What do you think about interviews? They’re awful, stressful events that go by quickly but stay with you for a long time. Or, at least, that’s the traditional model. But why would anyone want that? Interviews should be a chance to show who you are and decide if you want to work there.
It took a lot of work to make sure that our interview process is thorough and consistent, and we are still working hard to get rid of as many sources of bias as we can. So far, we’ve found that it accurately finds people who will do well here—those who are very good at technology and also live by Slack’s values of empathy, courtesy, craftsmanship, solidarity, playfulness, and thriving.
So, you’re aiming for a coveted role at Slack the communication platform that’s revolutionized the way teams collaborate. Congratulations! But before you can celebrate you need to navigate the interview process. Don’t worry, we’ve got your back. We’ve compiled a comprehensive guide to Slack interview questions, drawing insights from two valuable resources
- Top 25 Slack Interview Questions & Answers: This resource provides a detailed breakdown of common Slack interview questions, along with expert tips on how to answer them effectively.
- A Walkthrough Guide to Finding an Engineering Job at Slack: This guide offers an insider’s perspective on the Slack interview process, including the company’s values, technical challenges, and expectations for candidates.
By combining these resources, we’ve crafted a comprehensive guide that will equip you with the knowledge and confidence you need to ace your Slack interview.
Understanding Slack’s Values and Culture
Before diving into specific questions, it’s crucial to understand Slack’s core values and culture These values guide the company’s decision-making and permeate every aspect of the work environment Here are some key values to keep in mind
- Empathy: Slack prioritizes understanding and respecting diverse perspectives.
- Courtesy: The company fosters a respectful and inclusive environment where everyone feels valued.
- Craftsmanship: Slack emphasizes excellence in everything they do, from code quality to customer service.
- Solidarity: Teamwork and collaboration are highly valued at Slack.
- Playfulness: Slack encourages a fun and engaging work environment.
- Thriving: The company wants its employees to grow both professionally and personally.
By aligning your responses with these values, you can demonstrate that you’re a good fit for the Slack culture.
Common Slack Interview Questions and How to Answer Them
Now let’s delve into some of the most common Slack interview questions you might encounter
1. How would you design a scalable and maintainable API for Slack’s messaging functionality?
This question assesses your technical understanding of system design and architecture. Highlight your experience in designing APIs, emphasizing maintainability, scalability, and versioning Discuss how you would handle high volumes of data and connections
2. Can you discuss the trade-offs between using microservices versus monolithic architecture and their implications on Slack’s performance?
This question tests your ability to analyze different architectural approaches. Talk about the good and bad points of both microservices and monolithic architectures, taking into account things like complexity, speed of development, and ability to grow.
3. Describe your approach to implementing end-to-end encryption for Slack while maintaining its real-time collaboration features.
This question challenges you to balance security and user experience. Discuss your experience with encryption and real-time technology, highlighting innovative solutions you’ve implemented. Explain how you would ensure data security without compromising real-time features.
4. How do you make sure that the Slack app works the same way on all platforms (web, mobile, and desktop) when you’re developing it?
This question assesses your understanding of cross-platform development. Talk about your experience with responsive design and testing for specific platforms to make sure that users have a smooth experience on all of them.
5. Explain how you would optimize Slack’s search functionality considering both speed and accuracy.
This question tests your problem-solving skills and understanding of search algorithms. Discuss your experience with optimizing search functionality, highlighting strategies like indexing and ranking algorithms.
6. Discuss an approach to load balancing and handling large volumes of concurrent users within a distributed system like Slack.
This question assesses your understanding of distributed systems and load balancing. Discuss your experience with horizontal scaling and microservices architecture to distribute the load and ensure system stability.
7. What strategies would you employ to drive adoption of Slack within an organization with minimal disruption to existing workflows?
This question tests your change management skills. Discuss your experience with change management and user adoption strategies. Highlight your ability to identify key influencers, provide comprehensive training, and implement a phased rollout approach.
8. Describe the process of identifying, evaluating, and closing potential enterprise clients for Slack’s paid offerings.
This question assesses your sales and business development skills. Discuss your experience with identifying potential clients, evaluating their needs, and closing deals. Highlight your ability to build relationships and understand client needs.
9. How would you handle a situation where a key customer is unhappy with Slack’s service or facing technical issues?
This question assesses your customer service skills and problem-solving abilities. Discuss your experience with handling difficult situations and resolving customer issues. Highlight your commitment to customer satisfaction and your ability to maintain professionalism under pressure.
10. In your opinion, what are some essential KPIs for measuring the success of a Customer Success Manager at Slack?
This question assesses your understanding of key performance indicators (KPIs). Discuss the KPIs relevant to a Customer Success Manager’s role, such as customer satisfaction, retention, and renewal rates. Explain how you would use these KPIs to measure success and improve performance.
Additional Tips for Acing Your Slack Interview
- Research Slack thoroughly: Familiarize yourself with the company’s mission, values, products, and culture.
