Software Engineer Interview Process: Every Round Explained

The software engineer interview process round by round: what each stage tests, how it differs by employer and level, and how long it takes.

Most software engineer interview processes run in the same order: an application and resume screen, a recruiter call, an online assessment or technical phone screen, a final loop of several interviews, and then a decision, a team match and an offer. The final loop usually holds two or more coding rounds, a system design round depending on your level, and a behavioral or hiring-manager conversation. Employers differ in the screening step, the number of rounds, how much design you face at your level and how long you wait. Amazon lists an SDE II outcome within five business days of the loop, while Meta suggests following up after a week and Capgemini describes a few weeks for its whole process.

This guide walks through each round in order, then shows how the process bends by employer type and by level. Each section summarises one stage and points to a deeper guide, so you can go straight to the round you face next.

The software engineer interview process, round by round

Application and resume screen

The first filter is a person or a system checking your resume against the posting's basic qualifications. Amazon's SDE II page says candidates who meet them move on to the online assessment. Microsoft says a team may first schedule a brief screening conversation, depending on the role and the number of applicants. Since this stage only reads what you wrote, a resume that names the languages, systems and results the posting asks for is the cheapest preparation you will do.

Recruiter call

The recruiter call is part screening and part logistics. Treat this call as research too. It is the best moment to ask which rounds you will face, which language and coding tool you will use, whether your level includes design and how long decisions take.

Online assessment or technical phone screen

This is the first real technical filter, and it comes in two forms. An online assessment is a timed test you take alone; Amazon's SDE II version gives you 90 minutes for two technical questions, then 20 minutes of systems design scenarios and a short work style survey. A technical phone screen is live instead, and Meta describes its initial tech screen as a 45-minute conversation with an engineer. Both test whether you can turn a problem into working code under time pressure. Our coding interview preparation plans set out how to schedule the practice, and our list of the LeetCode problems that appear across Blind 75, NeetCode 150 and LeetCode's Top Interview 150 gives you the problem set.

Coding rounds in the final loop

Loop coding rounds go deeper than the screen and put more weight on how you work. Meta's Full Loop Interview Guide says you should expect about two problems in about 40 minutes, that the interviewer will not compile your code, and that it does not ask dynamic programming questions. Microsoft describes 45-minute rounds in your strongest language, without pseudocode, in a tool that runs your code, and it expects you to test your solution before saying you are done. Amazon's SDE II page asks for syntactically correct code with no pseudocode. The common thread is that interviewers score the conversation as well as the code. Explaining your approach, naming the complexity and walking through test cases matter as much as reaching a solution. If your loop is in Java, our guide to Java coding problems and the language traps inside them covers the mistakes that can sink a correct algorithm.

System design

At Amazon, system design appears from SDE II up; Meta's full loop guide, written for IC4 to IC6, includes a design interview. Amazon expects at least one software systems design question in its SDE II and SDE III loops. Meta's 45-minute design interview is either systems design or product architecture design depending on the position, so ask your recruiter which one you will get. The round tests whether you can turn a vague prompt into requirements, a working architecture and a reasoned set of trade-offs, and our guide to preparing for the system design round covers how to structure that discussion.

Behavioral and hiring-manager rounds

Amazon and Meta both describe assessing how you work with others, though the weight differs. Amazon says each interviewer typically asks two or three behavioral questions tied to its Leadership Principles, while Meta puts behavior into one 45-minute interview scored on five focus areas, including resolving conflict and embracing ambiguity. A strong candidate arrives with eight to ten real stories from their own work, each with a clear decision and a result, and our guide to the behavioral questions software engineers get asked shows how to shape them.

Code review and other work-sample formats

Some employers replace or supplement live algorithm problems with work that looks more like the job. For niche roles, GitLab sends you a merge request at least 72 hours before the call and encourages you to spend up to an hour reviewing it. The 90-minute video session that follows has you walk through your review and write code to improve it. GitLab says it wants to see how you communicate asynchronously, what you know about the technology and how well you collaborate with a teammate. Our worked example of a backend code review round with planted bugs shows the order in which to raise issues.

Decision, team matching and offer

After the loop, interviewers submit feedback and a decision follows. Amazon's SDE II and SDE III pages promise one within five business days, and Meta suggests following up if you have not heard within a week. GitLab describes a generalist process that decides on a hire and a level and then matches the person to an eligible open role; it says this is initially being tested in India only.

How the process changes by employer type

Big Tech

The large tech employers publish the most detail, and they differ mainly in loop size and scoring. Meta's guide lists four to six interviews of 45 minutes, Amazon's SDE II loop is four 55-minute interviews, and Microsoft says most interviews include two to four conversations of up to an hour. Our comparison of how the Big Tech loops differ at seven companies goes through each one from its own careers pages.

