I applied online. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at Upstart in June 2023
Interview
I received an email from a "senior recruiter" inviting me to an initial interview. I was asked to fill out a (not-insignificant in length) "Tech DNA" thing and respond with my availability. I did so within maybe half an hour of receiving the email? Never heard another word from anyone at Upstart. This recruiter never responded to schedule. I waited a few days and emailed to prompt them, no response. I started emailing daily wondering what happened, no response. I eventually emailed their HR department directly to see if maybe my recruiter got hit by a bus or was fired or something. I've had that happen before, one time a recruiter literally had a heart attack and I got lost in the shuffle, and one time a recruiter accidentally deleted my resume and no one noticed. No response. Clearly they have no interest in actually interviewing me, or treating candidates with anything resembling basic respect our courtesy.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What is your availability for an interview? (only question I was asked)
Interview experience is overall very good. You can lead the discussion but they have certain questions to ask. Can choose any tools for diagram. Really nice people and very polite.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Design a Online chess system design in first round.
I applied through a staffing agency. I interviewed at Upstart (Los Angeles, CA) in May 2026
Interview
Interview consisted of 2 recruiter calls, 1 technical coding screen with 2 LC Medium level problems but with decent follow up questions, then onsite that was: Systems Design, Hiring Manager/Behavioral, and Product Development interview. After passing on-site there was an exec VP chat.
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at Upstart in Apr 2026
Interview
What a weird interview, or recruiter call.
Recruiter joined the call and got my name wrong, so knew immediately this was going to go sideways. They told me absolutely nothing about the company what they do, what they’re looking for.
Then got basic questions about my career. The recruiter couldn’t really grasp that one man teams really do exist at disorganized companies, so I think they had trouble understanding what full stack actually means outside of upstart. They kept rewording questions trying get me to explain what my teammates do, when in reality I explained that I don’t have any.
Then was told of the next interview steps. A take home coding challenge, then a virtual onsite with atleast 3 more interviews and a live coding challenge. Then interviews (more than one) with team members. How many interviews are we doing here? Then they will ask for references, and doubled down on how they take those seriously. Lol, okay?
I was honestly out on Upstart after hearing the interview steps. Wasn’t surprised to get rejected 24hrs later.