Samsara

Role: SWE Intern

College: Tufts

Interview Date: December 9, 2022

Interview Type: Internship

Result: Offer (Firmware offer, passed technical for SWE)

Difficulty: Easy

Rounds: 3 rounds

Topics Asked: Behavioral, String Parsing

Experience:

This candidate's Samsara SWE Intern timeline for 2023 began with applying on September 15, 2022, without a referral.

On September 16, they received an automated CodeSignal GCA, which they submitted on September 27 with a score of 751. After two months of no contact, an invitation for a recruiter phone screen was received on December 1, noting that the resume screen and CodeSignal were passed.

The phone screen on December 4 involved light behavioral questions, and the candidate was verbally moved to the final technical round. An email confirming the date for the final technical interview was received on December 7, and the interview took place on December 9.

After emailing for an update on January 10, the recruiter responded on January 18, stating that SWE intern spots were full but offering a call with a firmware manager if interested. On January 20, the candidate spoke with the firmware manager and learned they had passed the technical interview, and on February 8, they received a firmware offer.

The technical round was a 45-minute session. It started with 10-15 minutes for introductions and light behavioral questions, followed by 25-30 minutes of coding. The coding problem was a string parsing task, specifically parsing markdown text, which was described as implementation-heavy, without complex data structures, and "not hard." The round concluded with 5 minutes for candidate questions.

The candidate noted that their resume was mediocre, with no coding-related extracurriculars, two unpaid internships, and only school projects, and they attended Tufts University.