I applied through a recruiter. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Upstart (Los Angeles, CA) in May 2024
Interview
The entire process was full of red flags.
1. I made it clear I'm not open to roles below Senior, but then recruiter promised it would be determined based on performance. No thank you. Still he/she passed the ball to the hiring manager during his interview.
2. The hiring manager held defensive when he was questioned on the recent attrition during April, but then the company is still hiring on the other side.
3. There were no clear cut answers on how the company is battling the economical downturn and plans for growth.
No thank you! I forfeited after this round.
Educate your interviewers on the company's future since that is extremely important for them to convey it to candidates. Interview is not just for the candidates, but also for the company to get to know its vision.
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Other Senior Software Engineer interview reviews for Upstart
Interview experience is overall very good. You can lead the discussion but they have certain questions to ask. Can choose any tools for diagram. Really nice people and very polite.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Design a Online chess system design in first round.
I applied through a staffing agency. I interviewed at Upstart (Los Angeles, CA) in May 2026
Interview
Interview consisted of 2 recruiter calls, 1 technical coding screen with 2 LC Medium level problems but with decent follow up questions, then onsite that was: Systems Design, Hiring Manager/Behavioral, and Product Development interview. After passing on-site there was an exec VP chat.
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at Upstart in Apr 2026
Interview
What a weird interview, or recruiter call.
Recruiter joined the call and got my name wrong, so knew immediately this was going to go sideways. They told me absolutely nothing about the company what they do, what they’re looking for.
Then got basic questions about my career. The recruiter couldn’t really grasp that one man teams really do exist at disorganized companies, so I think they had trouble understanding what full stack actually means outside of upstart. They kept rewording questions trying get me to explain what my teammates do, when in reality I explained that I don’t have any.
Then was told of the next interview steps. A take home coding challenge, then a virtual onsite with atleast 3 more interviews and a live coding challenge. Then interviews (more than one) with team members. How many interviews are we doing here? Then they will ask for references, and doubled down on how they take those seriously. Lol, okay?
I was honestly out on Upstart after hearing the interview steps. Wasn’t surprised to get rejected 24hrs later.