Etsy Software Engineer interview typically runs 3-7 rounds: recruiter/HR, technical screening, behavioral, coding, system design, and onsite/team review. Timeline is about a few weeks, and the process can be stretched across many separate calls.
$148K
Avg. Base Comp
$218K
Avg. Total Comp
6-8
Typical Rounds
3-6 weeks
Process Length
We've seen Etsy lean heavily toward hands-on engineering judgment rather than abstract whiteboard performance. Multiple candidates described technical conversations centered on the actual stack — Swift, SwiftUI, design patterns, refactoring choices, and project deep dives — with only light algorithmic pressure. That tells us the team is looking for engineers who can explain why they built something a certain way, not just whether they can produce code under time pressure. One candidate specifically noted that the strongest signal was being able to defend design decisions clearly when discussing a past project.
A recurring theme is how practical the coding work feels. Our candidates report debugging and enhancing an existing app, fixing a handful of bugs, and then layering in additional features. That kind of prompt rewards people who can read unfamiliar code quickly and reason about behavior in context. The other non-obvious pattern is the system design bar: it can become very database-specific, especially around PostgreSQL, schema design, partitioning, and read replicas. We’ve seen candidates get pulled away from broad architecture into exact table definitions and SQL-level tradeoffs, so the real test is whether you can stay precise and grounded when the interviewer narrows the frame.
Behaviorally, Etsy seems to care about collaboration and how you work through technical decisions with others. Candidates mentioned teamwork questions alongside technical deep dives, which suggests they want engineers who can communicate tradeoffs without sounding rigid. The people who struggled most were the ones who expected a more generic design conversation; the people who did better were ready to go deep on the implementation details of the stack and explain their reasoning with confidence.
Synthetized from 2 candidates reports by our editorial team.
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Real interview reports from people who went through the Etsy process.
The hardest part for me was that the process kept stretching out into a lot of separate calls, and it never felt like a single clean loop. I started with a HackerRank challenge, and based on that I moved forward to a recruiting call. After that came a virtual onsite that mixed technical and behavioral conversations, and the overall process ended up being around seven calls in total. The first call was with a recruiter, then I had a second call focused on Swift questions. The next four calls were more about refactoring, design, and general programming, and the last call was a review with the team I might have joined.
Most of the technical questions were centered on the stack itself rather than heavy algorithm work. I was asked about SwiftUI, Swift, design patterns, and some algorithms, along with questions about teamwork and how I approach collaboration. the interview also mentioned a high-level system design prompt around designing a messaging system, and a technical deep dive into a project I had worked on, so I would definitely be ready to explain one project in detail and defend the choices you made. In my case, the process ended with a recruiter call saying I was not moving forward, and there wasn’t much feedback beyond that. It was a bit frustrating after so many rounds, so I’d say the main takeaway is to be very solid on your language/framework fundamentals and be ready to talk through refactors and design decisions clearly, not just solve coding problems.
Prep tip from this candidate
Be ready for a Swift-heavy process with SwiftUI, design patterns, refactoring, and a few algorithm questions rather than a pure coding loop. Also prepare to walk through one project in depth and explain the design choices behind it, since that came up in the technical deep dive and final team review.
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Sourced from candidate reports and verified by our team.
Topics based on recent interview experiences.
Featured question at Etsy
Select the 2nd highest salary in the engineering department
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| Empty Neighborhoods | |
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| Download Facts | |
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| Groups of Anagrams | |
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Synthesized from candidate reports. Individual experiences may vary.
The process starts with an online coding challenge, typically on HackerRank. Candidates described a practical debugging and enhancement task in a VS Code-like editor, often involving fixing bugs in an app and adding new features rather than solving heavy algorithm problems. After passing the initial screen, candidates have a recruiting conversation to review background, experience, and overall fit. In some cases this call also serves as the first step before being scheduled into the rest of the loop.
This round focuses on past experience, teamwork, collaboration, and leadership-style questions. Candidates reported questions about how they work with others and how they approach communication and decision-making. The technical portion is split across multiple separate calls rather than one single onsite loop. Topics include Swift, SwiftUI, design patterns, refactoring, general programming, algorithms, and a deep dive into one of your projects; candidates should be ready to explain technical choices in detail and defend tradeoffs.
Candidates are given a design prompt such as building a messaging or chat system. While broader architecture may come up, interviewers may push deeply into database design, PostgreSQL, schema choices, partitioning, and read replicas. The process ends with a final conversation with the team you may join. This round appears to be a final fit and alignment check before the recruiter communicates the decision.
The recruiter closes the loop with the final outcome. In the experiences shared, candidates were informed by phone that they were not moving forward, often with limited feedback.