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Cursor Interview | Software Engineer | December 2025

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Interview rounds

  1. Informal Chat with Engineering Manager (45 minutes)
    • Very informal conversation about the candidate and Cursor
    • Discussed candidate's resume, previous experiences
    • Asked about future plans, why Cursor, education plans
    • Manager was transparent about work culture (mentioned people work 6 days/week, long hours, weekends)
    • Note: No formal recruiter involved in this process
  2. Technical Coding Interview (60 minutes)
    • Problem: Build a hash tree
    • Format: Candidate cloned a real repo and worked on it (not CodeSignal/Coderpad)
    • Unique aspect: Allowed to use Google, ChatGPT, and Cursor for syntax help
    • Had to ask interviewer permission before searching anything up
    • Screen sharing the entire time (IDE and any searches)
    • Could only use AI tools for targeted queries, not completely autonomous usage
    • Very practical - they mentioned this algorithm is actually used in their current product
    • Real-world data and file reading involved
    • Focus on engineering trade-offs rather than clean code or memorized syntax
  3. Final Round - Full Day On-Site (8-9 hours, remote via Zoom)
    • Format: Given access to actual codebase (2-3 services related to how they connect to different models)
    • Assignment: "Figure out the code base. We want to see how autonomous you are. Do you see anything you want to build? Go ahead and build it."
    • Set up with Slack group to ask questions throughout the day
    • Check-in meeting at beginning of day
    • Mid-day check-in
    • Otherwise autonomous work
    • Wide open AI tool usage - could use any tools as if already working there
    • Presentation (30 minutes at end): Two-person panel (engineer + manager)

Interview questions

Informal chat

  • Walk through your resume/previous experiences
  • What are your future plans?
  • Why do you want to join Cursor?
  • Why this company specifically?

Technical coding round

  • Build a hash tree algorithm
  • File reading component involved
  • Questions about syntax choices and implementation approaches
  • Focus: Engineering trade-offs and decision-making process

Final round presentation questions

  • Scope questions: Why did you choose this feature? Why did you scope it this way?
  • Product thinking: Why would this make a difference? How does this improve existing services?
  • Implementation details: Why did you choose these specific methods?
  • Code base awareness: Is this service already existing in the codebase? If you chose something new, why?
  • Engineering trade-offs: Why these decisions over alternatives?
  • Focus: Testing if candidate can identify improvements, scope projects, and build autonomously

Key themes

  • Practical over theoretical: All rounds tested real-world skills and actual work scenarios
  • AI-native approach: Only company mentioned that allows full AI tool usage during interviews
  • Autonomy focused: Testing ability to work independently, find problems, and create solutions
  • Fast-paced culture: Transparent about long hours, shipping updates every 1-2 days, working weekends
  • Flat organization: ~200 person team, minimal hierarchy, everyone can talk to anyone
  • No formal recruiters: At least for this hiring manager's process
  • Ambiguous by design: Want to see how candidates create structure from ambiguity

Preparation tips (from candidate)

  • LeetCode/data structures helpful for initial technical round
  • For on-site: Practice with unfamiliar GitHub repos (matching Cursor's tech stack and features)
  • Time-bound practice: 30 min-1 hour understanding codebase, 2 hours scoping, 1-1.5 hours implementation
  • Focus on asking for help appropriately (balance between autonomy and knowing when to reach out)
  • Be ready to be surprised - this is non-conventional compared to typical tech interviews
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