Scale Engineer

Software Engineer

Software EngineerAssociateMedium

This interview process is designed to assess the skills and potential of Associate Software Engineers at Canonical. It covers technical proficiency, problem-solving abilities, and cultural fit within the company.

Rounds·3

Timeline·~14d

Experience·0 - 2 yrs

Comp band·US$60000 - US$75000

Interview time·120 min

Evaluation

What they measure.

  • Problem-solving skills
  • Algorithmic thinking
  • Data structure knowledge
  • Code quality and clarity
  • Debugging abilities
  • System design fundamentals

Preparation

How to prepare.

Tips

  1. Review fundamental data structures and algorithms (arrays, linked lists, trees, graphs, hash maps, sorting, searching).
  2. Practice coding problems on platforms like LeetCode, HackerRank, or Coderbyte, focusing on medium-difficulty problems.
  3. Understand core computer science concepts such as operating systems, networking, and databases.
  4. Familiarize yourself with at least one programming language commonly used at Canonical (e.g., Python, C++, Go).
  5. Prepare to discuss your past projects, highlighting your contributions, challenges, and learnings.
  6. Research Canonical's products, open-source contributions, and company culture.
  7. Practice explaining your thought process clearly and concisely, especially when solving coding problems.
  8. Prepare questions to ask the interviewer about the role, team, and company.

Study plan

Fig · Study plan — 05 phases

01 / 05
01

Phase 01 of 05

Data Structures and Algorithms Fundamentals

Weeks 1-2: Data Structures & Basic Algorithms. Practice 10-15 Easy/Medium problems.

Weeks 1-2: Focus on core data structures (arrays, linked lists, stacks, queues, hash tables) and basic algorithms (sorting, searching). Practice implementing these from scratch and analyze their time and space complexity. Solve 10-15 LeetCode Easy/Medium problems related to these topics.

Questions

Commonly asked.

  • Write a function to reverse a linked list.
  • Given an array of integers, find the contiguous subarray with the largest sum.
  • Explain the difference between a process and a thread.
  • How would you design a URL shortening service?
  • Tell me about a time you disagreed with a teammate. How did you handle it?
  • What are your favorite features of Ubuntu?
  • Describe a challenging bug you encountered and how you debugged it.
  • How do you stay updated with new technologies?
  • What interests you about working at Canonical?
  • If you had to choose between optimizing for speed or memory, which would you prioritize and why?

Locations

Regional differences.

Fig · Regions — 02 locations

01 / 02

Location

Remote

Interview focus

Understanding of local development environments and tooling.Familiarity with common operating system concepts relevant to desktop/server environments.Ability to articulate thought processes clearly in a remote setting.

Common questions

  • How would you approach debugging a performance issue in a distributed system?
  • Describe a time you had to work with a legacy codebase. What were the challenges and how did you overcome them?
  • Tell me about a project where you had to make significant design trade-offs. What were they and why did you make them?

Tips

  • Ensure your internet connection is stable and your audio/video equipment is working correctly.
  • Minimize distractions in your environment.
  • Be prepared to share your screen and walk through code or diagrams.

Rounds

Round-by-round.

Expand a step for evaluation criteria, sample questions, and prep notes.

Med

Technical Interview - Coding · 45 min · Software Engineer

This round focuses on your core programming skills. You will be asked to solve one or two coding problems, typically involving data structures and algorithms. The interviewer will assess your ability to understand the problem, devise an efficient solution, write clean and correct code, and explain your thought process. Expect to write code in a shared editor or on a whiteboard.

What they look for

Logical thinkingAlgorithmic proficiencyClean and efficient coding practicesAbility to communicate technical ideas

Evaluation

  • Correctness of the solution
  • Efficiency of the solution (time and space complexity)
  • Code clarity and readability
  • Ability to handle edge cases
  • Problem-solving approach

Sample questions

  • Given a binary tree, find its inorder traversal.

    Data StructuresTreesRecursion

  • Implement a function to check if a string is a palindrome, ignoring non-alphanumeric characters and case.

    StringsTwo PointersAlgorithms

  • Find the kth smallest element in a Binary Search Tree.

    Data StructuresTreesBSTAlgorithms

Prep for this round

  1. 01Practice coding problems focusing on common data structures (arrays, linked lists, trees, hash maps) and algorithms (sorting, searching, graph traversal).
  2. 02Be prepared to discuss the time and space complexity of your solutions.
  3. 03Practice thinking out loud and explaining your approach before and during coding.
  4. 04Ensure your code is well-commented and handles potential edge cases.

Common rejection reasons

  • ×Inability to articulate thought process clearly.
  • ×Poor understanding of fundamental data structures and algorithms.
  • ×Code that is buggy, inefficient, or not well-structured.
  • ×Failure to consider edge cases or constraints.

DSA

Coding questions at Canonical.

Frequently reported on Canonical loops

View all at Canonical

Other guides

More at Canonical.