I applied through a recruiter. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Island (Tel Aviv-Yafo) in Dec 2025
Interview
The full process involves a phone screening, followed by a pen and paper coding assessment, and then an in-depth architectural discussion. Final steps include an HR interview, checking recommendations, and a formal offer.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
1. Given a list of tuples (for example: [(2,3), (1,8), (0,5), (10,12)]);
return the minimal gapping value. (In the example, it should return 9).
2. Implement "exponential backoff" mechanism. You have to implement 2 functions:
void tick()
void handleTask(int tid)
Told you have a shared memory.
A follow-up question is, what if you have a lot of tasks? How would you change your initial implementation?
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at Island (Tel Aviv-Yafo) in Aug 2025
Interview
I was interviewed by two people who both came from the same IDF unit. Much of the conversation circled back to their shared background rather than the interview itself, which gave me the impression that this was the main filter they cared about.
The interview structure itself felt unbalanced. I was asked to describe projects I had worked on and to sketch system components and their relations on paper, but there were very few follow-up questions. For most of the session, I was the one talking. At one point, they presented a technical problem about retrieving the top X results in log(n) time, if I recall correctly. We discussed a solution and then I had a short amount of time to implement it on a laptop without internet access.
Overall, I came away with the strong feeling that they were primarily looking for someone from their own IDF unit background. Once it became clear that I was from a different unit, I did not feel genuinely welcomed or wanted. I was not offered the position, but even if I had been, the atmosphere of the process left me with little interest in joining.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
retrieving the top X results in log(n) time, if I recall correctly.
I applied in-person. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Island in Sept 2024
Interview
The first interview was great! The interviewer was friendly and the coding question on frequently accessed data was straightforward, with an O(1) solution expected.
The second-round interview with the tech lead was a complete disaster. The interviewer was rude and unprofessional, asking personal questions about my own life which had no relevance to the job. I was thrown off after 5 minutes and couldn’t focus at all. It was the worst interview experience I’ve ever had.
The location of the company isn't great.
