SurveyMonkey Software Engineer Interview Questions + Guide in 2024

SurveyMonkey is a global leader in online surveys and forms, empowering millions of users with the insights necessary to make swift and confident decisions. With a vision to elevate human experiences by amplifying individual voices, SurveyMonkey answers over 20 million questions daily.

SurveyMonkey seeks dynamic Software Engineers who are passionate about solving intriguing problems. As a Software Engineer, you’ll be integral in expanding their platform with enterprise-grade features.

In this guide, we will provide insights into the hiring process and the specific challenges you may encounter during the interview stages, along with tackling the common SurveyMonkey software engineer interview questions you may face. Let’s get started!

The interview process usually depends on the role and seniority, however, you can expect the following on a SurveyMonkey Software Engineer interview:

Recruiter/Hiring Manager Call Screening

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

In some cases, the SurveyMonkey 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 SurveyMonkey 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 data structures, algorithmic problem-solving, and coding exercises in languages like Python or JavaScript.

Virtual Onsite Interview Rounds

After successfully passing the technical virtual interview, you’ll be invited to attend the virtual onsite interview loop. Multiple interview rounds, varying with the role, will be conducted. These rounds typically include:

1. Technical Interviews: Live coding exercises, system design interviews, and questions about your previous projects and technical expertise.
2. Cultural Fit & Values Interview: Conversations with managers to assess your alignment with SurveyMonkey’s values and workplace culture.

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

1. 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 set up this test?

2. 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 think there was anything fishy about the results?

3. Why might the average number of comments per user decrease despite user growth in a new city?

A social media company sees a slow decrease in the average number of comments per user from January to March in a new city, despite consistent user growth. What are some reasons for this decrease, and what metrics would you look into?

4. What metrics would you use to determine the value of each marketing channel for a B2B company?

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

5. 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 figure out where the mouse is using the fewest number of scans?

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. Design a function to simulate drawing balls from a jar.

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.

10. Create a function calculate_rmse to compute the root mean squared error.

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

11. What is the expected number of good ads rated by different types of raters?

1. Suppose we have 100 raters each rating one ad independently. What’s the expected number of good ads?
2. Now suppose we have 1 rater rating 100 ads. What’s the expected number of good ads?
3. Suppose we have 1 ad, rated as bad. What’s the probability the rater was lazy?

12. Write a function to simulate coin tosses with a given probability of heads.

Create 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).

Example 1:

tosses = 5
probability_of_heads = 0.6

Output:

coin_toss(tosses, probability_of_heads) -> ['H', 'T', 'H', 'H', 'T']

Example 2:

tosses = 3
probability_of_heads = 0.2

Output:

coin_toss(tosses, probability_of_heads) -> ['T', 'T', 'T']

13. Write a function to calculate the sample variance of a list of integers.

Create a function that takes a list of integers and returns the sample variance, rounded to 2 decimal places.

Example:

test_list = [6, 7, 3, 9, 10, 15]

Output:

get_variance(test_list) -> 13.89

14. What is the probability of rolling at least one 3 with dice?

1. What’s the probability of rolling at least one 3 with 2 dice?
2. What’s the probability of rolling at least one 3 given (N) dice?

15. What is the probability of finding an item on Amazon’s website given its availability in warehouses?

Given that the probability of item X being available at warehouse A is 0.6 and at warehouse B is 0.8, what is the probability that item X would be found on Amazon’s website?

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

Explain the key differences between Lasso and Ridge Regression, focusing on their regularization techniques and how they handle coefficients.

17. What kind of model did the co-worker develop, and how would you compare it to another model predicting loan defaults?

1. Identify the type of model developed by the co-worker for loan approval.
2. Describe how to measure the difference between two credit risk models over a timeframe, considering personal loans are monthly installments.
3. List the metrics to track for measuring the success of the new model.

18. How would you evaluate and measure the performance of a decision tree model for loan repayment prediction?

1. Explain how to determine if a decision tree algorithm is suitable for predicting loan repayment.
2. Describe the methods to evaluate the performance of the decision tree model before and after deployment.

19. 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 discuss the advantages of using random forest over logistic regression.

20. How would you interpret coefficients of logistic regression for categorical and boolean variables?

Describe the interpretation of logistic regression coefficients, specifically for categorical and boolean variables, and how they impact the model’s predictions.

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 SurveyMonkey Software Engineer interview include:

• Brush Up on Coding Skills: SurveyMonkey interview questions often focus on coding exercises. Practicing on platforms like Interview Query can help.
• Understand System Design: Be prepared to solve system design problems, as these are frequently part of the technical rounds.
• Showcase Your Experience: During the values/culture interview, clearly articulate your previous work experiences and how they align with SurveyMonkey’s mission and values.

What is the average salary for a Software Engineer at Surveymonkey?

What skills and experience are required for a Software Engineer role at SurveyMonkey?

SurveyMonkey looks for candidates with 2+ years of experience in web application development, particularly with backend services. Proficiency in Python or TypeScript, REST APIs, and Microservices architectures is important. Additionally, experience with cloud technologies (especially AWS), containerization tools like Docker and Kubernetes, and authentication technologies such as SAML and OAuth is advantageous.

What is the work culture like at SurveyMonkey?

SurveyMonkey boasts a collaborative and inclusive work environment where employee feedback is valued and incorporated into company policies. They support remote and hybrid work models, celebrate diversity, and provide competitive benefits and professional growth opportunities.

Overall, applying for a Software Engineer position at SurveyMonkey presents a mix of experiences, from very supportive to some logistical hiccups. Despite occasional communication challenges, many candidates praise the company’s respectful interview conduct and the recruiters’ helpfulness.

SurveyMonkey is committed to providing an inclusive workplace where people from all backgrounds can thrive. If you want more insights about the company, check out our main Surveymonkey Interview Guide, where we have covered many interview questions that could be asked. We’ve also created interview guides for other roles, such as data analyst, where you can learn more about SurveyMonkey’s interview process for different positions.

Good luck with your interview!