Candidates describe a Viasat Software Engineer interview built around a recruiter call, a roughly hour-long hiring manager conversation mixing resume depth, DSA and behavioral questions, and in one report extra technical rounds.
$130K
Avg. Base Comp
$160K
Avg. Total Comp
Not reported
Typical Rounds
Not reported
Process Length
Candidates describe the Viasat Software Engineer interview as a resume-driven conversation more than a pure coding screen. Three reports describe a short recruiter call followed by about an hour with the hiring manager. In at least two of them, technical and behavioral questions were mixed together. One candidate who received an offer said DSA questions, project walkthroughs and scenario questions such as "What would you do if..." carried equal weight.
Resume depth matters. One candidate who did not get an offer was pressed on the MERN stack, Flutter and payment gateway integrations. They were asked to back up claims about performance and user retention with numbers. Prepare each project with the problem, your decision, the trade-offs and a measurable result.
That same candidate also reported four 45-minute technical rounds. These covered array problems with brute-force and optimized solutions, DFS and BFS, and two pointers. They also covered computer networking fundamentals: TCP versus UDP, the OSI model, subnetting, IPv4 versus IPv6, DNS and HTTP status codes. The candidate felt weakest there. Other reports did not mention networking, so treat it as a possible area rather than a certainty.
An internship candidate reported easy array and linked list, stack and queue questions, a simple design prompt and a personal project discussion. That internship candidate also reported that U.S. citizenship was required for the role, so confirm eligibility early. Another candidate described a technical round with resume review and basic programming questions, and slow HR scheduling. The evidence is limited to four reports.
Synthesized from 4 candidate reports by our editorial team.
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Real interview reports from people who went through the Viasat Inc. process.
The process at Viasat was frustrating in ways that had nothing to do with the actual interviews. HR communication was glacially slow—responses took forever, and when I tried to follow up, they'd somehow claim I wasn't responding. The whole timeline dragged on for weeks, and you start to realize pretty quickly that this is what working there would probably feel like. That alone made me hesitant about the opportunity.
When the interviews finally did happen, there was a phone screen covering behavioral questions around working with stakeholders and team collaboration, followed by a technical round that went through my resume and included some basic programming questions. Nothing felt cohesive. Communication around scheduling was inconsistent. Even when I eventually got an offer, I declined it. The organization's dysfunction showed in everything from logistics to interview structure. HR really does set the tone for whether you want to join, and the tone here was clear from day one.
Prep tip from this candidate
Prepare for behavioral questions about working with stakeholders and team collaboration, but take the hiring process quality as a signal of organizational culture—the notable delays and poor HR communication here are meaningful red flags.
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Sourced from candidate reports and verified by our team.
Topics based on recent interview experiences.
Featured question at Viasat Inc.
Write a query to display the top three users by downloads each day
| Question | |
|---|---|
| Over-Budget Projects | |
| Scrambled Tickets | |
| Hurdles In Data Projects | |
| Priority Queue Using Linked List | |
| Merge N Sorted Lists | |
| Nightly Job | |
| Slow SQL Query | |
| Implementing the Fibonacci Sequence in Three Different Methods | |
| Loan Model | |
| User Event Data Pipeline | |
| Swap Variables | |
| Distributed Training Instability | |
| Deciding Between Solutions | |
| The Longest Journey | |
| Text Editor With OOP | |
| Seller Type Modeling | |
| Client Solution Pushback | |
| Testing Constraints | |
| The Pirate’s Hunt | |
| Triangle as Binary Array | |
| Repository Policy Enforcement | |
| International e-Commerce Warehouse | |
| Safe Deployments | |
| Distributed Authentication Model | |
| Fixed-Length Arrays: Deletion | |
| Why Do You Want to Work With Us | |
| Azure Kubernetes Infrastructure | |
| Your Strengths and Weaknesses | |
| Stakeholder Communication |
Synthesized from candidate reports. Individual experiences may vary.
Candidates report an initial call with a recruiter, described as casual and about 15 to 30 minutes in one account. It typically covers your background and what you know about the company. One candidate worked specific technical experience into the conversation. Confirm work eligibility early, since one report said U.S. citizenship was required.
Several candidates describe a roughly hour-long conversation with the hiring manager. Reports mention resume deep-dives, project decisions and challenges, DSA or data structure questions, and scenario-based behavioral questions. One candidate who received an offer after this round described it as collaborative. Expect to quantify your impact and explain trade-offs.
One candidate who did not receive an offer reported four 45-minute technical rounds. These covered array manipulation with hash maps and sorting, DFS and BFS, and two pointers. Other candidates described simpler technical content, such as basic programming questions or easy-level array problems, so the number of technical rounds may vary.
That same candidate reported detailed networking questions, including TCP versus UDP, OSI layers, subnetting, DNS and HTTP status codes. They felt this area cost them the offer. Other reports did not mention it, so it may depend on the team. An internship candidate was instead asked about Python data structures and a simple design prompt.
Outcomes in the reports were mixed: one accepted offer, one declined offer, and two with no offer. One candidate described slow HR communication and scheduling that stretched over weeks, while another found the process smooth and responsive. Plan to follow up politely and keep records of your scheduling messages.
