Sallie Mae Software Engineer Interview Questions + Guide in 2024

Sallie Mae is a transformative organization dedicated to helping students and families navigate their educational journeys. Known for powering student confidence and success, Sallie Mae champions each student’s unique needs by providing innovative solutions to plan and finance higher education, ensuring students start smart and learn big.

In this guide, we’ll tackle how they conduct their software engineering interviews, along with commonly asked Sallie Mae software engineer interview questions to help you prepare better. Let’s get started!

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

Recruiter/Hiring Manager Call Screening

If your CV happens to be among the shortlisted few, a recruiter from the Sallie Mae 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 Sallie Mae 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 roles at Sallie Mae usually is conducted virtually, including video conference and screen sharing. Questions in this 1-hour long interview stage may revolve around Sallie Mae’s data systems, statistical modeling, and software engineering principles.

For technical and engineering roles, a take-home assignment regarding coding exercises or problem-solving might be given. Apart from these, your proficiency in relevant technologies and methodologies mentioned in your resume may also be assessed during the round.

Expect to explain your previous project experiences and choices made during problem-solving exercises.

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 Sallie Mae office. Your technical prowess, including programming and analytical 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 roles at Sallie Mae.

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

1. What are the Z and t-tests, and when should you use each?

Explain the purpose and differences between Z and t-tests. Describe scenarios where one test is preferred over the other.

2. How would you reformat student test score data for better analysis?

Given two datasets of student test scores, identify drawbacks in their current organization. Suggest formatting changes and discuss common issues in “messy” datasets.

3. What metrics would you use to evaluate the value of marketing channels?

Given data on marketing channels and costs for a B2B analytics dashboard company, identify key metrics to determine the value of each marketing channel.

4. How would you determine the next partner card using customer spending data?

With access to customer spending data, outline a method to identify the best partner for a new credit card offering.

5. How would you investigate if a redesigned email campaign led to increased conversion rates?

Analyze a scenario where a new email campaign coincides with an increase in conversion rates. Determine if the increase is due to the campaign or other factors.

6. Write a function search_list to check if a target value is in a linked list.

Write a function, search_list, that returns a boolean indicating if the target value is in the linked_list or not. You receive the head of the linked list, which is a dictionary with keys value and next. If the linked list is empty, you’ll receive None.

7. Write a query to find users who placed less than 3 orders or ordered less than $500 worth of product.

Write a query to identify the names of users who placed less than 3 orders or ordered less than $500 worth of product. Use the transactions, users, and products tables.

8. Create a function digit_accumulator to sum every digit in a string representing a floating-point number.

You are given a string that represents some floating-point number. Write a function, digit_accumulator, that returns the sum of every digit in the string.

9. Develop a function to parse the most frequent words used in poems.

You’re hired by a literary newspaper to parse the most frequent words used in poems. Poems are given as a list of strings called sentences. Return a dictionary of the frequency that words are used in the poem, processed as lowercase.

10. Write a function rectangle_overlap to determine if two rectangles overlap.

You are given two rectangles a and b each defined by four ordered pairs denoting their corners on the x, y plane. Write a function rectangle_overlap to determine whether or not they overlap. Return True if so, and False otherwise.

11. How would you design a function to detect anomalies in univariate and bivariate datasets?

If given a univariate dataset, how would you design a function to detect anomalies? What if the data is bivariate?

12. What is the expected churn rate in March for customers who bought subscriptions since January 1st?

You noticed that 10% of customers who bought subscriptions in January 2020 canceled before February 1st. Assuming uniform new customer acquisition and a 20% month-over-month decrease in churn, what is the expected churn rate in March for all customers who bought the product since January 1st?

13. How would you explain a p-value to a non-technical person?

Explain what a p-value is in simple terms to someone who is not technical.

14. How does random forest generate the forest, and why use it over logistic regression?

Explain the process of how random forest generates multiple decision trees and why it might be preferred over logistic regression in certain scenarios.

15. When would you use a bagging algorithm versus a boosting algorithm?

Compare two machine learning algorithms and provide examples of tradeoffs between using a bagging algorithm and a boosting algorithm.

16. How would you evaluate and compare two credit risk models for personal loans?

1. Identify the type of model developed by a co-worker to decide loan approvals.
2. Describe how to measure the difference between two credit risk models over time.
3. List metrics to track the success of the new model.

17. What’s the difference between Lasso and Ridge Regression?

Explain the key differences between Lasso and Ridge Regression, focusing on their regularization techniques and impact on model coefficients.

18. What are the key differences between classification models and regression models?

Describe the main differences between classification models and regression models, including their objectives and types of output.

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 Sallie Mae software engineer interview include:

• Be Prepared to Discuss Your Resume in Detail: Sallie Mae interviewers ask a lot of detailed follow-up questions regarding your listed experiences. Be ready to explain your past projects and decisions thoroughly.
• Understand Statistical Modeling Concepts: Be prepared to answer questions about different statistical modeling methods and why you might choose one method over another.
• Embody the Mission: Showcase your enthusiasm for Sallie Mae’s mission to help students on their educational journey. Understanding the company’s vision and demonstrating alignment with their values can go a long way.

What is the average salary for a Software Engineer at Sallie Mae?

According to Glassdoor, Software Engineer at Sallie Mae earn between $98K to $135K per year, with an average of $115K per year.

What kinds of technical skills and experience are required for a Software Engineer at Sallie Mae?

Candidates should have over 3 years of professional experience, with a strong background in frontend frameworks (like React, Vue, or Svelte), backend technologies (such as Node.js, Java, and Python), and cloud platforms (especially AWS). Experience with ADA compliance, automated testing, and Agile/Scrum methodologies is also essential.

What is the company culture like at Sallie Mae?

Sallie Mae emphasizes a supportive, creative, and inclusive workplace where employees collaborate, own their work, and continuously learn new skills. The company cherishes diverse backgrounds and perspectives, encouraging employees to bring their authentic selves to work.

What opportunities for professional growth does Sallie Mae offer?

Sallie Mae provides numerous opportunities for career development, including further education and training, a collaborative work environment, and a culture that values continuous improvement. Employees are encouraged to take on new challenges, question the status quo, and contribute innovative ideas.

What is Sallie Mae’s mission and how do Software Engineers contribute to it?

Sallie Mae’s mission is to power confidence in students as they start their educational journey. As a Software Engineer, you’ll create modern and intuitive user experiences, migrate and optimize applications in the cloud, and develop solutions that help students and their families navigate their education journey effectively.

Why join Sallie Mae? Because here, you can do more than just fit into a role; you become a catalyst for the next generation’s success. Working alongside a passionate, diverse team in a flat, agile environment, you’ll have the chance to tackle challenges with creative solutions, engage in a culture of learning, and make a genuine impact on the educational journeys of students.

If you want more insights about the company, check out our main Sallie Mae 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 Sallie Mae’s interview process for different positions.

Good luck with your interview!