interviewed for a software engineer role at Fortinet and wanted to share my experience to help others preparing for the process.
The interview process started with an online application followed by a recruiter screening call. The recruiter was friendly and provided a clear overview of the role, team, and expectations. The next step was a technical assessment, which consisted of algorithm and data structure problems. The difficulty was moderate – similar to what you’d find on LeetCode medium level.
After passing the assessment, I was invited to a series of technical interviews with engineers from the team. These rounds focused on system design, problem-solving, and coding in C++ (your primary language may vary). Some questions were very specific to networking concepts, so it helps to brush up on TCP/IP, firewalls, and general computer networking knowledge.
The interviewers were professional, though some were a bit reserved. One of the interviewers asked questions that seemed pulled directly from textbook definitions rather than focusing on real-world application, which made the conversation slightly rigid. However, they were open to follow-up questions and explanations.
The final round was a managerial interview where we discussed team dynamics, career goals, and how I would fit into their culture. It was more relaxed and gave a good sense of the company’s work environment.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
You're given a stream of network packets. Each packet has a source IP, destination IP, and a timestamp. Design a system to detect if a particular IP address is making more than 1000 requests per minute (i.e., rate limiting). How would you approach this problem?
10 MC, 4 coding. Haven't reached the next stage yet. But coding was in C and was okay just leetcode easy for first 2 and leetcode medium for the last 2.
I applied through an employee referral. I interviewed at Fortinet (Vancouver, BC) in Feb 2026
Interview
Horrible experience, especially with recruiting but also the attitude of the hiring team. Recruiters love to cold call with no heads up (only out of hundreds of companies who use standard emails) and are very disorganized, forgetting details about me and saying nothing about the team or company.
Process:
- 2.5 hour OA with complete silence for 1.5 months after
- 2 hour in person onsite interview. The interviewers had a cold attitude and look throughout. Didn't bother to introduce themselves or the team. Didn't even say goodbye or thank me for my time after the interview despite me taking PTO.
- 3 weeks later, recruiter called to setup a call with another manager. This manager asked random questions and didn't explain his role or give me any time to ask questions. Overall easy conversation.
Complete ghosting from the company after the final call despite me following up twice. I only found out through internal sources that the position was filled.
Be aware of this company. Heavily favour onsite work and a certain demographic. Be prepared to job hop after a year even if you get a offer.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Technical trivia + leetcode. They learned a lot about me but I barely knew what they did.
I applied online. I interviewed at Fortinet in Jan 2026
Interview
i had two 3 hour interviews. 2 hours of technical and 1 hour of behavioural/meeting, each time with two people. the interview was in C, and there were multiple questions but fairly easy.