Updated by Netflix candidates
Senior Software Engineer, Infrastructure Interview Experience
For an infra role, the weirdest part was a whole partnership round on how I'd prioritize with deadlines, present decisions to nontechnical leaders, and get buy-in from PMs. I had never seen that at another company.
Interview process
I had two screens before the onsite: first a coding screen that was split into three parts with increasing difficulty, then a hiring manager screen that was mostly there to calibrate my level and see whether I fit the role. After that they split the virtual onsite into two separate parts, which was pretty different from other loops I've done. The first onsite block was the generic Netflix loop with a problem-solving coding round, a generic system design round, and a separate partnership round. The second onsite block was much more about the actual infra team, with the hiring manager, behavioral and team fit, and a specialized system design interview for that team's niche. It felt like they were evaluating me once at the company level and then again at the team level.
- Phone interview
- Final round
Interview rounds
5 questions across 7 roundsPhone interview (1)
1 questionOverview
I started with a coding screen that felt pretty LeetCode-like, but it was split into three parts with increasing difficulty so they could see how I handled the same problem as it got more complex.
Question types asked
Specific questions asked
How would you filter the objects that the user has already seen?
I worked through a multipart problem around filtering objects the user had already seen. They kept increasing the difficulty across three parts, so it felt less like one trick question and more like they were testing how I adapted the solution as new constraints showed up.
Phone interview (2)
Overview
The next screen was with a hiring manager and felt more like a calibration round than a hard technical interview.
Question types asked
Final round (1)
1 questionOverview
The first virtual onsite coding round was technically a coding interview, but it leaned much more toward open-ended problem solving and design thinking than a pure algorithm grind.
Question types asked
Specific questions asked
A design-heavy coding problem rather than a pure algorithm question.
How would you handle concurrency here?
If this no longer fit in memory, how would you distribute it?
Which database would you use?
It was more like designing something than recalling a specific LeetCode pattern. I used pretty standard pieces like hash maps and probably a priority queue, and then they pushed on concurrency. After that they widened it into scaling tradeoffs: what I would do once it no longer fit in memory, how I would distribute it, and what database I would use.
Final round (2)
Overview
There was also a generic system design round in that first onsite block, and it sounded like the company-wide version of system design rather than anything niche to the team.
Question types asked
Final round (3)
3 questionsOverview
The partnership round was the most unusual part for me, especially for an infra role, because it was very explicitly about how I work with product managers and other non-technical people.
Question types asked
Specific questions asked
How do you present your decisions to non-technical leaders?
How do you use data to convince them?
How do you get buy-in from non-technical folks?
Final round (4)
Overview
The second virtual onsite block was tied to the specific team and felt much more about concrete fit than broad evaluation.
Question types asked
Final round (5)
Overview
That last team-specific technical round was a specialized system design interview for the niche problems that team actually works on.
Question types asked
Interview tips
I would not prep for this like a pure memorize-LeetCode process. The coding rounds leaned more toward designing something and reasoning through it, and then they pushed into concurrency, what happens when it no longer fits in memory, how I would distribute it, and what database I would pick. For the partnership round, I would have clean examples for how I prioritize when deadlines are tight, how I explain technical decisions to nontechnical leaders using data, and how I get buy-in. I also spent a lot of time reading the Netflix culture memo and trying to line up my behavioral stories with those values.
Company culture
They seemed very focused on super fit for the role, and then super fit for the actual team on top of that. Even for an infra position, they did not treat collaboration as generic behavioral fluff. It was much more specific about how I work with product managers and other non-tech people than what I usually see elsewhere. The culture piece was everywhere in the process. The informed-captain idea also seemed pretty real there, where you gather the information and then make the call.
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