Probably the most uncomfortable process I had been through.
Scheduled a call with recruiter, he called in 10 minutes late. I was barely able to hear him.
[recruiter] Are you still interested in the role?
- [me confused] yes, that's the reason I scheduled the call.
[recruiter] Why do you want to leave your FAANG job?
- it's been a few years with my current company, so I'm just looking around.
[recruiter] Why airbnb?
- I'm a backend engineer. The problems airbnb works on seem to be a potential match with my background.
[recruiter] Why particularly airbnb?
- Airbnb could be a potential match, but I'm also talking to other companies.
[recruiter] I didn't expect you to say that. The other companies you're talking to might be a better fit. This won't workout. Bye.
13
Other Senior Software Engineer interview reviews for Airbnb
Recruiter is super responsive and helping with team matching. People are friendly. Process is standard. Coding question is difficult which is like leetcode hard question. SD interview is standard but question is specific to Airbnb domain.
I applied online. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Airbnb in Feb 2026
Interview
Entrevista muito curta, prevista pra 15min mas acho que nem chegou a isso. Poucas perguntas e pouco espaço para o candidato falar sobre a sua experiência, nem a câmera a recrutadora ligou
1. HR screen
The HR asked about my experience and mentioned that their coding question is very difficult. So, we scheduled the first technical interview for two weeks later.
2. 1st technical interview
Just the coding question, no more self-intro and project dive.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
A Leetcode hard problem about maze, which could use BFS to resolve