Behavioral at other companies¶

For loops outside FAANG. Find your company, open its values link, and practice the questions under it. Facts are as of Oct 2026.

Use this page in 5 steps¶

Find your company below and open its official values link.
Paste the values into the grid template at the end of this page as column headers.
Map your 8 to 10 stories from your story bank to those values. Each story should cover 2 to 3 values.
Write "why [company]" with the 3-part script at the end of this page.
Answer the company's questions out loud, timed to 2 to 3 minutes each. Then do one peer mock on Aced Practice (free monthly credits).

At a glance¶

Company	Values to prepare	Behavioral round	Run by	Weight
Uber	8 Uber values	"Collaboration and Leadership" round (75 min)	Hiring manager	Reported Bar Raiser round is "probably the most important"
Airbnb	4 core values	Core values interviews	Non-engineers	Can block an offer on its own
Stripe	6 operating principles	One behavioral round	Hiring manager or a "Leveler"	The only behavioral round, and it sets level
Bloomberg	Values page (text not listed here)	HR interview, then a senior manager	HR, engineering manager	Fit called "very important"
Databricks	6 culture principles	Hiring manager call, then references	Hiring manager	References weigh heavily
Nvidia	No official named list	Hiring manager call (30 min)	Hiring manager	Half fit, half sell
LinkedIn	5 values	Host manager round, technical communication round	Hiring manager, engineers	Conversational, values-based
Salesforce	5 core values	Behavioral in every final-round interview	Each interviewer	Onsite visit required before an offer
Atlassian	5 values	Values interview, plus a management interview	Often someone outside your team	Independent hiring committee decides
Spotify	3 values	Values interview in the final loop	Hiring team	Values alignment is an explicit question
DoorDash	14 Global Operating Principles	Engineering Values chat (about 30 min)	Engineering manager	Helps set level
Coinbase	Cultural tenets	Culture assessment, then 1:1 interviews	Recruiter, assessment, interviewers	Culture alignment is tested formally
Palantir	No published list	Behavioral inside every round	Every interviewer	Weak motivation can reject strong coders
Quant firms	Varies by firm	Mostly inside technical rounds	Engineers	"Someone we want to work with"
OpenAI	Charter and values	Intro call, behavioral in finals	Recruiters, hiring managers, team	Mission alignment is stated
Anthropic	7 values	Culture or values round	Two interviewers (reported)	Pushes 3 to 4 levels deep
Google DeepMind	Mission	Competency-based questions across stages	Interviewers	STAR recommended officially

Uber¶

Values link: Uber: What moves us lists 8 values in a slider: Go get it, Trip obsessed, Build with heart, Stand for safety, See the forest and the trees, One Uber, Great minds don't think alike, Do the right thing. The official interviewing guide uses Trip obsessed and One Uber in its example questions. Both pages block automated tools. If one does not load for you, Aced lists the same 8 (Aced, formerly Exponent).

How the round works:

Official: competency-based questions that start with "Describe how you have..." or "Tell me about a time when...". Uber says to prepare at least one STAR example per competency, and that hiring teams assess every candidate against its values.
Official prep list: be pitch ready, understand the role (why you want it "beyond brand recognition"), prepare 1 to 2 examples per competency, know the values.
Official FAQ: "No, you cannot use AI tools" during your interview, including ChatGPT, automated response generators and code auto-completion.
Interns: a recruiter phone screen, a work-related assessment, then a "business interview" with the team. Rescheduling is limited (internship interview guide).
Full-time: the behavioral round is called "Collaboration and Leadership". It runs 75 minutes with the hiring manager and covers past projects, teamwork, failures and leadership (interviewing.io).
interviewing.io also describes a 1-hour Bar Raiser round with an interviewer from outside your team. It reviews one past project in detail (complexity, trade-offs, failures, business impact), and interviewing.io calls it "probably the most important round". New grad reports usually show 3 rounds (2 coding plus Collaboration and Leadership) without it.

What they look for: work across teams (One Uber), focus on the people using the product (Trip Obsessed), ownership, honest failures, and detailed project walkthroughs.

