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Complete Guide on GitHub Software Engineer Interview
The role of a GitHub Software Engineer
GitHub is home to some talented software engineering professionals working together to create some of the most powerful software in the world. Producers and consumers of code, open-source maintainers, security researchers, and security teams share responsibility for the software's security. The main aim of GitHub is to provide the community with the resources it requires to safeguard the software upon which we all rely.
The world's largest developer community, GitHub, has millions of members who collaborate, share code, and create fantastic software.
Their interview approach reflects that their company, based in San Francisco, California, relies significantly on communication, inclusion, and diversity, as 75% of their workers work remotely. Software engineers working with GitHub have solid skills in coding and using tools, including CodeQL.
The company hires software engineers to work on different tools and roles. Some remote openings are for C++ Compiler, CodeQL Platform, NPM CLI, and others. All under the software engineer position. However, to earn the position, you need to create a good impact on interviewers. A good knowledge of GitHub software engineer interviews will help you pass through the process.
How to Apply for the GitHub Software Engineer Job Role?
To apply for the software engineer role at GitHub, you will find the opening on the official career page of the company website. You can also check the update on LinkedIn and other job portals.
Role of a GitHub Software Engineer
The role of a software engineer at GitHub depends on the specific position you are applying for. However, the overall role and responsibilities remain the same, except few.
- You need to understand and use design patterns to solve business problems.
- You need to understand and learn how operating systems work, perform and scale.
- Develop pragmatic solutions. Work on building flexible systems without over-engineering and choose simple, straightforward solutions.
- Collaborate with senior engineering managers and team members to work on projects and deliver the same
- Collaborate with the GitHub Security Lab team, the Open-Source community, and GitHub’s Enterprise customers for creating analysis libraries.
- Head the process of development of products that meets the audience's needs.
- Work closely with the stakeholders and managers to enable them to leverage the components you have developed.
- Open a Pull Request to implement the essential features, or work on fixing bugs and resolving suggestions in your code reviews
- Identify and prioritize the highest-value work, contributing to both engineering improvements and developer joy.
Preferred Skills/Qualifications for the Role of Software Engineering in GitHub
- Experience with programming languages including C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, Swift, Kotlin, and others.
- Solid understanding of modern compilers and parsers.
- Skills to use Query languages; query optimization; code generation.
- Experience in building, operating, and maintaining resilient, scalable distributed services
- Knowledge of testing, profiling, and debugging practices
- Strong communication, leadership, and pairing skills
- Degree/master’s in computer science or any such relevant field.
GitHub Software Engineer Interview Guide
The GitHub software engineer interview is to evaluate skills from certain levels of the candidate. From technical to communication skills, the interview grasps the overall view of the potential employee. The interview performance will define the candidate's skills and qualities. Also, the GitHub software engineer's salary depends on the same. The average software engineer's salary at GitHub is around $1,42,972 annually.
There are different rounds of interviews a candidate goes through until the selection happens.
Schedule a free peer interview to prepare better.
→ Schedule NowRelevant Guides
Talent Partner Screening
Overview
The talent partner and the hiring manager will both check your submitted resume. You will be scheduled for a talent partner screening if they like your resume. Be sure to come prepared to discuss relevant work experience and past projects for a 45-minute partner screening round. The goal here is to check how well you are in your communication, the reason for this job role, and your expectations.
Interview Questions
- What would the ideal opportunity look like for you?
- Have you ever worked remotely? What did you like about it, what were the challenges?
- How do you best like to work with your manager?
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Take Home Exercise
Overview
It will be a 3-5 hour exercise, divided into 2 parts, wherein the first section will test your coding skills, and the second section will be a code review. Interviewers will automate the GitHub program called Interview-bot to make things easy for candidates. This application uses the GitHub API and current GitHub features.
Tips
Here are some points to remember when undergoing this round of interviews-
- Follow the instructions mentioned on README to begin the exercise.
- You are free to use Google for assistance.
- Tests are included, but you are free to supplement those tests with additional coverage for edge cases, etc.
- Your access to the exercise repository is removed after 300 minutes of permission.
- Each submission is evaluated by 2 engineers to ensure its quality. Post-evaluation, you will get the result via email.
Interview Questions
- How would you implement Fast.com from scratch? Write a detailed Tech Spec
- Build a rule engine that will manage the workflows of a logistics company - implement the APIs
- Build discoverability capabilities for a data lake
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Pairing Exercise+ Hiring Manager- (Video call)
Overview
A pairing exercise with two engineers from the Experienced Engineer Team will make up the first interview. The complete identical codebase from the exercise will have 50% of the coding and 50% of the code review portions of the interview. To prepare, you should be in a relaxed development atmosphere, have your screen-sharing settings set to zoom, and be prepared to utilize the editor of your choice. This conversation will last roughly 60 minutes.
The hiring manager will be your second interview, allowing you to ask more questions. The average time is around 30 minutes for this interview, but in many cases, the candidate will get 60 minutes just in case it lasts longer.
During this round of interviews, the candidate will also face some technical questions about design, concepts, product thinking, etc.
Interview Questions
- What are some examples of how you managed a P0 incident? What steps did you take to ensure it is resolved and not repeated?
- Build a URL shorter for an event management product that will be used to send ticket links in SMS
- What would be the data structure to find the top 10 hashtags on Twitter on any date?
- How would you go about building a distributed load balancer from scratch?
Final Round (on-site or remote)
Overview
The final round is divided into two sections: Leadership Principles, and Diversity & Inclusion & Belonging.
The Leadership Principles section will be 60 minutes and you will meet two Hubbers. This round is to test your leadership quality, growth mindset, and team management.
Diversity & Inclusion & Belonging will be for 30 minutes to test your diversity, inclusion, and belonging thought processes and attitudes.
This round can be followed by a final question and answer round with the hiring manager and talent partner.
Interview Questions
- How did you get into leadership? What excites you about management?
- What is an event where you stepped up?
- As a manager, what is something you are extremely proud of?
- As a manager, what has been a difficult situation you had to deal with?
Schedule a mock interview with an expert recruiter of GitHub.
→ Schedule NowInterview Tips
Follow the below-mentioned interview tips while appearing for the GitHub software engineer interview-
Practise your Programming and Coding Skills
Pick an object-oriented programming language. Dedicate at least a week or two to review key ideas.
Identify Problem-Solving Patterns
When you are attending a technical phone screen interview, pattern recognition and application are helpful techniques to address issues. It is noticed that interviews over the phone place more emphasis on coding skills than design skills.
Practise your Communication
Having good communication skills is important for problem-solving and defining your thoughts. Ask the interviewer about your problem-solving strategy to make sure you're on the correct road.
Restructure your Resume
It is important to restructure your resume before sending it to the hiring team. You can use Prepfully's resume review service to make it look professional and appealing enough.
Conclusion
Besides using the resume review service, undergo the mock interview at the Prepfully website. It will help in getting an insight into the interview session. Be confident in your approach and positive about getting the job.