Hello folks,
I am glad that I am a part of the Atlassian organization now and got the opportunity to work for a company whose tools (Bitbucket and JIRA) I have been using for a long. In this post, I would like to share my frontend interview experience at Atlassian.
How did I apply?
As I was not actively looking for a change, I had not applied to jobs anywhere during my whole tenure at CoinDCX. At CoinDCX I was working from home (first day till last). So I preferred going to the office once in a while but not 2 or 3 days a week. Once a quarter, I love to connect with the team to collaborate.
I was contacted by an HR from Atlassian over Linkedin. I took a decent amount of time to decide whether to go ahead or not. I confirmed later to HR that I was interested and would like to proceed with the opportunity.
Interview rounds
In total, there were 6 rounds of interviews and 2 rounds of discussions.
Exploratory discussion
Technical Interview by Karat (3rd party interview)
Browser Coding Interview
JavaScript Coding Interview
System Design Interview
Hiring Manager Interview
Values Interview (Cultural Fit)
Offer discussion
I will discuss each round in detail and what are the major things for you to be aware of if you are going to attend these interviews in the future.
Exploratory Discussion
Duration: 20 mins
The Atlassian HR called me to understand if I am the right for the role you have applied for. This is a crucial discussion where I was supposed to highlight my overall experience, achievements, abilities, and recent projects.
Once HR evaluated my experience against the roles & responsibilities for the given role, I was asked to share the updated resume the same day. Though it is a casual telephonic discussion, one may screw here itself.
Technical Interview by Karat
Duration: 60 mins
Difficulty: Hard
Type: Live Coding
Karat is a third party that is used to filter the right candidates at Atlassian. Karat conducts the filtering in an unbiased way. I mean that they have their own set of questions and you are expected to get the results to clear the interview. They do not judge you by your resume, previous company, or college. This interview has 2 parts.
In the first part, there will be questions and you are supposed to explain what the problem is with a given code snippet or program and how to fix it. Also, you will have to explain the concepts in depth.
In the second part, there will be challenges you need to code and solve. The challenges require a strong knowledge of HTML, CSS, JS, and React. You can move to the next challenge only after completing the current challenge successfully.
I mark this round as hard for the following reasons
The interviewer gives almost no hints (even if you are stuck on a silly item)
You will get points only if you successfully solve the challenges (even if you use the right approach but fail to get the exact output, it will not count)
The challenges were well designed (I had not come across them before in any blogs or interview experiences)
This round was an elimination round. If you don't clear it, you can't proceed further. Karat provides 2 chances. In case your 1st attempt did not go well for any reason, you can reattempt the same again. I got a positive response on the 1st attempt.
Browser Coding Interview
Duration: 60 mins
Difficulty: Medium
Type: Live Coding
It is also known as the machine coding interview. In this round, I was expected to solve a frontend challenge while explaining the approach. I was free to pick either a framework like React or JavaScript. Here it is not only about solving the problem but also about the best practices you implement such as
Code quality
Component design
Optimization
Scalability
To master this interview round, visit Frontend Mini Challenges
It does not end if you solve the given challenge. The problem will keep getting scaled to the next level. I could solve the multiple variations till my time ran out. It is very important to make sure the base you build is of high quality. Else while scaling you get screwed. Using the right data structure and algorithm also plays a key role.
JavaScript Coding Interview
Duration: 60 mins
Difficulty: Hard
Type: Live Coding
This round focuses on JavaScript. The interviewer started with a simple problem and then in no time, it became complex. A lot of variations to the problems were asked to code. Also, here it is important to design the solution by starting in the right direction. All the best practices we discussed before are applicable here too.
This round was difficult for the following reasons
I almost ran out of time
Too many scenarios to consider
Good debugging skills were needed
Strong JS knowledge was needed
To master this interview round, visit JS Code Chalenges
Along with that, I was supposed to cover a lot of corner scenarios and enhancements. I had to touch upon many frontend concepts to prove my points. A strong knowledge of architectural design helped me in this. It was an in-depth interview.
System Design Interview
Duration: 60 mins
Difficulty: Medium
Type: Whiteboard
This was a standard system design interview. No coding was involved. I was supposed to
Gather all the requirements
Design a good architecture
Define API contracts & data models
State implementation & normalization
Scalability & optimizations
To find the right resources for this interview round, visit Frontend Learning Kit
I was so involved in the discussion that I did not realize that it was time. I was supposed to answer a lot of system design concepts and also explain the pros & cons. In a few scenarios, it was also needed to pick a better approach among many and explain the reason for it.
Hiring Manager Interview
Duration: 60 mins
Difficulty: Medium
Type: Conversation
This interview was with the hiring manager. It started with the typical "Tell me about yourself" and scenario-based questions. Most of the questions were open-ended and I was supposed to answer them with my experiences from the previous projects and companies.
Values Interview
Duration: 45 mins
Difficulty: Easy - Medium
Type: Conversation
This interview was based on the values at Atlassian. How do I fit into their values and for me to understand the values at Atlassian? I was asked scenario-based questions and it was more of a discussion.
Results
There are multiple stages before one gets finalized. The criteria are that the performance of the candidate should meet the level of expectations in all the metrics. The candidate has to clear all the rounds individually and should get overall positive feedback and recommendations from all the rounds. This is a debriefing process. After that, the candidate profile will be shared with management where it should get approved. It may take 2 to 3 weeks to hear back after all the rounds are completed.
I was patiently waiting for the response. After around 15 days I got a call from HR to let me know that I was selected for the Senior Frontend Engineer role. I received the joining letter within a week. The complete process took around 60 days (from the day HR approached to the day the offer was released). I was very much delighted to get selected and accepted the offer.
Other opportunities
I had not attended any other interviews during my work span at CoinDCX apart from Atlassian. I had received opportunities from many good product companies during the period but did not proceed ahead as I was very much satisfied at CoinDCX. And also I was not sure if I was prepared enough for the interviews as I was fully involved in the work.
I prefer giving interviews only if I intend to join the company in case I clear the interviews. As I had my friends working at Atlassian, I could have considered asking for a referral as well. I had kept that option for the worst case (like layoff).
The major reasons companies considered me were due to my open-source contributions and community work. I used to evaluate the role and company. I decided not to proceed with most for at least one of the reasons below
Frontend Staff Engineer or higher roles
Startups with almost the same benefits as CoinDCX
Minimum 2 days Work From Office
The time when I thought about looking out for opportunities and getting the call from Atlassian was spot on.
If you wish to be a part of Atlassian, you can explore the opportunities. And for many Atlassian is one of the dream companies. I wish you all the best.