Airbnb Staff Software Engineer, Event Logging — owning technical direction for Airbnb's event logging platform

This interview is for a Staff engineer owning technical direction for Airbnb's event logging platform, which captures user activity events from every client and backend service company-wide. The JD's 9+ years bar and emphasis on architecting high-traffic backend systems, cross-org influence, and mentoring set the depth expected in this conversation.

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What this interview tests

Architecting high-traffic backend/logging infrastructure at scale
Setting and driving technical roadmap/vision for a platform area
Cross-org influence and driving adoption without direct authority
Observability and near-real-time vs long-term data tradeoffs
Mentoring engineers and shaping engineering-wide best practices

Common question themes

How would you architect an event logging system handling high-traffic, near-real-time and long-term data

Describe identifying a high-impact platform opportunity and driving adoption across teams you don't manage

Walk through setting technical vision and roadmap for a major platform area

How do you approach an ambiguous problem with no clear roadmap

Tell me about mentoring engineers and shaping best practices across an org

How candidates describe it

Real Staff Software Engineer interview stories — retold from candidates' public write-ups, with sources.

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LinkedIn Staff Software Engineer Interview: Two Onsite Loops and a Final Reject

A candidate interviewed for a Staff Software Engineer role at LinkedIn's Sunnyvale office, going through two phone interviews and a six-round onsite loop that mixed leadership and craftsmanship questions with coding and system design problems. After the hiring committee decided the candidate was not a match for the Staff level, the candidate returned for a shorter, two-round onsite loop evaluated at the Senior Software Engineer level, which also ended without an offer.

Interviewed July 2018 · Sunnyvale, CA

Google · L3 Software EngineerOffer

Google L3 software engineer interview: phone screen, four coding rounds, and the Googleyness round

A candidate with two years of experience went from recruiter outreach to offer over about four months. The onsite was four 45-minute coding rounds — three of them featuring binary trees — and one round turned into a 25-minute chain of follow-ups about approximating an optimal solution at scale.

Interviewed June 2020 · Bangalore, IN

Google · L4 Software EngineerNo offer

Google L4 Software Engineer Interview: Eight Rounds, No Offer

An L4 Software Engineer candidate went through two phone screens, three onsite rounds, a culture conversation, and a team-matching call with a Google hiring manager, then watched the process stall for about a month and a half over a tightened experience requirement before an added extended round ended without an offer.

Interviewed February 2024 · Not specified

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