I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Zillow
Average interview
Application
I applied online. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Zillow in Sep 2015
Interview
First, there was the coding test. The same two problems that everyone gets: the ternary tree and the string-to-integer conversion problems. The trick there seems to be that the unit tests they provide are not sufficient, so you can pass their unit tests without having a fully operable solution, and then you will fail. I wrote my own unit tests to validate other cases. The next day they let me know that I passed the test. The next step was a phone screen. It was a very good conversation and the interviewer was very nice. The coding exercise was to write a function that detects the first non-repeating character in a char array, and to do so with only a single pass over the array. Unfortunately, I was a bit sloppy and nervous with the coding exercise in the online text editor, so even though I solved it with the time/space efficiency they were looking for, I'm sure the code had some syntax errors and was not as elegant as I would have liked. They let me know the next day that they were not interested in talking with me further. It's tough getting back into the rhythm of solving little coding exercises in text editors within several minutes, as it bears no resemblance to the coding we do in our real jobs, but it is the nature of the interview game, so more practice is the only thing you can do!
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Write a function that detects the first non-repeating character in a char array, and do so with only a single pass over the array.
- Informational call with recruiter
- Technical phone screen with hiring manager (60 min)
- Onsite interview: 5 technical interviews + (non-scored) lunch interview
Most of the interviews were with potential teammates or adjacent teams. Each interview was pretty well-structured: "I'm going to start by X, then Y, then Z, then leave time for your questions at the end." Each interview included a "culture fit" question as well; together, these mean that the coding portion of the hour was smaller than at some other companies.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Every technical interview included a "culture fit" question. Ex: What was a time you made an unpopular decision?
Never heard results or feedback. I will assume they are too busy solving the world's critical virtual home tour problems to show common courtesy. Interviewer was late. Interviewer made sure to let me know three times that their title was Director and the position was in the group he "owned". Tech question was from the '90's, probably as long as he has been asking it. Too busy to answer my questions because his next meeting was "far away". Ballmer-era spinout with antiquated engineering. Bullet dodged.
I'm very sorry to hear this was your experience with us. Could you please email me more specific information at annie@zillowgroup.com so that we can look into this further ? - Annie Rihn
1. Introductions
2. Interviewer will offer two timed brain teasers and give the interviewee a couple minutes to offer a solution. If the interviewer agrees with your solution then interviewee will have a few minutes to then code the agreed solution. Interviewee must work fast given the limited amount of time.
3. Final questions
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Interviewer will offer two brain teasers that interviewee must code and solve
Thank you for sharing your interview feedback with us. If you have additional insight around your negative experience, please feel free to reach out to me at annie@zillowgroup.com