Indian IT services firms

Capgemini's fresher process, for example, starts with an online test before any interview. It lists an online aptitude test covering logical reasoning, verbal ability and quantitative skills, then a coding or technical assessment, a group discussion for some roles, a technical interview and an HR interview. Our guide to how eight Indian IT services firms run their interviews covers TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Cognizant, Accenture, Capgemini, HCLTech and Genpact firm by firm.

AI-screening platforms

On platforms such as Mercor and micro1, the first interview is run by software rather than a person. Mercor's application guide says its AI interview is "the standard and only method for screening candidates", taken in Chrome on a desktop with camera and microphone. The micro1 platform says its AI recruiter, Zara, runs an on-demand conversational interview with role-specific technical questions and, for technical roles, coding challenges. Because the questions are tied to your role, prepare for role-specific technical questions as well as coding, and our guide to the format and timing of Mercor's AI interview explains what to expect.

Karat-run screens

Some employers outsource the first technical round to Karat. Karat describes a session of about 60 minutes with one of its Interview Engineers, a professional developer: a brief introduction, about 10 minutes of discussion questions and about 40 minutes of programming in a fully tooled IDE. The recruiter then receives the video recording and a summary. Karat says the most important thing it evaluates is how successfully your code solves the problem, and our guide to what a Karat interview tests covers the format and question types.

How the process changes by level

Amazon is the clearest example because it publishes separate pages for each level. For new grads, its university online assessment has a coding section averaging 70 minutes, a workstyles assessment and a work simulation, while its SDE internship assessment takes about 90 minutes and drops the work simulation. Neither page lists system design among its sections; they list coding, a workstyles assessment and, for new grads, a work simulation. If you are applying for internships, our reading of Stripe's SWE intern posting and candidate reports shows what one intern process looks like from the outside.

At mid-level, design enters the process early. Amazon's SDE II assessment already includes systems design scenarios, and its loop includes at least one design question alongside the coding and behavioral interviews.

At senior level, the screen and the loop both widen. Amazon's SDE III process starts with a 60-minute technical phone screen with a senior leader, split between its Leadership Principles and coding and system design, followed by five 55-minute interviews. The page says the role needs a "system-wide, architectural view of the solutions you build." In practice that means your stories need to show influence beyond your own code, and your design answers need to cover trade-offs across whole systems. Senior Java engineers can go further with our guides to core Java questions for engineers with ten years of experience and the judgment questions Java architect interviews ask.

Company by company: coding rounds we cover

If you already know where you are interviewing, our company guides cover the coding round in detail. For the largest employers, start with the DSA patterns behind Google's L4 coding rounds and what each round of the Amazon SDE interview tests. For AI and data companies, we cover how far LeetCode practice gets you at OpenAI and the two kinds of Databricks coding interview, and if you are aiming at AI roles specifically, our guide to the LLM design and evaluation rounds in an AI engineer interview covers what goes beyond coding.

For consumer and platform companies, read what Netflix's LeetCode tag shows about its coding round, how Uber's CodeSignal coding rounds run, the problems tagged to Palantir and the rounds they miss, Atlassian's coding, design and values rounds, what ByteDance's LeetCode data shows, Salesforce's Apex and SWE coding rounds and Robinhood's coding rounds and tagged problems.

How to prepare across rounds

Coding practice takes the longest to pay off, so start it first and keep it daily. Behavioral stories are quicker to write but need rehearsal out loud, and design practice matters only if your level includes it.

• In the first week, ask your recruiter for the list of rounds, the coding tool and language, and whether design is included.
• For the next two or three weeks, practise one or two problems a day by pattern, writing code without running it for Meta-style rounds and testing it yourself for Microsoft-style rounds.
• In parallel, write eight to ten stories from your own work and tag each against the employer's framework, such as Amazon's Leadership Principles or Meta's five behavioral focus areas.
• If your level includes design, practise one problem every few days from requirements to trade-offs, giving yourself about 30 minutes per question, which is the pace Meta's guide suggests for practice.
• In the final week, rehearse a full loop in one sitting, because stamina across four or five interviews is a skill of its own.

Practise the whole loop before the real one

Each round in this guide feels easier the second time, so a realistic rehearsal is worth an evening. Verve AI's AI Mock Interview has an AI recruiter ask you questions one at a time from its software engineering bank (algorithms, system design patterns and DevOps standards) or its behavioral bank, and you can also practise with questions generated from a job description through the LinkedIn Mock Interview tool. Afterwards you receive "a detailed performance report with personalized feedback and scoring". Treat it as practice before the interview only, since employers set their own rules for the interview itself and those rules differ (all read on 12 November 2026):

• Meta's Full Loop Interview Guide says: "we ask that you not use any unauthorized outside assistance during interviews", and lists "using AI tools, like ChatGPT" as outside assistance; Meta's hiring page FAQ, read on 12 November 2026, now says "many of Meta's interviews now include an AI assistant built into the interview environment" and that "No outside AI tools or assistance are authorized", so ask your recruiter which format you have.
• Microsoft's hiring page says: "During assessments and interviews, candidates should demonstrate their own skills without outside assistance unless explicitly permitted."
• GitLab's technical interview page says: "We encourage the use of AI in the interview process", and links to its guidelines.

