Cox Enterprises is a multifaceted organization renowned for its contributions to the automotive and communications industries. Cox Automotive, a key part of this conglomerate, is driving the digital revolution in the auto industry with brands like Autotrader, Kelley Blue Book, and Manheim. Our Software Engineers play a pivotal role in building world-class solutions to transform how people buy, sell, and use cars.

The Software Engineer position at Cox involves using cutting-edge technologies like PHP, React, AWS, and .NET to create scalable, high-performance applications. You'll engage in the entire software development lifecycle, from planning and coding to implementing and maintaining robust software solutions. Working at Cox means being part of an agile team that values collaboration, innovation, and continuous learning.

Explore how you can be a part of this exciting and dynamic team with Interview Query's comprehensive interview guides.

Submitting Your Application

The first step is to submit a compelling application that reflects your technical skills and interest in joining Cox Enterprises as a Software Engineer. Whether you were contacted by a Cox recruiter or have taken the initiative yourself, carefully review the job description and tailor your CV according to the prerequisites.

Tailoring your CV may include identifying specific keywords that the hiring manager might use to filter resumes and crafting a targeted cover letter. Furthermore, don’t forget to highlight relevant skills and mention your work experiences.

Recruiter/Hiring Manager Call Screening

If your CV happens to be among the shortlisted few, a recruiter from the Cox Talent Acquisition Team will make contact and verify key details like your experiences and skill level. Behavioral questions may also be a part of the screening process.

In some cases, the Cox Software Engineer hiring manager stays present during the screening round to answer your queries about the role and the company itself. They may also indulge in surface-level technical and behavioral discussions.

The whole recruiter call should take about 30 minutes.

Technical Virtual Interview

Successfully navigating the recruiter round will present you with an invitation for the technical screening round. Technical screening for the Cox Software Engineer role usually is conducted through virtual means, including video conference and screen sharing. Questions in this 1-hour long interview stage may revolve around Cox’s data systems, ETL pipelines, and SQL queries.

In the case of software engineering roles, take-home assignments regarding product metrics, analytics, and data visualization are incorporated. Apart from these, your proficiency against hypothesis testing, probability distributions, and machine learning fundamentals may also be assessed during the round.

Depending on the seniority of the position, case studies and similar real-scenario problems may also be assigned.

Onsite Interview Rounds

Followed by a second recruiter call outlining the next stage, you’ll be invited to attend the onsite interview loop. Multiple interview rounds, varying with the role, will be conducted during your day at the Cox office. Your technical prowess, including programming and ML modeling capabilities, will be evaluated against the finalized candidates throughout these interviews.

If you were assigned take-home exercises, a presentation round may also await you during the onsite interview for the Software Engineer role at Cox.

Quick Tips For Cox Software Engineer Interviews

• Should contain three tips for interviewing for this specific company based on interview experiences.

Example:

You should plan to brush up on any technical skills and try as many practice interview questions and mock interviews as possible. A few tips for acing your Cox interview include:

• Know Your Cox Products: Cox questions are standardized and rely heavily on situational scenarios with their products. Study Cox’s large breadth of products and understand how you would personally improve or test them.
• Be Data Driven: Cox’s data science interviews assess how well you can provide business-driving insights with data science. Brush up on your knowledge of statistics and probability, given these questions can be some of the hardest to solve.
• Embody the Spirit: Cox at its core has a collaborative, employee-focused culture that values innovation. Practice responding to behavioral questions with answers that touch on Cox’s core values.

Typically, interviews at Cox Enterprises vary by role and team, but commonly Software Engineer interviews follow a fairly standardized process across these question topics.

• How would you use data to convince a fast-food franchise to purchase another custom Snapchat filter? Snapchat partnered with a fast-food franchise to create a custom filter available for a week. How would you use data from this campaign to persuade the franchise to buy another custom filter this year?

• Write a function missing_number to find the missing number in an array of integers. You have an array of integers, nums of length n spanning 0 to n with one missing. Write a function missing_number that returns the missing number in the array. Note: Complexity of (O(n)) required.

• Create a function first_uniq_char to find the first non-repeating character in a string and return its index. Given a string, find the first non-repeating character in it and return its index. If it doesn't exist, return -1. Consider a string where all characters are lowercase alphabets.

