Zalando Software Engineer interview questions

The initial round was a standard HR screening call with the recruiter. They provided an overview of the role, discussed my work experience, and asked about my motivation for joining Zalando. Afterward, the recruiter briefly outlined the hiring process and explained that the next step would be a live coding session focused on a backend-related task, including writing test cases. Second Round (Live Coding): The live coding session was conducted by two members of the technical team. Instead of the backend-focused task I was told to expect, I was given a standard LeetCode problem. I walked through my solution in pseudocode and implemented most of it, but time ran out before I could translate the final part into actual code. The Issue: During my initial discussion with the HR recruiter, I was explicitly told that the live coding would involve backend-related tasks, test case writing, and OOP principles. Based on that, I prepared accordingly—only to be surprised by a LeetCode-style problem during the actual interview. In my opinion, this discrepancy is an unfair way to assess a candidate's experience, especially when the expectations set during recruitment don’t align with the actual interview.

There was a call with the recruiter and then a tech screening. Followed by 3 hours of on-site. The recruiter was friendly and transparent. They explained the process beforehand. The tech screening consisted of mostly questions related to resume/experience plus a short coding round. Didn’t pass the tech screening due to lack of experience.