Snorkel AI is at the forefront of AI innovation, originating from a research project in the Stanford AI Lab in 2016, and evolving into a leader in the generative AI space. Our mission is to democratize AI by developing a comprehensive AI data development platform that allows organizations to create high-performance, production-ready AI systems efficiently.

As a Software Engineer at Snorkel AI, you will play a crucial role in advancing our state-of-the-art platform. You'll collaborate with top-tier engineers, researchers, and product managers to enhance developer platforms, CI/CD pipelines, security measures, and more. This position offers a dynamic work environment where you'll tackle complex challenges, drive innovation, and contribute to shaping the future of AI.

Ready to redefine how AI is built? Let's dive into the Snorkel AI interview process! In this guide, Interview Query will prepare you with insights into what to expect, commonly asked questions, and essential tips to help you succeed. Let's get started!

Submitting Your Application

The first step is to submit a compelling application that reflects your technical skills and interest in joining Snorkel AI as a Software Engineer. Whether you were contacted by a Snorkel AI 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 Snorkel AI 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 Snorkel AI 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 Snorkel AI 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 Snorkel AI’s technology stack, cloud infrastructure, Docker containerization, and Kubernetes.

Depending on the seniority of the position, take-home assignments related to product metrics, analytics, and infrastructure may be incorporated. Apart from these, your proficiency in scripting, CI/CD, and cloud-native applications might also be assessed during the round.

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 Snorkel AI office. Your technical prowess, including programming and infrastructure engineering 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 Snorkel AI.

Quick Tips For Snorkel AI Software Engineer Interviews

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 Snorkel AI interview include:

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

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

• Write a SQL query to select the 2nd highest salary in the engineering department. Write a SQL query to select the 2nd highest salary in the engineering department. If more than one person shares the highest salary, the query should select the next highest salary.

• Write a function to merge two sorted lists into one sorted list. Given two sorted lists, write a function to merge them into one sorted list. Bonus: Determine the time complexity.

• Create a function missing_number to find the missing number in an array. 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. Complexity of (O(n)) required.

• Develop a function precision_recall to calculate precision and recall metrics from a 2-D matrix. Given a 2-D matrix P of predicted values and actual values, write a function precision_recall to calculate precision and recall metrics. Return the ordered pair (precision, recall).

• Write a function to search for a target value in a rotated sorted array. Suppose an array sorted in ascending order is rotated at some pivot unknown to you beforehand. Write a function to search for a target value in the array. If the value is in the array, return its index; otherwise, return -1. Bonus: Your algorithm's runtime complexity should be in the order of (O(\log n)).

• Would you think there was anything fishy about the results of an A/B test with 20 variants? Your manager ran an A/B test with 20 different variants and found one significant result. Would you suspect any issues with the results?

• 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 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?

• What would you do if friend requests on Facebook are down 10%? A product manager at Facebook reports a 10% decrease in friend requests. What steps would you take to address this issue?

• Why would the number of job applicants decrease while job postings remain the same? You observe that the number of job postings per day has remained constant, but the number of applicants has been decreasing. What could be causing this trend?

• What are the drawbacks of the given student test score datasets, and how would you reformat them for better analysis? You have data on student test scores in two different layouts. What are the drawbacks of these formats, and what changes would you make to improve their usability for analysis? Additionally, describe common issues in "messy" datasets.

• Is this a fair coin based on 10 flips resulting in 8 tails and 2 heads? You flipped a coin 10 times, resulting in 8 tails and 2 heads. Determine if the coin is fair based on this outcome.

• How do you write a function to calculate the sample variance of a list of integers? Write a function that takes a list of integers and outputs the sample variance, rounded to 2 decimal places. For example, given test_list = [6, 7, 3, 9, 10, 15], the function should return 13.89.

• Is there anything suspicious about an A/B test with 20 variants where one is significant? Your manager ran an A/B test with 20 different variants and found one significant result. Evaluate if there is anything suspicious about these findings.

• How do you find the median of a list where more than 50% of the elements are the same in O(1) time and space? Given a sorted list of integers where more than 50% of the list is the same integer, write a function to return the median value in (O(1)) computational time and space. For example, given li = [1,2,2], the function should return 2.

• What are the drawbacks of the given student test score data layouts, and how would you reformat them for better analysis? You have data on student test scores in two different layouts. Identify the drawbacks of these layouts, suggest formatting changes to make the data more useful for analysis, and describe common problems seen in "messy" datasets.

• How would you evaluate the suitability and performance of a decision tree model for predicting loan repayment? You are tasked with building a decision tree model to predict if a borrower will repay a personal loan. How would you evaluate whether a decision tree is the correct model for this problem? If you proceed with the decision tree, how would you evaluate its performance before and after deployment?

• How does random forest generate the forest, and why use it over logistic regression? Explain the process by which a random forest generates its forest. Additionally, discuss why one might choose random forest over other algorithms such as logistic regression.

• When would you use a bagging algorithm versus a boosting algorithm? Compare two machine learning algorithms. In which scenarios would you use a bagging algorithm versus a boosting algorithm? Provide examples of the tradeoffs between the two.

• How would you justify using a neural network model and explain its predictions to non-technical stakeholders? Your manager asks you to build a neural network model to solve a business problem. How would you justify the complexity of building such a model and explain its predictions to non-technical stakeholders?

• What metrics would you use to track the accuracy and validity of a spam classifier? You are tasked with building a spam classifier for emails and have completed a V1 of the model. What metrics would you use to track the accuracy and validity of the model?

To conquer the challenges and opportunities at Snorkel AI, detailed preparation is key. For more insights about Snorkel AI, check out our comprehensive Snorkel AI Interview Guide, where we cover many potential interview questions. Our guides for other roles such as software engineer offer even more specific insights into what to expect and how to excel.

At Interview Query, we equip you with a comprehensive toolkit, giving you the knowledge, confidence, and strategic guidance to succeed in every Snorkel AI interview scenario and challenge.

Explore all our company interview guides for more thorough preparation. If you have any further questions, feel free to reach out to us.

Good luck with your interview!