I applied online. I interviewed at Speechify (Vancouver, BC) in Oct 2025
Interview
There was no recruiter call. The interview process began with an automated coding challenge, which felt poorly designed. Since no one from the hiring team attends, it costs them nothing to run; even if they're not seriously looking for candidates.
The issues weren't about difficulty; I don’t mind hard interviews. The problem was fairness and quality. The test environment didn't work properly, and the “technical support” link was broken, showing a lack of care.
One question asked for an SSML parser. They expected candidates to understand SSML specifications (e.g. only one tag allowed) within the limited time. Yet their own test cases didn't follow valid XML or SSML rules; one test expected the parser to treat `< speech >< p > hello ` (note the blank character between < and the tag names) as correct, though it's invalid XML/SSML.
This reflects a larger issue: companies expect exceptional candidates but don't meet basic standards themselves. Automated interviews may be free for them, but is your time free to give?
I was told I "made it to a stage in their recruitment process that few candidates achieve" and I was given resources to reapply after 60 days. But, thank you; your interview process clearly demonstrated that you're not good at evaluating people's performance, and this isn't a place I'd want to work.
1 Long take home coding project that you had 90 minutes to do. Was very complicated and asked a lot. Followed the rules that was outlined in the email but did not pass.
Take home coding project that you had to do in 90 minutes. Consisted of some challenging problems, but you don't have to answer all of the perfectly. It says to use the time wisely to lay down some good answers to as many problem as you can.
I applied online. I interviewed at Speechify (Dublin, Dublin) in Jul 2026
Interview
Applied online through linkedin, instantly got an email about a technical interview that needed to be scheduled.
The initial technical interview is a screening interview where you are required to share your screen and use your webcam. There is nobody in the interview with you.
I was given 90 minutes to clone a repo, setup the local environment and then read through the task list of 5 tasks. The tasks themselves are essentially what you would be assigned as a ticket to fix bugs and optimize. However for someone who wants to figure out the codebase first before tackling tasks, having a 90 minute countdown is not helpful. They are essentially having you do the job of a developer but from day 1 with zero onboarding.
They did allow AI usage but I am not here to be tested on my prompting ability, so I left after 30 minutes and did not complete the assessment
Personally, its possible that this role was out of my capabilities, or it was just not meant for people who prefer to fully understand a codebase before making changes without relying on AI
1
Speechify interviews FAQs
Software Engineer applicants have rated the interview process at Speechify with 3.6 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 35% positive. To compare, the company-average is 52.2% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Software Engineer roles take an average of 18 days to get hired, when considering 49 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Speechify overall takes an average of 19 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Speechify as a Software Engineer according to 49 Glassdoor interviews include:
Skills test: 39%
One on one interview: 21%
Phone interview: 16%
Background check: 9%
Presentation: 4%
Group panel interview: 4%
Other: 4%
IQ intelligence test: 2%
Personality test: 2%
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