I applied online. I interviewed at River (Columbus, OH)
Interview
1st round screen, with basic technical questions (e.g. what is an index)
2nd round is technical Q&A trivia style. Covers DB's, API design, OWASP top 10.
3rd round is a basic coding exercise that is a subset of Bitcoin's op codes and tests your ability to evaluate a stack
I applied online. I interviewed at River in Jan 2026
Interview
Pretentious interviewing dynamics. The CEO conducts the initial screening calls himself, but lacks the interviewing skills to effectively evaluate candidates for the position he's hiring for. He questions Staff-level ICs using college-level topics, such as database indexing and TCP/IP. Do Staff engineers at River implement databases from scratch or internet protocols? This approach is likely to attract only overpaid juniors.
Interview questions [2]
Question 1
What is a database index, and what structure does it use?
I applied online. I interviewed at River in Jan 2026
Interview
15 minute meeting with the CEO who was 10 minutes late. 45 minute Trivia Session with an Engineering Manager. If you pass the Software Jeopardy game you get a coding challenge.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How does a webpage load. How does a database implement indexes.
Examine a SQL query and explain it. Look at results of EXPLAIN and explain why it is slow. Pick an appropriate HTTP verb. Name the list of isolation levels in a database. Explain SQL Injection/XSS/CSRF.
