I applied online. I interviewed at The Trade Desk (Denver, CO) in Jul 2026
Interview
I had applied online. Then I got an email from the recruiter saying that I had to take an online assessment (90 minutes). This was a coding question consisting of 4 parts (details later).
After that, I got an email from the recruiter saying that I had passed the OA and hiring manager would like to speak to me.
She had also mentioned that my resume matched perfectly with the role (which it did) and that the team would be more than happy to talk to me.
3 days later, I got an AUTOMATED REJECTION EMAIL.
PLEASE DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME APPLYING TO AND INTERVIEWING FOR THIS COMPANY. THEY DO NOT VALUE YOU OR YOUR TIME AND EFFORT.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Description
Instructions
Your task is to implement a simplified version of an in-memory database. All operations that should be supported by this database are described below.
Solving this task consists of several levels. Subsequent levels are opened when the current level is correctly solved. You always have access to the data for the current and all previous levels.
You are not required to provide the most efficient implementation. Any code that passes the unit tests is sufficient.
You can execute a single test case by running the following command in the terminal: bash run_single_test.sh "".
Requirements
Your task is to implement a simplified version of an in-memory database. Plan your design according to the level specifications below:
* Level 1: In-memory database should support basic operations to manipulate records, fields, and values within fields.
* Level 2: In-memory database should support displaying a specific record's fields based on a filter.
* Level 3: In-memory database should support TTL (Time-To-Live) configurations on database records.
* Level 4: In-memory database should support backup and restore functionality.
To move to the next level, you need to pass all the tests at this level when submitting the solution.
Level 4 (in detail)
The database should be backed up from time to time. Introduce operations to support backing up and restoring the database state based on timestamps. When restoring, ttl expiration times should be recalculated accordingly.
* int backup(int timestamp) — should save the database state at the specified timestamp, including the remaining ttl for all records and fields. Remaining ttl is the difference between their initial ttl and their current lifespan (the duration between the timestamp of this operation and their initial timestamp). Returns the number of non-empty non-expired records in the database.
* void restore(int timestamp, int timestampToRestore) — should restore the database from the latest backup before or at timestampToRestore. It's guaranteed that a backup before or at timestampToRestore will exist. Expiration times for restored records and fields should be recalculated according to the timestamp of this operation - since the database timeline always flows forward, restored records and fields should expire after the timestamp of this operation, depending on their remaining ttls at backup.
Call with recruiter, hiring manager, then schedule 4 technical rounds in the same week, 2 days after last technical section offer is released. Recruiter explained the process and reason behind each section very well, so I can expect what will happen and how I can prepare. Instructions within the round are very clear, interviewers are helpful and collaborative, so even the questions are not that easy the process is actually quite enjoyable and I feel respected. The process is very efficient, from they receive my application to offer accepted takes around a month
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
problem solving questions that might not need to execute the code but need to explain, need to debug an existing codebase, a Leetcode medium algo question, system design question
I applied online. I interviewed at The Trade Desk (Singapore) in Feb 2026
Interview
1. Applied Online.
2. Received/Completed Hackerrank Online Assessment.
3. Recruiter call about the role, salary expectations and leveling -- expecting next technical interview
4. One week later recruiter reached out that the role has been filled.
Senior Software Engineer applicants have rated the interview process at The Trade Desk with 3.5 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 43% positive. To compare, the company-average is 51.5% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Senior Software Engineer roles take an average of 25 days to get hired, when considering 21 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at The Trade Desk overall takes an average of 31 days.
Common stages of the interview process at The Trade Desk as a Senior Software Engineer according to 21 Glassdoor interviews include:
Phone interview: 28%
One on one interview: 23%
Presentation: 14%
Group panel interview: 12%
Skills test: 12%
Other: 5%
Background check: 2%
IQ intelligence test: 2%
Drug test: 2%
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