Questions to practice:

Tell me about yourself. (Aced)
What is the project you are most proud of? (Aced)
How do you prioritize tasks? (Aced)
Tell me about a time when you had a disagreement with your manager. (Aced)
What is your leadership style? (Aced)
Official stems to complete with your own story: "Tell me about a project that innovated how you..." and "Describe how you work across teams to..." (Uber guide)

Do this: Write one STAR story per competency in Uber's guide, plus one each for Trip obsessed, One Uber and See the forest and the trees. Write a 60-second pitch for "Be pitch ready" using steps 2 to 4 of Jugal's elevator pitch post.

Company page: Uber.

Airbnb¶

Values link: Life at Airbnb: Champion the Mission, Be a Host, Embrace the Adventure, Be a Cereal Entrepreneur.

How the round works:

Core values interviews happen at the onsite and are run by non-engineers. interviewing.io says Airbnb weights culture fit more than most companies its size, and that you can fail these and get no offer despite strong technical rounds (interviewing.io, 2024).
Candidates report it as a separate gate, often scheduled after the technical onsite. One Jan 2026 candidate said it ended after about 20 minutes.
Airbnb has no official interview tips page (Oct 2026).

What they look for:

Be a Host: caring, open and encouraging with the people you work with.
Champion the Mission: a real connection to belonging, travel, hosting or community.
Embrace the Adventure: curiosity, and resilience after setbacks.
Be a Cereal Entrepreneur: determined, creative ways to turn big ideas into something real.
Community involvement, mentoring and volunteering. New grad postings list it as a plus, and a Mar 2026 candidate was asked about it directly (reported).

Questions to practice:

Why do you want to work at Airbnb? (Aced)
Tell me about a time you were a good host. (Aced)
What does "belong anywhere" mean to you? (Aced)
Tell me about a time you were uncomfortable and how you dealt with it. (Tech Interview Handbook)
Tell me about a time you had to give someone terrible news. (Tech Interview Handbook)
What's something you'd like to remove from the Airbnb experience? (Tech Interview Handbook)
How have you contributed to a community, or what volunteer work have you done? (reported, Mar 2026)

Do this: Speak in plain language, because your interviewer may not be an engineer. Prepare one "Be a Host" story about helping a teammate, a newcomer or a user. Then drill all 25 Airbnb questions in the Tech Interview Handbook list.

Company page: Airbnb.

Stripe¶

Values link: Stripe operating principles: Users first, Create with craft and beauty, Move with urgency and focus, Collaborate egolessly, Stay curious, Obsess over talent. Older lists on prep sites are out of date.

How the round works:

One hour with the hiring manager or a "Leveler", who calibrates level across teams, similar to Amazon's Bar Raiser. You are evaluated against the operating principles (interviewing.io).
interviewing.io says you won't be asked behavioral questions in other rounds. This one round carries all the behavioral signal.
A 2026 loop called it "Experiences and Goals" (reported).

What they look for: working backward from users, craft and attention to detail, shipping fast on what matters, open debate without ego, and curiosity about how businesses and payments work.

Stripe titles the page "Compatibility". interviewing.io notes Stripe "is not for everyone" because of how much autonomy it gives. Read all 6 principles and decide whether you would enjoy working that way before you prepare.

Questions to practice:

Describe a time when you had conflict and how you worked to resolve it. (Aced)
Tell me about a time you solved your most complex problem. (Aced)
Talk about a recent project you led. How did you uphold a high quality bar? (Aced)
How do you stay up to date with the latest technologies? (Tech Interview Handbook)
Explain a project that you worked on recently that was difficult. (Tech Interview Handbook)
Where do you see yourself in five years? (Tech Interview Handbook)

Do this: Write one story per operating principle. Make the craft story concrete: the quality bar you raised past "it works" and the exact detail you fixed. Prepare 2 sentences on your goals for the next 1 to 2 years, since the round is reported as "Experiences and Goals".

Company page: Stripe.

Bloomberg¶

Values link: Bloomberg values page. The page renders its text by script, so the value names are not listed here. Open it in your browser and copy the names into your grid.