- Practice your answers: Rehearse your responses to common interview questions to gain confidence and clarity.
- Prepare thoughtful questions: Ask insightful questions about Slack’s work environment, challenges, and future plans.
- Be yourself: Let your personality shine through and demonstrate your genuine interest in the company and the role.
Remember, the interview is a two-way street. While you’re being evaluated, you’re also evaluating Slack to ensure it’s the right fit for you. By following these tips and showcasing your skills and passion, you’ll be well on your way to landing your dream job at Slack.
What we look for in interviewees
Before anything else, we want to hire skilled engineers who love programming and are very good at what they do. We like people who can take their team to the next level instead of just themselves and who are eager to learn more about how things work and what our customers want. Slack works best for people who like to work with others and know how important it is to have a team with people from different backgrounds, with different thoughts, ideas, and experiences. It also works well for people who make their own decisions and get things done.
The Slack SF cafeteria
What does the interview process look like?
People do better in interviews when they know what to expect ahead of time. Here’s a rundown of how we do things. We follow the same process for all web engineering candidates, regardless of position or level of experience:
1. We’re looking at your resume to see if you’re a good fit for the job you applied for. There are a lot of great people out there, but not all of them will be a good fit for Slack, and Slack won’t be a good fit for everyone. We don’t care where or even if you went to college. What matters is your experience and how much you love your job.
2. A call with one of our technical recruiters. This lasts about 30 minutes and includes general questions about what you want and why you’re interested in Slack.
3. A technical task: We want to see how you write code in real life because we think that’s the best way to tell how you’d write code at Slack every day. The Slack codebase is bigger and more complicated than any technical exercise, but we’ve found that the technical exercise is a good way to predict how well someone will do on the job. Great engineers work for both big and small businesses, so this gives everyone a chance to shine, no matter where they are now.
This depends on the job, but in general, you’ll have one week to finish a technical task and send us the code and a working solution.
The exercise is graded against a rigorous set of over 30 predetermined criteria. We’re looking for code that is clean, readable, performant, and maintainable. There was a lot of work that went into making these criteria to make sure that the score is a good reflection of the quality of the work whatever person grades it. We do this to limit bias. There should be clear criteria so that changes in the score that have nothing to do with the candidate (like if the grader is having a good day) are less likely to change the outcome.
It’s important to know that we go to great lengths to make sure the technical exercise is graded without any bias. When someone turns in an exercise for most jobs, the person grade it hasn’t seen their name or resume. We’re working on getting this to happen for all jobs. For some jobs, candidates must send in a working version of their coding assignment, and some choose to host it on their own website. To keep graders from seeing the URL, we are looking into ways to hide it.
4. A call with the hiring manager. This talks about your background, the technical problems you’re currently facing, and what you’re looking for in your next job. The call usually lasts an hour. You are welcome to ask any questions you have, so bring a list of things you want to know about Slack.
5. An onsite interviewThis usually takes around 4 hours. Each engineer will give you 45 minutes of time, and then you’ll have 15 minutes with the hiring manager. During our in-person interview, we’ll talk about technical and architectural issues and see how well your values match up with those at Slack.
We won’t ask you to solve algorithm problems or write code on the whiteboard, as we already said. However, we might use the whiteboard to have you draw out how you think a system should be built. Whiteboard coding is usually done by people who have done it a lot, which isn’t something that Slack employees do every day.
Just to be clear, we don’t write down a binary search algorithm (or any other coding problem) on a whiteboard. We use it to talk about ideas. Candidates can feel uncomfortable when they are asked to do something they normally wouldn’t do in front of someone who is judging them. This can make the performance awkward.
Not only do you not need to bring a computer to the interview, but you also don’t need to study for it. A high level view of how you think about building and debugging complex systems is what we want to know. This is not something you can always study for
Every person you talk to will give you time to ask questions. Keep in mind that you are interviewing us as well as we are interviewing you. From both of our points of view, we want to make sure that Slack is a great place to work that you will enjoy.
The Slack library in our SF office
Mock Interview by Senior Software Engineer at Slack | Scalable Distributed System
FAQ
Are slack interviews hard?
What is a Slack interview?
What is the interview process like at Slack?
I interviewed at Slack I interviewed in 2021. 1st round is HR, 2nd is Technical with Java, Data Structure, Thread, OOPs normal questions. 3rd round is technical assessment where you need to add feature into existing project. Salesforce has an “exempt” and “non-exempt” employment status.
How can I see who is working on what in slack?
In Slack, you can choose the channel where Time Doctor notifications should appear, and which users will be invited to that channel. And that’s it! You’ll now be able to see who’s working on what in that specific channel.
How long does it take to get a job at Slack?
Photo credit: Slack Slack is overhauling its hiring process for engineers, but it generally looks like this: The length of the whole process varies, depending on the candidate’s availability and the time they take to complete the take-home exercise. In the shortest case, the gap between applying and getting an offer could last a week.
