Help Scout is on a mission to help businesses deliver delightful customer experiences. Since 2011, over 12,000 companies worldwide have utilized Help Scout's platform for exceptional customer support. As a Certified B Corporation, Help Scout balances profit and purpose, contributing 1% of its equity back to the community.

Joining Help Scout as a Software Engineer, you’ll be part of a highly collaborative, fully remote team dedicated to building AI-powered solutions. The position involves crafting best-in-class AI services, integrating ML knowledge, and making data-driven improvements to enhance customer experiences. You’ll collaborate closely with Product Managers, Designers, and TPMs to align business goals with technological advancements. With a transparent salary structure and robust perks, Help Scout values diversity, inclusion, and personal growth. Use Interview Query to explore more about their interview process and land your dream job!

Submitting Your Application

To apply for the Software Engineer position at Help Scout, make sure that your resume is updated to reflect both your technical skills and a genuine interest in their mission of helping businesses delight more customers. Tailor your CV to align with the job prerequisites and the company’s values. Highlight relevant experiences, practical skills, and any projects that showcase how well you fit into a remote-first, collaborative environment like Help Scout’s.

Recruiter/Hiring Manager Call Screening

Once your CV has caught the recruiter’s eye, the next step is a call screening. This initial call is usually with a recruiter or hiring manager and aims to confirm key details about your experience, skill set, and overall fit for the role. Expect a blend of technical questions related to your past projects and behavioral questions that assess your alignment with Help Scout’s values.

This call generally lasts about 30 minutes, and it’s a good opportunity for you to also ask questions about the role and the company’s culture.

Technical Virtual Interview

Successfully passing the call screening will lead to a technical virtual interview. This stage typically involves a video conference where you may be asked to solve coding problems, demonstrate your knowledge of ML techniques, or work through real-world scenarios relevant to Help Scout’s needs. For instance, you might be asked to build a simple AI-powered feature or discuss the architecture of complex systems you’ve developed in the past.

Given Help Scout’s focus on collaboration and new ideas, be prepared to discuss your problem-solving approach and how you would iterate on an initial solution based on feedback.

Onsite Interview Rounds

If you advance from the technical interview, the next step typically involves multiple onsite interview rounds held virtually due to Help Scout’s remote-first culture. These sessions often include:

1. Technical Deep Dive: A more thorough assessment of your technical expertise, potentially including live coding, system design, or architecture discussions.
2. Cultural Fit Interview: Chat with team members to gauge how well you align with Help Scout’s values like "Happy to Help" and "Craft over Convention."
3. Role-Specific Scenarios: Practical tests where you demonstrate how you would perform specific job responsibilities you might encounter as a Help Scout Software Engineer.

These sessions may include multiple interviews in one day, depending on the availability of the hiring team.

Quick Tips For Help Scout Software Engineer Interviews

Here are a few tips to help you succeed in your Help Scout Software Engineer interview:

• Understand Help Scout’s Values: Help Scout places great importance on their core values. Be prepared to discuss how you embody these principles in your professional and personal life.
• Master Relevant Technologies: Brush up on technologies pertinent to the role, such as Java, Kotlin, ML techniques for search and retrieval, and AI-driven solutions.
• Show Your Collaborative Spirit: Help Scout values collaboration and clear communication, especially since they operate with a fully remote team. Demonstrate your ability to work well in a remote, distributed team setting.

For more guidance on preparing for your interview with Help Scout, visit Interview Query.

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

• How would you set up an A/B test to optimize button color and position for higher click-through rates? A team wants to A/B test multiple changes in a sign-up funnel, such as changing a button from red to blue and/or moving it from the top to the bottom of the page. How would you design this test?

• Would you suspect anything unusual if an A/B test with 20 variants shows one significant result? Your manager ran an A/B test with 20 different variants and found one significant result. Would you find anything suspicious about these results?

• Why might the average number of comments per user decrease despite user growth in a new city? A social media company launched in a new city and saw a slow decrease in the average number of comments per user from January to March, despite consistent user growth. What could be the reasons for this decrease, and what metrics would you investigate?

• What metrics would you use to evaluate the value of different marketing channels for a B2B analytics company? Given all the marketing channels and their respective costs for a company selling B2B analytics dashboards, what metrics would you use to determine the value of each marketing channel?

• How would you locate a mouse in a 4x4 grid using the fewest number of scans? You have a 4x4 grid with a mouse trapped in one of the cells. You can "scan" subsets of cells to know if the mouse is within that subset. How would you determine the mouse's location using the fewest scans?

• Write a function called find_bigrams to return a list of all bigrams in a sentence or paragraph. Write a function called find_bigrams that takes a sentence or paragraph of strings and returns a list of all its bigrams in order. A bigram is a pair of consecutive words.

• Write a query to get the last transaction for each day from a table of bank transactions. Given a table of bank transactions with columns id, transaction_value, and created_at, write a query to get the last transaction for each day. The output should include the id, datetime, and transaction amount, ordered by datetime.

