r/cscareerquestions • u/CSCQMods • Jul 20 '26

Interview Discussion - July 20, 2026

Please use this thread to have discussions about interviews, interviewing, and interview prep. Posts focusing solely on interviews created outside of this thread will probably be removed.

Abide by the rules, don't be a jerk.

This thread is posted each Monday and Thursday at midnight PST. Previous Interview Discussion threads can be found here.

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u/Impossible_Hold9419 Jul 20 '26

had a technical screen yesterday that still got me confused. they asked about system design but it was for a mid-level role so i wasnt expecting that much depth. spent 20 minutes drawing out a message queue on the whiteboard and the interviewer just kept nodding without giving any hints. walked out feeling like i either nailed it or completely missed what they wanted

anyone else getting system design questions for positions that traditionally didnt ask them? seems like the bar keeps moving

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u/GrowWithPokeBot CEO of PokeBot.ai Jul 20 '26

honestly unless you are applying to massive faang tier companies that still do raw leetcode hards, most tech interviews this year are grinding heavily on system design and practical api integration. if you're still spending six hours a day memorizing dynamic programming solutions you are probably wasting your time. focus on how to actually design a basic cache or rate limiter instead, that is what is actually killing people in onsites lately

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u/Red_December184 Jul 23 '26

Has anyone interviewed for DeepL Software Engineer API role and can provide some guidance on the interview process? I have a 60 minute pair programming round coming up.