Upstart Software Engineer interview experience

After that, I spoke with the hiring manager for a deep dive that mixed project discussion with system design. The technical onsite that followed was structured as several separate interviews: three technical rounds plus an additional meeting back with the hiring manager.

Across the rounds, the pattern was consistent: they wanted me to talk through my work and projects, then connect that to how I’d reason about systems. The hiring manager-focused parts stayed grounded in what I’d built and the products I’d worked on, and the vibe felt more like evaluation of my depth than performance