Candidates describe a Workday Software Engineer loop of about four to five rounds. It typically mixes a coding screen, object-oriented or low-level design, hiring-manager conversations and behavioral or values interviews.
$160K
Avg. Base Comp
$223K
Avg. Total Comp
4-5 rounds
Typical Rounds
Not reported
Process Length
Candidates describe Workday's Software Engineer interviews as a blend of coding, design and conversation, not a purely algorithmic gauntlet. Several people report an initial coding screen, often HackerRank-style with easy-to-medium problems involving sets, maps, strings or graphs. One candidate also describes a medium LeetCode question early on.
The most repeated theme is object-oriented and low-level design. Candidates report being asked to design a banking system, work through a UML-based discussion, compare abstract and non-abstract factories, or build a class structure in a paired coding session. Preparing a clean OO walkthrough, with the reasoning behind your choices, looks more useful than memorizing patterns.
Hiring-manager rounds vary. Some candidates report a conversational technical discussion about past projects and how they decided on designs. Others report questions on JVM garbage collection and SLAs, or on tools such as TypeScript and GitLab. One candidate was asked to walk through the architecture of a technology they had built, so pick a project you can defend in depth.
Behavioral questions are common, including disagreement with teammates and a separate values-focused "VIBE" conversation. Outcomes in the reports are mixed, with both offers and rejections, and some candidates mention slow or missing follow-up after interviews. Practice talking through your approach aloud, because several reports say communication mattered as much as the final answer.
Synthesized from 38 candidate reports by our editorial team.
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| Question | |
|---|---|
| Target Indices | |
| Median O(1) | |
| International e-Commerce Warehouse | |
| Stakeholder Communication | |
| Why Do You Want to Work With Us | |
| SFTP Pipeline | |
| 2nd Highest Salary | |
| Top Three Salaries | |
| Closest SAT Scores | |
| Subscription Overlap | |
| Empty Neighborhoods | |
| Monthly Customer Report | |
| Rolling Bank Transactions | |
| Prime to N | |
| Top 3 Users | |
| Random SQL Sample | |
| String Shift | |
| Comments Histogram | |
| Largest Salary by Department | |
| Upsell Transactions | |
| Raining in Seattle | |
| Minimum Change | |
| Find the Missing Number | |
| Customer Orders | |
| Bagging vs Boosting | |
| Find the First Non-Repeating Character in a String | |
| Size of Joins | |
| Scrambled Tickets | |
| Weighted Keys |
Synthesized from candidate reports. Individual experiences may vary.
Candidates typically report a short recruiter call covering background, role fit, salary expectations and logistics. Some say the recruiter also outlined the stages ahead. It is usually conversational, but have a concise account of your experience and the kind of team you want ready.
Several candidates report an early coding assessment, often HackerRank-style with easy-to-medium problems on sets, maps, strings, arrays or graphs. One candidate describes a live HackerRank session of about 20 minutes inside a longer interview. Timed practice and speaking through your approach may help.
Candidates describe hiring-manager rounds that go into past projects, design decisions and technical fundamentals. Reported topics include OOP concepts, JVM garbage collection, SLAs, TypeScript and GitLab workflows. Expect follow-up questions on your own work, and be ready to defend your choices and discuss alternatives.
Candidates report object-oriented design prompts such as a banking system, UML modeling and factory-pattern tradeoffs, plus live coding with engineers. Some describe a paired coding round that covers class structure, testing and verification. A few mention system design, such as a scalable service or messenger. Explain your reasoning aloud.
Candidates commonly report behavioral questions on teamwork, disagreement and problem solving, and some describe a values-focused VIBE interview. A final HR conversation is mentioned in several reports. Prepare concrete STAR-style stories, including a time you disagreed with a team but supported the final plan.