FAQ

What are the rounds in a software engineer interview?

Most processes run an application and resume screen, a recruiter call, an online assessment or technical phone screen, and a final loop of several interviews. The loop usually combines coding rounds, a system design round at some levels (Amazon includes one from SDE II up) and a behavioral or hiring-manager round. Some employers add a code review or take-home exercise, as GitLab does with its merge request interview. Ask your recruiter for the exact list early, because it decides how you split your preparation.

How long does the software engineer interview process take?

It varies by employer. Amazon's SDE II and SDE III pages promise a decision within five business days of the loop, and Meta suggests following up if you have not heard within a week. Capgemini says its process typically takes a few weeks.

Do new grads get system design interviews?

Amazon, the employer that publishes the clearest level-by-level detail, does not list it for them. Its university and internship assessment pages do not list system design among their sections, while its SDE II assessment and loop both include it. If you are unsure, ask your recruiter whether your loop has a design interview and which kind, since Meta, for example, runs either systems design or product architecture depending on the position.

How many interviews are in the final loop?

Meta's software engineering loop has four to six interviews of 45 minutes, and Amazon's loop is four 55-minute interviews at SDE II and five at SDE III. Microsoft says most interviews include two to four conversations of up to an hour each. Capgemini's fresher process, by contrast, lists one technical interview and one HR interview after its tests.

Sources

• Amazon interview stages (application, assessments, phone screening, loop; process differs by role): https://www.amazon.jobs/en/landing_pages/interviewing-at-amazon
• Amazon SDE II (basic qualifications lead to the OA; 90 minutes for two coding questions, 20 minutes of systems design scenarios, work style survey; four 55-minute interviews; at least one design question; two or three behavioral questions per interviewer; Leadership Principles; decision within 5 business days; syntactically correct code, no pseudocode): https://amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire/sde-ii-interview-prep
• Amazon SDE III (60-minute technical phone screen with a senior leader, half Leadership Principles and half coding and system design; five 55-minute interviews; at least one design question; "system-wide, architectural view"; decision within 5 business days): https://amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire/sde-iii-interview-prep
• Amazon university SDE online assessment (coding averaging 70 minutes, workstyles, work simulation; internship OA about 90 minutes without the work simulation; system design not listed): https://amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire/university/sde-oa
• Meta initial tech screen (45-minute conversation with an engineer): https://www.metacareers.com/swe-prep-techscreen
• Meta Full Loop Interview Guide, linked from this page (four to six 45-minute interviews; coding, design, behavioral; about two problems in about 40 minutes; no compiling; no dynamic programming; systems or product architecture design depending on position; five behavioral focus areas; about 30 minutes per practice design question; outside-assistance rule; follow up after a week): https://www.metacareers.com/swe-prep-onsite
• Microsoft hiring tips (brief screening conversation, two to four conversations of up to an hour, phone, Teams or in person, AI rule): https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/hiring-tips.html
• Microsoft technical interviewing (45-minute rounds, strongest language, no pseudocode, tool that runs and compiles code, testing your solution): https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/hiring-tips/technical-interviewing
• GitLab technical interview (merge request 72 hours ahead, up to an hour of review, finish 24 hours before, 90-minute video session, AI encouraged): https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/hiring/interviewing/technical/
• GitLab engineering hiring (generalist process with take-home, two technical interviews and hiring manager interview, team match after the level decision): https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/workflow/hiring/
• Capgemini recruitment process (fresher aptitude test, coding or technical assessment, group discussion for some roles, technical and HR interviews; a few weeks): https://www.capgemini.com/in-en/careers/join-capgemini/recruitment-process/
• Mercor application guide (AI interview as the only screening method, Chrome on desktop, camera and microphone): https://talent.docs.mercor.com/how-to/apply
• micro1 AI interview guide (Zara, on-demand conversational interview, role-specific technical questions, coding challenges for technical roles): https://www.micro1.ai/ai-interview-guide
• Karat candidate experience (Interview Engineer, about 60 minutes, 10 minutes discussion and 40 minutes programming, fully tooled IDE, recording and summary to the recruiter, evaluation focus): https://karat.com/candidate-experience/
• Verve AI Mock Interview (AI recruiter, question banks, report wording): https://docs.vervecopilot.com/features/mock-interview
• Meta hiring process page FAQ (AI assistant built into many interviews, no outside AI tools; read 12 November 2026): https://www.metacareers.com/hiring-process/