OpenAI Software Engineer interview experience

The question centered on an in-memory database concept, and honestly the interview felt fair and more practical than the usual LeetCode-style framing. I could follow the problem and approach it in a grounded way.

What threw me off was not the technical part—it was not being totally sure what the interviewer was trying to evaluate beyond correctness and basic reasoning. I didn’t have a clear sense of what level of depth, optimization, or specific design considerations they expected, even though the question itself was reasonable.

I didn’t receive an offer. Looking back, it was the ambiguity