Software Engineer Challenge
Performance & Reliability
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What You'll Be Doing
You've just joined a small, high-ownership engineering team building a core product used by thousands of users every day.
Over the last week, people keep saying "the product feels slow and flaky," but nobody owns this part of the system and there's no clear root cause. Metrics exist, but they're noisy, and no one has had time to dig in.
Record a video walking us through how you'd approach this situation and what it says about how you work.
Challenge Guidelines
Assessment Format:
- Response: 1 continuous video
- Time limit: Up to 2 minutes
- Artifacts: None (video only)
Values to Reflect: We're looking for hints of:
- Ownership
- Impact
- Curiosity & Velocity
What You'll Accomplish
Demonstrate structured debugging and diagnostic approach
Show ownership and bias to action
Apply technical and systems reasoning to performance issues
Exhibit values of impact, curiosity, and velocity
How Your Work Will Be Scored
What to Submit
Please submit:
- Video Recording (up to 2 minutes):
- One continuous recording addressing all three parts of the scenario
- Ensure audio and video quality are clear
- No editing needed - we want to see how you think on your feet
Video Response
Format: .mp4, .mov, .webm
Record a single, continuous video addressing all three parts of the scenario:
1. Your first few hours What would you look at or ask for to understand what's really going on?
2. Your next 24 hours Describe one concrete action you personally would take to move things forward, even if nobody asked you to.
3. How this reflects how you work Briefly connect your approach to the kind of engineer you are—how you think about impact, speed, and ownership on a small, fast team.
Tips:
- Ensure audio and video quality are clear
- No editing needed—we want to see how you think on your feet
- You don't need a perfect answer; we want to see how you think, sequence your actions, and show ownership
We're looking for hints of: Ownership, Impact, Curiosity & Velocity
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