I applied through a recruiter. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Polly (WA) (Bellevue, WA) in May 2025
Interview
The process started with a positive initial recruiter chat, which then moved to a 45-minute technical conversation with two engineers on the AI team. The discussion was engaging and focused primarily on practical application and system design concepts relevant to AI.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Can you walk me through a complex backend system or AI-driven feature you have built from start to finish, and what were the key technical decisions and trade-offs you had to make?
I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Polly (WA) (Lahore) in Apr 2021
Interview
The interview process was quite long and tedious. It involved an initial coding screening test and an HR interview. Then you have to do a pair programming interview that lasts about 3 hours. And then you have 4 more interviews, each an hour long, with different people in the company covering different aspects of the product. From UX to system design to all kinds of things.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
You get asked about UX choices to make when designing a system that say will be used by the average person and you only have a single button to provide user input.
The technical screen was interesting and challenging, and the recruiter/coordinator was incredibly good at selling me on the culture fit. But, virtual onsite took a strange turn as I was asked questions about non-technical concepts I wasn't familiar with. The founder seemed uninterested and distracted while I answered his behavioral questions.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
I was asked technical questions layered with niche, non-technical concepts I was unfamiliar with.