The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Xero (Australia Plains) in Aug 2024
Interview
R1 - 30 minute recruiter screen. | R2 - 90-minute live pair programming to add a feature to .NET codebase. They give you access to the GitHub codebase when setting up the interview, and they do expect you spend 5-10 minutes discussing your observations on the codebase. Interestingly they allow you to use Google search, ChatGPT or CoPilot for this interview. | R3 - 60-minute behavioral and values interview | R4 - 60-minute team match interview. The first 3 rounds were straightforward and I had nice interviewers. The team match interview I got hostile interviewers who asked weird questions to undermine me from the very start (e.g. why do you feel the need to explain your career before software engineering? Software engineering will destroy your life, why do you do it?). At one point I was answering his question of 'how do you learn a new tech stack and domain?', and he cut me off to say 'I don't believe you can do it'. There was one hostile interviewer, and the other interviewer just sat there silently. It really felt like the interviewer had no interest in considering me for the role even before the interview had started. I've had plenty of interviews with CTOs and staff engineers, and no-one has given off the same burnt-out and antagonistic vibe. Following this bizarre interview I have effectively been ghosted by Xero, I followed up with Talent staff 1 week later to be told that that team had found a match (not surprising), and I am still being considered for team-match. I have had no further contact since. It has been 2 months since the 3rd round, and I am still in 'team match hell' with Xero.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Software engineering will destroy your life - you never know enough and you have to keep up-to-date with an unsustainably rapid growing body of knowledge - why pursue it?
I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Xero (Melbourne) in Mar 2026
Interview
It takes too long. The questions are difficult. Also there is a behavior test, not sure whether this test is useful. The technical questions are good:
Lead technical design and implementation of complex features and systems
Write high-quality, maintainable code and automated tests
Make pragmatic architectural and technical decisions that balance short-term delivery with long-term sustainability
Coding assessments: Can be live or take-home. pair programming with a given codebase.
Behavioral + teamwork: Interview with non-engineers (e.g., PMs) to probe how you work in teams, handle conflict, and resolve issues.
I applied online. I interviewed at Xero (Sydney) in June 2025
Interview
There were 4 rounds.
1) Chat with internal recruiter to check your values, experience and aspirations.
2) Coding challenge: Test conducted on HackerRank. Not overly hard but wouldn't say its simple. The engineer overseeing the test (Cath) was a legend and made me feel at ease.
3) Execution & Cross-Functional Collaboration Discussion: Chat with someone from a non-engineering team. Expect questions around your way of working, challenges you've faced and how you resolve conflicts.
4) Culture Fit & Team Interview: 2 senior/lead engineers check if you fit their teams. Expect questions about your technical background, your exposure to the technologies these teams use and challenges you've face.
Even though I didn't get the job I walked away having learned a lot and the feedback provided by the internal recruiter (Raisa) was very detailed and will help me in my future endeavours.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Write a function that takes in 2 string. Return true or false if a condition is met.