How the round works:

An HR interview of about 30 minutes: why Bloomberg, 4 to 5 general behavioral questions, other offers, and salary expectations (candidate reports).
Then an engineering manager or senior manager interview: a project walkthrough, design choices and trade-offs. interviewing.io says the final interviewer often manages at least 50 engineers and that cultural fit is "very important" (interviewing.io).
Bloomberg's official experienced-hire interview guide asks for situation, action and outcome stories on collaboration, leadership, innovation and overcoming challenges, plus what draws you to Bloomberg and how the role fits your long-term goals.
Official How We Hire: represent yourself honestly, including any use of AI.

What they look for: a real reason for Bloomberg tied to its business, command of your own projects, clear communication, listening when the interviewer tries to help, and being someone the interviewer wants to work with.

Questions to practice:

Why Bloomberg? (interviewing.io)
How would you handle conflict in the office? (interviewing.io)
Walk me through a project on your resume. Why did you choose that technology? (reported)
How do you approach working alone versus with a team? (reported)
How do you handle competing priorities? (reported)
Do you have other offers or processes going on? What are your salary expectations? (reported, HR round)

Do this: Learn who uses Bloomberg's products and why they pay for them, then put one line about it in "why Bloomberg". For the salary question, use the deflection scripts in negotiation scripts.

Company page: Bloomberg.

Databricks¶

Values link: Databricks culture: We are customer obsessed, We raise the bar, We are truth seeking, We operate from first principles, We bias for action, We put the company first.

How the round works:

A 1-hour hiring manager call after the tech screen, sometimes with a Director of Engineering instead, with deep follow-up questions (interviewing.io).
References are weighted heavily in the final decision, typically 1 manager and 2 senior teammates (interviewing.io).
Official interview prep page: a hiring manager screen before the onsite, a loop of 4 to 6 interviews, then reference checks before the offer. Behavioral interviews show "how you work, learn, collaborate and navigate challenges", with prompts like "Tell me about a time...", "Describe a situation..." and "Give an example of...".
New grad onsites usually include one behavioral interview with a hiring manager among about 4 interviews (reported, 2025).

What they look for: truth seeking (data over opinion), first-principles reasoning, bias for action, customer obsession, explaining your projects without jargon, and how you handle negative feedback.

Questions to practice:

Tell me about a time you had a conflict with a coworker. (interviewing.io)
Describe a project you're most proud of. (interviewing.io)
Why are you interested in Databricks? (Aced)
Describe a time when you were innovative in solving a problem. (Aced)
What negative feedback have you received? (reported)

Do this: Line up references before your onsite: 1 manager or mentor and 2 senior teammates. Tell them which role you applied for and which project to talk about.

Company page: Databricks.

Nvidia¶

Values link: Nvidia's careers pages do not list named core values (checked Oct 2026). The careers home page does state one culture line: "The project is the boss", even for the CEO. Read the official How We Hire page next.

Aced lists Innovation, Speed and agility, Intellectual honesty, Excellence, One team (Aced). Treat that list as secondary.

How the round works:

Official: interviews last 30 to 60 minutes, as 1:1, small group or panel conversations.
Official: using unapproved outside tools such as ChatGPT during an interview disqualifies your candidacy.
Official: an optional 15-minute "Insider Chat" with an employee Community Resource Group, offered during the final interview, does not influence hiring decisions. Nvidia suggests limiting applications to your top 3 to 5 matching roles.
The hiring manager call is 30 minutes: the first part is your background and culture fit, the second part is the manager selling you on the role and team (interviewing.io).

What they look for: technical depth you can explain, honesty about what you don't know, prioritization, and how you take feedback.

Questions to practice (all from Aced):

Why do you want to work at Nvidia?
Tell me about a time you had a conflict with someone. How did you resolve it and what did you learn?
Describe the most technically complex project you have worked on and explain why it was complex.
How do you prioritize tasks?
Tell me about a time when you received negative feedback and how you handled it.
How do you bring clarity when a program starts with vague or ambiguous requirements?

Do this: Prepare one story where you put the project ahead of your own preference, to match "the project is the boss". Use the hiring manager's selling time. Ask what later rounds test and what the team needs in your first 6 months.

