How our interview process works
At Mechanize we have a streamlined interview process that can be completed fully remotely. There are 4 stages, consisting of 6 hours in total. We encourage candidates to schedule each stage at the earliest time that works for them. We’re usually able to accommodate same-day scheduling, and the entire process can be completed within 2 days.
After you submit your application, we will review it and decide whether to advance you to the first stage. If we decide to advance you, we’ll invite you to schedule the first interview stage at a time that works for you.
Stage 1: Intro conversation (30 minutes)
We have a brief conversation with you about the company to judge whether you are a good culture fit. We also ask you to walk through how you’d solve a simple puzzle.
Stage 2: Coding screening (30 minutes)
We ask you to solve a LeetCode-style problem. We ask that you solve it in Python.
Stage 3: Technical interview (60 minutes)
We ask you to solve a difficult programming problem. You do not need to solve the question fully to move forward. Instead, the goal is to see how you reason through the problem and assess whether you are technically competent.
Stage 4: Take-home project (4 hours)
We ask you to implement a web app within 3 hours. You are allowed to use AI coding tools to help you. Afterwards, we will take a 1 hour call with you and ask you questions about the code you produced. The goal is to assess whether you’re capable of making rapid progress on software engineering tasks and whether you understand your own code.
Offer
If you pass all 4 stages, we will likely make you an offer to work at Mechanize as a software engineer. We encourage you to start as soon as possible, and we can usually accommodate a start date as early as the day after you receive your offer.