Interviewing at a VC as a software engineer

Found the interview process at startups, big tech, and VCs to be drastically different.

Big Tech:

During my interviews, I remember sitting in the same room as a parade of essentially nameless engineers came in one after another. Each interview was pretty similar:

• Exchange pleasantries for ~5 minutes

• Jump directly into a problem (AST, UnionFind, QuadTree, Design a Rate Limiter for an API)

• Shake hands, say goodbye, and never see that person again

Startups:

When I joined a startup’s founding team, my interviews included:

• The standard algorithm and data structures problems

• A product design exercise (Grocery store for the blind)

• Various coffee walks around town with the other founders

• Meetings with their investors

• Disco bowling & mini golf

• A sunset walk on the beach with my toes in the sand (… not really 😜)

VC:

For the firm that I eventually joined, I interviewed for > 40 hours across multiple sessions:

• White-boarding b-trees

• 10pm - 12:30am phone call with partners to discuss my past roles

• A philosophical debate on the trolley problem

• A very “brisk” 6am run

• Meetings with every single employee of the firm

• A deep dive on my entire career in front of the whole team

Anyone have similar experiences interviewing across these company types? I'd be curious to learn what other patterns you've noticed.

For VC specifically, I found demonstrating intensity, insatiable curiosity, and a blatant disregard for work life balance were details that elevated me to eventually receive an offer.

Happy to discuss further!