I recently went through Atlassian's interview process for a Full Stack Engineer role. The entire process took about 3 months and included multiple stages:
Karat Interview:
The first step was a Karat interview, which was relatively straightforward and marked the start of the official interview process at Atlassian.
Low-Level Coding Interview (Rate Limiter):
The next step involved a low-level coding problem focused on a Rate Limiter. The task was to implement a bucket rate limiter with a fixed window size, applied per user. I managed to complete the problem on time and but didn't have time to address an additional question about adding credits for users who didn't fully utilize their bucket. I followed a TDD approach, but despite doing well, the feedback on my explanation wasn't positive. I received a p40 (low percentile score) for this interview, which I believe was largely due to how I explained the solution.
Voting System Implementation:
The second coding interview was centered around building a voting system. I received a low p50 for my performance.
System Design (Web Crawler):
This interview focused on designing a web crawler. I felt more confident here and received a high p50 for my design approach.
Management Interview:
I didn’t perform well in the management interview. I probably received a p40, as I found it challenging to showcase my leadership and management skills in this context.
Values Interview:
My final interview was around Atlassian's values, and I performed well.
In the end, I received a message that the hiring team decided not to proceed due to perceived shortcomings in my decision-making, conceptual thinking, and approach to problem-solving. I found this feedback somewhat mismatched with the scores I received, but I understand it’s part of the process.
Overall, the process was rigorous and fair, and Atlassian is a great company to work for. I’ve contracted with them twice before, so I might consider reapplying after the cooldown period