Company page: Nvidia.

LinkedIn¶

Values link: LinkedIn culture and values: We put members first, We trust and care about each other, We are open, honest and constructive, We act as One LinkedIn, We embody diversity, inclusion and belonging. The page adds a culture line: Dream Big, Get Sh*t Done, and Know How to Have Fun. The older six-value list on some prep sites (Members first, Relationships matter, Demand excellence and others) is outdated.

How the round works:

Official How We Hire: application, conversation, interviews that each focus on a different skill area, then a decision.
Onsite (reported): a Host Manager round with behavioral questions, a project walkthrough and a hypothetical scenario, plus a Technical Communication round where you present and defend a past project.
interviewing.io describes the behavioral round as 1 hour, very conversational, with ad hoc questions that check fit against the values (interviewing.io).
Official candidate AI usage page: AI is welcome for drafting your resume, research and mock interviews. Do not use it in live interviews unless the recruiting team told you in advance that AI is part of the format.

What they look for: ownership of a real project you can defend for an hour, trade-off reasoning, explaining clearly to a non-expert, handling ambiguity and conflict, and member-first thinking.

Questions to practice:

Why do you want to work at LinkedIn? (Aced)
Tell me about a time when you questioned the status quo. (Aced)
How did your past job prepare you for this one? (Aced)
What is one achievement at work you're proud of? (Aced)
Explain one of your projects to a new intern. (reported)
Give two positives and two negatives about your manager. (reported)

Do this: Pick one project and rehearse a 15-minute walkthrough for a non-expert, then take hard questions on it.

Company page: LinkedIn.

Salesforce¶

Values link: Salesforce core values: Trust, Customer Success, Innovation, Equality, Sustainability.

Watch out: "Ohana" no longer appears on Salesforce's values, careers or How We Hire pages (checked Oct 2026), though older prep guides still tell you to research it. Talk about Trust and Customer Success instead.

How the round works:

Official How We Hire: expect behavioral, competency-based or situational questions. Most interviews run on Google Meet with your camera on.
Official: an on-site interview at a Salesforce office is mandatory before the offer stage.
Official: Salesforce uses an automated tool to assess resumes, and the page links an opt-out form.
Behavioral questions appear in each interview of the final round (Aced).
Planning method to know: V2MOM (Vision, Values, Methods, Obstacles, Measures), Marc Benioff's alignment process (Salesforce blog).

What they look for: real examples tied to the job description, customer impact and trust, ownership of trade-offs and production issues, collaboration through disagreement, and basic business understanding.

Questions to practice:

Why do you want to work at Salesforce? (Aced)
Tell me about your greatest success. (Aced)
What is a skill you have that is not listed on your resume? (Aced)
Tell me about a disagreement and how you handled it. (reported)
What are the trade-offs of working alone versus in a team? (reported)
Why did you pick those teammates for your project? (reported)

Do this: Write a V2MOM for your last project or internship. It turns into a strong answer for "how do you plan and measure work". Prepare one Trust story about reliability, security or honesty with a user.

Company page: Salesforce.

Atlassian¶

Values link: Atlassian values: Open company, no bullshit; Build with heart and balance; Don't #@!% the customer; Play, as a team; Be the change you seek.

How the round works:

Official engineering interview handbook: the values interview checks your alignment with the five values and answers your questions about them. Your values interviewer likely won't be on the team you're joining. It could be someone from Sales, HR or Customer Support. It is usually fairly informal.
Official: after the interviews, a hiring committee that works independently from the interviewers makes the decision.
Official backend engineer prep PDF: the values interview is 45 minutes. A separate 60-minute management interview with an engineering manager is scenario-based and covers owning outcomes, using expertise to drive improvements, taking initiative, and your contribution to the team.
Official early careers interview guide (interns and grads): 3 to 4 interviews, virtual-first, with craft interviews plus a leadership interview and a values interview. Both use behavioral and situational questions, and Atlassian recommends STAR.

What they look for: user-centered decisions and the trade-offs behind them, honest handling of hard conversations, advocating for change, owning misses, and helping the team succeed.

