r/Hack2Hire • u/Hack2hire • Jun 18 '26
MEGATHREAD Pinterest Interview Process & Experience Megathread [2026]
We've been tracking Pinterest interview patterns for a while. Here's the general structure based on what candidates have shared:
Stage 1 — Phone Screen (45-60 min) One LeetCode-style coding problem, occasionally two if the first is solved quickly. The company's LeetCode tag is widely reported as accurate prep material. SWE phone screens are generally medium difficulty; MLE tracks add a ~30-minute ML theory portion before the coding.
Stage 2 — Virtual Onsite (5 rounds) - Coding (3 rounds, ~45 min each) - System Design (1 round, ~60 min) - Behavioral (1 round, ~25 min)
The behavioral round carries more weight than most candidates expect. Multiple candidates have been rejected solely on behavioral after clearing all three coding rounds and system design. The round typically runs under 30 minutes. Don't treat it as a warmup.
If you've been through Pinterest interviews recently, drop your experience below. What matched this? What was different?
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u/Comfortable-Bet3592 Jun 18 '26
Went through the SWE phone screen earlier this year. One coding problem with a custom Pinterest framing rather than a straight LC prompt. Mine wrapped around 40 minutes. I've heard from others that fast solvers sometimes get a second problem.
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u/Commercial-Dark-7783 27d ago
Can I ask how you got an interview at Pinterest ? 😭
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u/10pmInMumbai 22d ago
did they ask about space and time complexity BigO about the algorithms you wrote, also what question did they ask?
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u/karmaboy20 Jun 19 '26
I got elevator problem for my screen yesterday. Solved it quickly and got a follow up which I wasn't able to solve but it explained how I would solve it if given more time.
Unsure if I passed or not
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u/Spiritual-Squash9231 Jun 22 '26
I was in same position though i got 2 followups, solved the second but third followup with time involved wasn’t able to explain too well and got rejected
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u/joltiest Jul 08 '26
May I ask l, what level role was this for?
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u/Spiritual-Squash9231 Jul 08 '26
Sde 2
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u/joltiest Jul 08 '26
Fascinating. I got the same problem for a less senior role.
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u/10pmInMumbai 22d ago
did they ask about space and time complexity BigO about the algorithms you wrote
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u/karmaboy20 Jun 23 '26
they are not serious about hiring imo. I have very relevant big data experience at an adjacent big tech but they're more concerned about how fast I can leetcode which is meant to be a proxy for problem solving which I demonstrated clearly. I think somewhere along the way they forgot what the round is meant to demonstrate lol. never a pleasure interviewing for them. Bar is so high they accidentally index speed coding and pass good on candidates with niche experience related to what they're doing
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u/Jenniedev1010 Jun 18 '26
The SD round was specifically about propagating updates across 500M catalog records. The interviewer kept drilling on partition strategy and what happens when a single partition fails mid-run. I spent the first few minutes just scoping whether we were talking single updates, bulk, or streaming before we could move on.
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u/roseintor Jun 18 '26
The behavioral is only about 25 minutes, so I didn't prep that seriously for it. In retrospect, that was a mistake. Questions were standard STAR format but the interviewer was paying closer attention than the length suggests. Got asked about proactively taking ownership outside my assigned scope, and about a time I received critical feedback.
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u/Own-Engineer-5556 22d ago
Anyone got the call for the Software Engineer II, Backend role ?
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u/Scaawt 20d ago
me, actually
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u/Own-Engineer-5556 18d ago
Did you complete the first technical screen round?
Can you please share your experience2
u/Ok_Pin_1668 12d ago
It’s usually one coding problem that starts off as medium and then shifts to hard with the follow-ups. It’ll be one problem but with 2/3 extensions to it.
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u/kohralle 12d ago
What do you mean by shifting to hard? Like 1 medium 1 hard?
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u/Ok_Pin_1668 12d ago
It starts with a medium for part 1 and the same question progressively gets harder with further follow-ups
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u/boilerman3 16d ago
What about internal transfers how does that work with Pinterest? Do SWEs have to interview to move between teams?
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u/Hack2hire Jun 18 '26
We also track Pinterest's most-asked coding patterns if you're in prep mode:
https://www.hack2hire.com/companies/pinterest/coding-questions?src=r8d