Okta software engineer candidates report recruiter and hiring manager conversations, coding rounds such as CodeSignal or live problems, and system design or project deep-dives. Stages vary by level and team.
$173K
Avg. Base Comp
$240K
Avg. Total Comp
4 rounds
Typical Rounds
Not reported
Process Length
Okta's software engineer interviews typically open with a recruiter conversation and a hiring manager chat before moving into technical rounds. Two candidates, one at Staff level and one at Software Engineer level, describe four rounds in total. The number and order of stages shift with level and team.
Coding reports are mostly approachable. Candidates mention a BFS problem on CodeSignal, the minimum of a rotated sorted array and the median of a data stream. A Senior candidate instead faced a lengthy take-home. They had to design and implement an API to check permissions on a filesystem description, with loop checking to detect a directory that contains itself. That candidate said it took about seven hours within a seven-day window.
The most consistent theme is explaining your own work. A Staff candidate who received an offer spent significant time on their current project's architecture and trade-offs. Another Staff-level candidate's final round dug into a CodeSignal assignment, with questions on scaling and rate limiting. The Senior candidate was asked to design an IP banlist in a 45-minute architecture round after the take-home.
Experiences are uneven. The Staff candidate above received an offer. Three other reports ended without one, and others were left waiting, including one candidate who never heard back after the final round. Behavioral prompts include disagreeing and committing, and the most challenging problem in a project. The newest report covers only a recruiter call on background, motivation and Python, so confirm each round's format with your recruiter.
Synthesized from 16 candidate reports by our editorial team.
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| Data Stream Median | |
| Three Indexes Adding Zero | |
| 2nd Highest Salary | |
| Empty Neighborhoods | |
| Top Three Salaries | |
| Merge Sorted Lists | |
| Random SQL Sample | |
| Closest SAT Scores | |
| Subscription Overlap | |
| Top 3 Users | |
| Monthly Customer Report | |
| Find Bigrams | |
| Upsell Transactions | |
| Longest Streak Users | |
| Rolling Bank Transactions | |
| String Shift | |
| Customer Orders | |
| Raining in Seattle | |
| Find the Missing Number | |
| Scrambled Tickets | |
| Comments Histogram | |
| Size of Joins | |
| Find the First Non-Repeating Character in a String | |
| Last Transaction | |
| Get Top N Frequent Words | |
| Bagging vs Boosting | |
| Minimum Change |
Synthesized from candidate reports. Individual experiences may vary.
Candidates report an opening call with a recruiter or HR representative. Reported questions cover your background, why you want the role, why you are changing jobs and whether you have built anything in Python. Prepare short, specific answers about your projects and motivation.
Several candidates report a hiring manager round after the recruiter screen. Reports give little detail on its content, so be ready to walk through your past projects clearly and explain why you want to move.
Formats differ by report: a CodeSignal assessment, a roughly one-hour live round with a senior developer and, at Senior level, a longer take-home. Reported problems include a BFS problem, a rotated sorted array minimum and a data stream median. Expect easy-to-medium difficulty and explain your approach as you go.
Candidates report technical rounds with engineers, sometimes combining system design with discussion of earlier work. Themes include scaling, rate limiting, schema and performance follow-ups. A Senior candidate was asked to design an IP banlist. You may be asked to adjust your design as interviewers push on trade-offs.
Some candidates describe a final stage with another coding round, system design and behavioral conversations, including one with a Senior Director at Staff level. A Staff candidate reported an offer. Three other reports ended without one, and others were awaiting a reply. Follow-up speed varies, so ask your recruiter about next steps.
