Lyft Software Engineer Interview Questions + Guide in 2024

Powering countless rides and creating a sense of community, Lyft is a leading ride-sharing company headquartered in San Francisco, California. Lyft aims to reimagine urban transportation by offering a range of services, including ridesharing, bicycles, and scooters, to bring people together effortlessly.

The Software Engineer position at Lyft seeks candidates skilled in various areas of software development. The interview process typically involves coding interviews, system design challenges, and behavioral assessments to gauge a candidate’s problem-solving abilities and cultural fit. Successful candidates usually demonstrate proficiency in algorithms, data structures, system design, and coding in a preferred programming language.

Lyft values candidates who are adaptable, innovative, and capable of contributing to a fast-paced, collaborative environment. They are particularly interested in individuals who can think critically and present scalable solutions to complex problems.

By studying this guide thoroughly, you can prepare effectively for the commonly asked Lyft Software Engineer interview questions and understand what skills and qualifications Lyft seeks. Here’s to boosting your chances of landing your dream job at Lyft!

The interview process usually depends on the role and seniority; however, you can expect the following on a Lyft software engineer interview:

Recruiter/Hiring Manager Call Screening

If your CV happens to be among the shortlisted few, a recruiter from the Lyft Talent Acquisition Team will make contact to verify key details such as your experiences and skill level. This initial conversation, which typically lasts about 20-30 minutes, may include questions about your background, experiences, and motivation for joining Lyft.

In some cases, a hiring manager may join the call to answer your queries about the role and the company itself. They may also engage in surface-level technical and behavioral discussions.

Technical Virtual Interview

Navigating through the recruiter round will lead to an invitation for the technical screening round. Technical screening for the Lyft software engineering roles usually includes virtual coding sessions via platforms like CoderPad or similar tools. This stage is typically around 1 hour and may involve solving real-world coding problems.

Depending on the role, additional rounds may also be scheduled which could include system design questions, data structures, and algorithms, as well as technical problem-solving expected to be solved in an IDE with compiling and running code.

Onsite Interview Rounds

Following the initial technical round, you’ll be invited to attend the onsite interview loop, which may also be conducted virtually due to situational constraints. The onsite interview usually comprises multiple rounds, including:

• Coding Rounds: You may face challenges ranging from LeetCode medium to hard levels.
• System Design: Typically 1-2 rounds where your understanding of designing scalable and robust systems will be evaluated.
• Behavioral Interviews: Assessing your soft skills, cultural fit, and past experiences.
• Technical Manager Round: A deeper dive into your technical experiences and how you could contribute to Lyft.

The entire onsite process may take up to 5 hours and will be split into several sessions. You may get a break between interviews and even a lunch session to ask non-technical questions in an informal setup.

Practice for the Lyft Software Engineer interview with these recently asked interview questions.

Lyft Software Engineer Analytics and Experiments Interview Questions

Analytics and experiment questions appear in 97% of Lyft job interviews. They are most frequently asked during data analyst (97%), data scientist (97%), and product manager (97%) interviews.

1. How would you set up an A/B test for button color and position changes?

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 set up this test?

2. How long will it take for the second car to catch the first?

A car starts driving at 60 mph, and one hour later, a second car leaves the same position going 80 mph. How much time will pass until the second car catches the first?

3. What metrics determine ride demand and supply in a ride-sharing marketplace?

As a data scientist in a ride-sharing marketplace, what metrics would you look at to determine the demand for rides at any point? Additionally, what metrics would indicate high demand and low supply, and how can you determine the threshold for too much demand?

4. What key parameters would you focus on to improve Uber Eats customer experience?

To improve customer experience on Uber Eats, what key parameters would you focus on improving?

5. How would you design an A/B test for subscription pricing changes in a B2B SAAS company?

You work at a B2B SAAS company interested in testing different subscription pricing levels. Your project manager asks you to run a two-week-long A/B test to test an increase in pricing. How would you approach designing this test, and how would you determine if the price increase is a good business decision?

To prepare for analytics and experiments, consider using the product metrics learning path and the data analytics learning path.

