I applied online. The process took 3 days. I interviewed at Canonical in Mar 2023
Interview
Applied for some positions through their website. Promptly received responses from the "recruiters" that I passed the initial screening. They also asked a respond to nearly 30 questions, that would have taken several hours to complete. The questions ranged from relevant to obscure, like describe how you did in math in high school, and how you applied to colleges. I responded with a simple question trying to get clarification on the job role and compensation levels, since all these questions about high school (which was 25 years ago for me) gave me concerns this was a lower level position. I never got a response, until a follow-up reminding me to respond to the initial email? I responded to the followup that they must have missed my question, and reiterated it. The response ignored the question all together and just said "looking forward to your response'. I responded to this one asking the question a third time, and my only response was "they have accepted my withdrawal from the application process" I am glad most application processes are not as cold and impersonal as this. It is crazy to expect a candidate to spend hours on a questionnaire with no personal contact, basic details, or responses to questions
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
In high school, how did you rank competitively in maths and hard sciences? Which was your strongest? In high school, how did you rank competitively in languages and the arts? Which was your strongest? What sort of high school student were you? Outside of class, what were your interests and hobbies? What would your high school peers remember you for, if we asked them? Which university and degree did you choose? What others did you consider, and why did you select that one? At university, did you do particularly well at any area of your degree?
I applied through a staffing agency. I interviewed at Canonical in Jan 2026
Interview
I understand they are looking for a very specific type of profile. It's just not for me and after a long form with 30+ questions, some of then about my teenage years hobbies or my grades in school, and a intelligence tests consisting on sesame street knowledge like "Peter is taller than Jenny. Who is shorter?" i just withdraw, if that is the respect they have for candidate time i am not a good fit for their culture.
Long process, took a lot of time to complete so-called "written interview", talking about your academic performance during high school and college, which is hated by most people.
Interviewers are kind, however, it sucks when the interview process takes you 40+ days to get a rejection email.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Find the position of matched bytes in a large data memory
It was lengthy. There is the well-known written interview, followed by a basic programming test. Lots and lots of Google Meet interviews. Many of the interviewers asked the same questions. A panel interview would have been a lot better.
Senior Software Engineer applicants have rated the interview process at Canonical with 3.2 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 22% positive. To compare, the company-average is 14.9% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Senior Software Engineer roles take an average of 70 days to get hired, when considering 27 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Canonical overall takes an average of 51 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Canonical as a Senior Software Engineer according to 27 Glassdoor interviews include:
Skills test: 22%
One on one interview: 19%
Personality test: 18%
IQ intelligence test: 16%
Phone interview: 10%
Other: 6%
Group panel interview: 3%
Presentation: 3%
Background check: 3%
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