• Write a function find_change to find the minimum number of coins for a given amount of change. Write a function find_change to find the minimum number of coins that make up the given amount of change cents. Assume we only have coins of value 1, 5, 10, and 25 cents.

• Write a function to simulate drawing balls from a jar based on their counts. Write a function to simulate drawing balls from a jar. The colors of the balls are stored in a list named jar, with corresponding counts of the balls stored in the same index in a list called n_balls.

• Write a function calculate_rmse to calculate the root mean squared error of a regression model. Write a function calculate_rmse to calculate the root mean squared error of a regression model. The function should take in two lists, one that represents the predictions y_pred and another with the target values y_true.

• What is the expected number of good ads rated by different types of raters?
• Suppose we have 100 raters each rating one ad independently. What's the expected number of good ads?
• Now suppose we have 1 rater rating 100 ads. What's the expected number of good ads?

• Suppose we have 1 ad, rated as bad. What's the probability the rater was lazy?

• Write a function to simulate coin tosses with a given probability of heads. Write a function that takes the number of tosses and the probability of heads as input and returns a list of randomly generated results ('H' for heads, 'T' for tails) equal in length to the number of tosses.

Example 1: python tosses = 5 probability_of_heads = 0.6 Output: python coin_toss(tosses, probability_of_heads) -> ['H', 'T', 'H', 'H', 'T']

Example 2: python tosses = 3 probability_of_heads = 0.2 Output: python coin_toss(tosses, probability_of_heads) -> ['T', 'T', 'T']

• Write a function to calculate the sample variance of a list of integers. Write a function that outputs the sample variance given a list of integers. Round the result to 2 decimal places.

Example: python test_list = [6, 7, 3, 9, 10, 15] Output: python get_variance(test_list) -> 13.89

• What is the probability of rolling at least one 3 with dice?
• What's the probability of rolling at least one 3 with 2 dice?

• What's the probability of rolling at least one 3 given (N) dice?

• What is the probability of finding an item on Amazon's website given its availability in warehouses? Amazon has a warehouse system where items are located at different distribution centers. In one example city, the probability that a specific item X is available at warehouse A is 0.6 and at warehouse B is 0.8. Given that items are only found on the website if they exist in the distribution centers, what is the probability that item X would be found on Amazon's website?

• What kind of model did the co-worker develop for loan approval? Your co-worker developed a model that takes customer inputs and returns if a loan should be given or not. Identify the type of model used.

• How would you measure the difference between two credit risk models? Given that personal loans are monthly installments, how would you compare the performance of two credit risk models over a specific timeframe?

• What metrics would you track to measure the success of a new credit risk model? Identify the key metrics you would use to evaluate the success of a new model predicting loan defaults.

• What metrics would you use to track the accuracy and validity of a spam classifier? Assume you have built a V1 of an email spam classifier. Specify the metrics to track its accuracy and validity.

• What are the key differences between classification models and regression models? Explain the main differences between classification models and regression models.

• When would you use a bagging algorithm versus a boosting algorithm? Compare two machine learning algorithms and provide an example of the tradeoffs between using a bagging algorithm and a boosting algorithm.

• What would happen when you run logistic regression on perfectly linearly separable data? Describe the outcome of running logistic regression on a dataset that is perfectly linearly separable.

What is the average salary for a Software Engineer at Help Scout?

FAQs

Q: What is Help Scout’s mission and culture like?
Help Scout's mission is to help businesses delight more customers, and our culture reflects this commitment. We prioritize crafting beautiful products, maintaining a balance between profit and purpose, and fostering a supportive team environment. As a Certified B Corporation, we strive to contribute positively to the community.

Q: What does a Software Engineer at Help Scout do?
Our Software Engineers build best-in-class AI-powered services from the ground up, working closely with product, design, and technical teams. They focus on integrating ML techniques, developing key metrics, and making data-driven improvements while ensuring that the technology aligns with business goals and customer needs.

Q: What skills are required for a Software Engineer at Help Scout?
Ideal candidates have strong expertise in Java, experience with LLMs, and Generative AI, along with practical ML techniques for search and retrieval. Familiarity with Kotlin, excellent communication skills, remote work capability, and a pragmatic approach to balancing business and customer needs are also crucial.

Q: What is the compensation and benefits package like at Help Scout?
Help Scout offers competitive salaries aligned to market data with a transparent salary formula. Benefits include comprehensive health and dental insurance, disability and life insurance, flexible vacation policies, a sabbatical after four years, paid parental leave, a 401k with a match, and personal development stipends. Our compensation and benefits support your well-being and growth, regardless of your location.

Q: How can I prepare for an interview at Help Scout?
Preparation involves researching the company, understanding our culture, and practicing technical skills relevant to the role. Using Interview Query can help you practice potential questions and refine your problem-solving abilities. Familiarize yourself with our values, mission, and the specific technologies we use.

If you want more insights about the company, check out our main Help Scout 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 Help Scout’s 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 Help Scout software engineer interview question and challenge.

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!