Similar to what others have reported, the interview process is poor, but the interviewers are very nice. While it took me 8 hours to write the initial essay, they allow candidates to reuse it for different roles, so the amortized time cost isn't that bad. (There is always ChatGPT...) It is also great that they offer a practical take-home task and live coding task instead of some irrelevant LeedCode questions. Once you advanced to the stage where you can meet with a real human, you can get valuable feedback regarding your performance and information about your future team. This all sounded like a positive experience. Why do I still rate it as neutral (and tempted to rate it as negative)? After jumping through numerous hoops and six interview stages, SIX, I was rejected for a very lame reason: They were hiring for a DevOps role all along, not SWE. Even their internal job title was "DevOps Engineer". But the keyword "DevOps" appeared not once in the online job title and job description. As a mere "ordinary" SWE without hands-on DevOps experience, I was deemed not a fit, only at the SIXTH interview stage. It was a significant waste of both my time and their employees' time.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Same as what others have reported. Essay, aptitude test, take-home task, multiple interviews with colleagues from different teams.
The interview process was well organized, with clear communication at every stage. Recruiters kept me informed, responded promptly, and ensured I understood the next steps throughout the process it was rewarding
Brutally long and difficult. They take their time so only apply if you have time and are dedicated to open source tech.
That being said they are very communicative so if you have any questions its not such a black box.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
They'll ask for specific niche aspects of coding languages to check if you actually use them day to day.
It's an extremely long process that includes standardized tests, take home assignments, and several rounds of interviews. It was at least 5 rounds long and you interview across different teams.
Canonical interviews FAQs
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 16% positive. To compare, the company-average is 14.9% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Software Engineer roles take an average of 53 days to get hired, when considering 155 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 Software Engineer according to 155 Glassdoor interviews include:
Personality test: 19%
Skills test: 19%
IQ intelligence test: 17%
One on one interview: 16%
Phone interview: 12%
Other: 7%
Presentation: 3%
Background check: 3%
Group panel interview: 2%
Drug test: 1%
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