• Write a function inject_frequency to add the number of occurrences of each character in a string. Given a string sentence, return the same string with an addendum after each character of the number of occurrences a character appeared in the sentence. Do not treat spaces as characters and do not return the addendum for characters that appear in the discard_list.

• Create a query to find the number of rows resulting from different join operations on ads. Allstate is running N online ads. The table ads contains all those ads, ranked by popularity via the id column. Create a subquery or common table expression named top_ads containing the top 3 ads (by popularity) and return the number of rows that would result from the following operations: ads INNER JOIN top_ads, ads LEFT JOIN top_ads, ads RIGHT JOIN top_ads, ads CROSS JOIN top_ads. Return the join type and the number of rows for each operation.

• How would you explain what a p-value is to someone who is not technical? Explain the concept of a p-value in simple terms to someone without a technical background. Use analogies or everyday examples to make it understandable.

• What is the difference between Logistic and Linear Regression? When would you use one instead of the other in practice? Describe the key differences between Logistic and Linear Regression. Provide examples of scenarios where each method would be appropriately applied in practice.

• How would you build a fraud detection model with a text messaging service for transaction approval? You work at a bank that wants to build a model to detect fraud on the platform. The bank also wants to implement a text messaging service that will text customers when the model detects a fraudulent transaction, allowing the customer to approve or deny the transaction with a text response. How would you build this model?

• What is the difference between Logistic and Linear Regression, and when would you use each? Explain the difference between Logistic and Linear Regression. Describe scenarios where you would use one instead of the other in practice.

• What does the backpropagation algorithm do in neural networks, and what is its intuition? Describe the role of the backpropagation algorithm in neural networks and provide an informal intuition behind it. Discuss some drawbacks of the algorithm compared to other optimization methods. Bonus: Formally derive the backpropagation algorithm and prove its claims.

What is the average salary for a Software Engineer at Cox Enterprises?

### Q: What is the work environment like at Cox Automotive for software engineers? The work environment at Cox Automotive is highly collaborative and innovative. Software engineers are part of energetic and creative teams that focus on leading the digital revolution in the automotive industry. From Hackathons and brainstorming sessions to sprint reviews, the culture encourages fresh ideas and supports individual growth.

### Q: What are the core responsibilities of a Senior Software Engineer at Cox Automotive? As a Senior Software Engineer, you will design and develop robust and scalable software solutions, collaborate with product managers and other technologists, mentor junior engineers, and work within an Agile framework. You will also create and maintain web services, APIs, and cloud-based platforms, ensuring they are high-performing and secure.

### Q: What technologies and tools will I be working with? Software Engineers at Cox Automotive work with a variety of technologies, including PHP, jQuery, Bootstrap, .Net, NodeJS, MySQL, and AWS. Depending on the specific team, you might also engage with JavaScript frameworks like React, cloud services like AWS, and various DevOps tools.

### Q: What kind of experience and background are required for a Senior Software Engineer at Cox Automotive? Ideal candidates should have a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related fields and at least 4-6 years of experience in software development. Proficiency in PHP, cloud technologies, and full-stack development is essential. Additional experience with AWS, infrastructure-as-code tools like Terraform, and Agile methodologies is highly desirable.

### Q: What benefits does Cox Automotive offer to software engineers? Cox Automotive provides a competitive salary, comprehensive medical benefits, a 401(k) plan with company matching, tuition reimbursement, paid time off for volunteering, and much more. The company places a strong emphasis on professional development, promoting a collaborative and supportive work culture.

For those looking to lead the digital revolution at Cox Automotive, the Software Engineer position offers an unparalleled opportunity to innovate in the automotive industry. With a rich environment that values both individualism and collaboration, Cox Automotive pushes the boundaries of technology to create impactful solutions for auto dealers and consumers alike. Whether you're skilled in PHP, C#, JavaScript, or new cloud technologies, you’ll find yourself at the forefront of a dynamic team where your expertise will be both challenged and valued.

If you want more insights about the company, check out our main Cox Enterprises Interview Guide, where we have covered many interview questions that could be asked. We’ve also created interview guides for other roles, such as software engineer and data analyst, where you can learn more about Cox Enterprises’ interview process for different positions.

At Interview Query, we empower you to unlock your interview prowess with a comprehensive toolkit, equipping you with the knowledge, confidence, and strategic guidance to conquer every Cox Automotive software engineering interview questions and challenges.

You can check out all our company interview guides for better preparation, and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Good luck with your interview!