1 phone screen with recruiter
2 coding phone interviews (coderpad.io) with iOS engineers
Onsite:
1 experience
2 coding
1 generalist interview
2 culture fit
TIPS:
1. Practice writing a class where you implement a horizontal table view. You cannot use a UICollectionView.
2. When they ask you to fix all of the problems with the code in the file, not only will you fix structural errors with the code, make the the UI is laid out appropriately as well. The interviewer won't help you at all, so you just have to make sure anything and everything in the file is perfect. There is only one question that session, so just spend the entire session working on it. They have also been asking this question for years.
3. When you are asked to talk about your experience, they really want to see that you made the technical decisions in your past teams.
4. Review the core values:
- Be a Host
- Champion the Mission
- Every Frame Matters
- Be a "Cereal" Entrepreneur
- Simplify
- Embrace the Adventure
The recruiters will never tell you that you have two culture fit interviews that are based around whether you fit these core values. You need to know these so you can think about your responses ahead of time. These core values can be found on the careers page.
Disclosure: All of these tips come from my past mistakes, so hopefully you can learn from them, and make about your own mind about this company.
Summary: You invest a lot of time and money to interview with them and they don't have the decency or respect to treat you with respect onsite. They treat you like you are disposable. I honestly have never been more disappointed in a company in my life. The fact that the interview process is so bad and so unorganized, they asked me the same question in the first interview as the second, and I had to tell them that, is so disappointing. What's also disappointing is that you work so hard for every interview and they don't even have the decency to give you a chance to demonstrate your knowledge. The questions are very vague and they refuse to answer your questions so you can get more background. Honestly, a complete waste of time. I hope they never ask those stupid questions again so people don't have to do them.
In terms of places to work, I would never want to work here. The offices are beautiful, but the iPhone product is not great, the team is not that stellar, so thanks for saving me time. The design team is not as collaborative as Pinterest. The iOS team is not a team that I want to be on, and I did not meet a single person at the organization where I thought I could learn and grow from. Opposed to Pinterest, where I thought that everyone at the company was stellar. I didn't get a job at both and but you can tell that I still feel much more positively about Pinterest than I do about Airbnb. The people at Airbnb are outdated, out of touch, and rude. One of my interviewers started talking to me like I was an idiot, and I was just like, I'm pretty much done with this place. Screw this. Top to bottom, Pinterest is a very solid organization. The people at Airbnb seem so disinterested and just don't care about you. The people at Pinterest are so nice and they give you a bag of goodies at the end, I also asked for a t-shirt and they gave it to me. So nice!
What's disappointing is that I believe in Airbnb's mission and I could really make a difference at that company. The iOS product is not world class and I could take it there. When you leave an interview having felt like you were not able to demonstrate your skills because it was structured poorly, that's what depresses me. I will never apply to this company again, because there is clearly a lack of leadership within the iOS division to create a great product or team.
-----------
A couple other things bothered me about the interview process:
1. The meal expense limit is only $30. Opposed to $75 at Pinterest.
2. They only cover one night of Airbnb. Opposed to 2 nights at Pinterest.
3. They refused to reimburse me for my Airbnb before my interview, and it was not until I contacted the CEO on Twitter a month later, until I was reimbursed. Opposed to Pinterest which pays for all of your lodging for you, so you don't have to deal with reimbursements.
4. They take 2-3 weeks to reimburse you for travel expenses, opposed to 3 days at Pinterest.
Anyways, I hope this was constructive criticism. Even though the organization is not for me, hopefully you will read this and be much more prepared for the interview than I was.
