdown conversion with changing constraints, simple coding exercises, and discussion of a take-home testing project. For behavioral preparation, be ready to explain previous projects, decisions, challenges, technical trade-offs, and what you are learning.
The available reports do not establish one universal format or schedule. Focus on writing readable code, validating it before time expires, and making your reasoning and trade-offs easy to follow when requirements evolve.
Synthesized from 7 candidate reports by our editorial team.
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Real interview reports from people who went through the Samsara process.
I had a total of four rounds in the interview process.
The first round was a DSA/coding interview. The problem involved converting Markdown to HTML. It wasn't a typical LeetCode-style question, which surprised me. Instead, it focused on string parsing and handling different Markdown elements correctly. I felt fairly confident during this round because I was able to come up with the overall approach and implement the solution. Looking back, my biggest mistake was that I spent most of the time implementing the solution before running or testing it thoroughly. The feedback I later received was generally positive, with the only criticism being that I waited until the very end to execute and verify my code.
The second round was with the hiring manager. It was primarily behavioral and project-focused. We discussed my background, previous projects, design decisions, challenges I had faced, and how I approached solving problems. Compared to the coding round, this conversation felt much more relaxed. I was comfortable talking about my experiences, although there were a few follow-up questions that required me to explain technical trade-offs in more depth than I had expected.
The third round was another technical interview. This was the round where I started feeling the pressure. The questions required deeper technical reasoning, and although I could discuss my thought process, I wasn't as confident as I had been in the first coding round. Some of the follow-up questions exposed gaps in my understanding, and I realized the interviewers were evaluating not just whether I could reach an answer, but how I reasoned through unfamiliar situations.
The final round was another discussion that combined technical and behavioral aspects. By this point I was more comfortable with the interview format, but I also knew that every answer was being evaluated carefully. The interviewers were friendly throughout the process and encouraged discussion instead of expecting immediate answers.
Overall, what surprised me the most was that the interviews were much more practical than I expected. Rather than focusing only on standard algorithm problems, there was a strong emphasis on writing clean, production-oriented code, explaining design decisions, and communicating my reasoning.
Prep tip from this candidate
Practice a practical string-parsing exercise such as Markdown-to-HTML conversion, and test incrementally while explaining design decisions and technical trade-offs.
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Sourced from candidate reports and verified by our team.
Topics based on recent interview experiences.
Featured question at Samsara
Given two sorted lists, write a function to merge them into one sorted list.
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| CSV Ingestion Pipeline | |
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| Using APIs for Downstream Tasks | |
| 2nd Highest Salary | |
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| Monthly Customer Report | |
| Top 3 Users | |
| Rolling Bank Transactions | |
| String Shift | |
| Customer Orders | |
| Comments Histogram | |
| Random SQL Sample | |
| Prime to N | |
| Upsell Transactions | |
| Find the First Non-Repeating Character in a String | |
| Raining in Seattle | |
| First Touch Attribution | |
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| Job Recommendation | |
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Synthesized from candidate reports. Individual experiences may vary.
Candidates report different entry paths. One Software Engineer candidate had an online assessment followed by a phone technical screen, while another described recruiter contact and an initial fit conversation. Treat the exact order as role- and team-dependent.
Candidates report live coding that included Markdown-to-HTML conversion and changing constraints. Practice translating requirements into readable code, narrating your choices, and running checks during implementation rather than leaving all verification to the end.
A candidate reported a remote smart-bulb design exercise where follow-ups went beyond a high-level architecture. Another described deeper technical follow-ups. Be prepared to defend trade-offs and explain how the underlying pieces of a design work.
Candidates report hiring-manager and behavioral conversations about prior projects, design decisions, challenges, customer-facing situations, and what they are currently learning. Use specific examples that make your role and reasoning clear.