Lyft Software Engineer Statistics and Probability Interview Questions

Statistics and Probability questions come up in 50% of Lyft job interviews. They are most frequent during research scientist (97%), data scientist (88%), and data analyst (36%) interviews.

6. How much should we budget for the coupon initiative in total?

A ride-sharing app has a probability (p) of dispensing a $5 coupon to a rider. The app services (N) riders. Calculate the total budget needed for the coupon initiative.

7. What is the probability of both riders getting the coupon?

A driver using the app picks up two passengers. Determine the probability that both riders will receive the coupon.

8. What is the probability that only one rider will get the coupon?

A driver using the app picks up two passengers. Determine the probability that only one of the riders will receive the coupon.

9. Is this a fair coin?

You flip a coin 10 times, and it comes up tails 8 times and heads twice. Assess whether the coin is fair based on these results.

10. What is the probability that item X would be found on Amazon’s website?

Amazon has a warehouse system where items are located at different distribution centers. In one city, the probability that item X is available at warehouse A is 0.6 and at warehouse B is 0.8. Calculate the probability that item X would be found on Amazon’s website.

11. How would you explain what a p-value is to someone who is not technical?

Provide a simple and non-technical explanation of what a p-value is.

12. What is the probability of each subsequent card being larger than the previous drawn card?

Imagine a deck of 500 cards numbered from 1 to 500. If all the cards are shuffled randomly and you are asked to pick three cards, one at a time, determine the probability that each subsequent card will be larger than the previous one.

To prepare for statistics and probability interview questions, consider using the A/B testing and statistics learning path and the comprehensive probability learning path.

Lyft Software Engineer Coding and Algorithms Interview Questions

Coding and algorithms questions appear in 37% of Lyft job interviews. They are most frequently asked during data engineer (97%), software engineer (97%), and machine learning engineer (97%) interviews.

13. Create a function find_bigrams to return a list of all bigrams in a sentence.

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.

14. 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.

15. Create a function find_change to find the minimum number of coins for a given amount.

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.

16. 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.

17. Create a function calculate_rmse to compute 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.

To practice Algorithms interview questions, consider using the Python learning path or the full list of Algorithms questions in our database.

Lyft Software Engineer Machine Learning Interview Questions

Machine learning questions appear in 8% of Lyft job interviews. They are most frequent in research scientist (30%), data scientist (11%), and data analyst (8%) interviews.

18. How would we know if we have enough data to create an accurate ETA prediction model?

You have 1 million app rider journey trips in Seattle. How would you determine if this data is sufficient to build an accurate model for predicting ETA after a ride request?

19. What algorithm and features would you use to predict if an Uber driver will accept a ride request?

You need to build a model to predict if an Uber driver will accept a ride request. What algorithm would you choose, and what are the tradeoffs between different classifiers? Additionally, what features would you include in the model?

To get ready for machine learning interview questions, we recommend taking the machine learning course.

Here are some tips on how you can prepare well for your upcoming interview with Lyft:

• Be Prepared for System Design: Lyft puts a significant emphasis on design/architecture interviews, even for non-senior roles. Make sure to brush up on key concepts such as scalability, caching, and messaging queues.
• Practice Using CoderPad: Many have mentioned technical problems with the interview platform. Familiarize yourself with CoderPad or similar tools to avoid any unexpected issues.
• Expect Real-world Problems: Unlike some other tech companies, Lyft seems to focus on problems that you might actually encounter on the job. Go beyond typical algorithmic problems and prepare for practical, real-world coding challenges that require a problem-solving mindset.

The software engineer role at Lyft requires strong technical skills, critical thinking, and adaptability. By preparing for coding, system design, and behavioral interviews, you can improve your chances of landing the job in Lyft’s fast-paced, collaborative environment.

If you want more insights about the company, check out our main Lyft Interview Guide, where we have covered many interview questions that could be asked. Additionally, explore our interview guides for other roles such as data engineer and data analyst to learn more about Lyft’s interview process for different positions.

Good luck with your interview!