OpenAI·Software Engineer

OpenAI Software Engineer interview experience

Got offer

Hard

Positive

United StatesPosted Jul 2026 · Candidate report, summarized by Dataford

I started with a recruiter phone screen where I walked through my background and then worked through a basic data-structure question.

After that, the technical rounds felt intense and tightly focused on hard problem solving.

One round had a complex counting-machine style challenge, and another asked for system design around rate limiting. What made the process click for me was that the design prompt was something I’d already practiced, so I could go deeper instead of fumbling for structure. The whole thing felt challenging, but in a good way—like I was being pushed to think clearly under pressure.

When it was over, I had a strong sense of accomplishment and ultimately accepted the offer. Looking back, the best part wasn’t

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