Align Technology Software Engineer interview experience

The first technical conversation focused on walking through a project I’d worked on, with follow-ups that drilled into how the algorithms worked and how the overall system fit together. I had to explain more than just what I built—I spent time connecting design decisions to the approach I took.

After that, I was given a real-life style “riddle” related to the job description. It wasn’t a typical coding-only moment; it leaned more toward reasoning through a scenario and applying job-relevant thinking. I left feeling like the interview was trying to measure how I’d reason in-context rather