Questions to practice (paraphrased from Atlassian's official prep PDF, one set per value):

Play, as a team: How have you helped a team or person succeed when they weren't performing well? Have you put the team's goals above your own ambitions?
Be the change you seek: When have you pushed for change? What did you learn, and what was the outcome?
Don't #@!% the customer: How have you put the customer first? What trade-off did you make?
Open company, no bullshit: How do you approach difficult conversations? How have you resolved conflict, and did you adapt your communication style?
Build with heart and balance: How do you think about prioritization and decisions? When did you or your team miss the mark, and how did you fix it?
Follow-up on any story: "Knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?" (early careers guide)

Do this: Rewrite every story so a salesperson could follow it. Cut acronyms and internal tool names.

Company page: Atlassian.

Spotify¶

Values link: Spotify: The Way We Play lists 3 values called "The Bassline": One Team, Human Judgment, Make It Happen. The old Band Manifesto values (Innovative, Collaborative, Sincere, Passionate, Playful) are outdated, but many prep sites still list them. Spotify's culture page also calls the company an AI-forward organization.

How the round works:

Official (how Spotify hires): interviewers ask themselves whether your values align with Spotify's, whether you take ownership and pride in your work, and whether you are adaptable, collaborative and driven. Interviews run on Google Meet, with coding in CoderPad.
The final loop includes a values interview alongside coding, design and other rounds (reported).
Official students FAQ: there are no pre-interview informational chats, and Spotify asks you to research and say why you are interested.

What they look for: One Team (sharing context, winning together), Human Judgment (good calls, learning from mistakes), Make It Happen (bias to action and delivery), and team wins over solo heroics.

Questions to practice:

Describe your leadership style. (Aced)
Have you ever facilitated teamwork? (Aced)
Tell me about a time you failed. (Aced)
Tell me about a time you received difficult feedback. (Aced)
Tell me about a project you're very proud of. (Aced)
Why Spotify? What does music mean to you? (reported, SWE intern, 2026)
How have you promoted AI usage in your team? (reported, 2026)

Do this: Turn Spotify's five official self-questions into five stories: values, ownership, adaptability, collaboration, drive.

Company page: Spotify.

DoorDash¶

Values link: DoorDash's mission and values page now shows 14 Global Operating Principles shared by DoorDash, Deliveroo and Wolt: Customer Obsessed Not Competitor-Focused, Operate at the Lowest Level of Detail, Bias for Action, Truth Seek, And not Either/Or, 1% Better Every Day, Choose Optimism and Have a Plan, One Team One Fight, Earn Trust, Debate then Commit, Beginner's Mindset, Be Differentiated, Build Global Act Local, Play the Long Game.

Most names appear only inside images, so exact wording may differ slightly. Until at least July 2026 the page grouped 12 behaviors under 4 values (We are leaders, doers, learners, one team), which is what Aced and older guides still show. Most behavior names carried over, so stories tagged with either list still work.

How the round works:

Official (university careers FAQ): early-career software engineer interviews are 2 coding rounds plus an Engineering Values chat, and your recruiter sends prep guides.
Reported: the values chat is about 30 minutes with an engineering manager, answered in STAR.
interviewing.io says this round helps set your level alongside system design, and is also a sell. It reports that a weak showing here does not always cost the offer if every other round goes well (interviewing.io).

What they look for: customer obsession across consumers, merchants and Dashers, bias for action backed by metrics, breaking problems into small input drivers, learning from mistakes, and debating then committing.

Questions to practice:

Why do you want to work at DoorDash? (Aced)
Tell me about your biggest failure. (Aced)
Tell me about a time you had a conflict with someone. How did you resolve it and what did you learn? (Aced)
Tell me about a time you learned from others. (reported, SWE I, 2026)
Tell me about a bug in production and how you handled it. (reported)
In the project, did anything not go as planned? (reported, 2026)

Do this: 30 minutes fits about 5 answers. Keep each to 2 minutes and include one number you moved.

Company page: DoorDash.

Coinbase¶

Values link: Coinbase mission and cultural tenets and Coinbase careers. Both block automated fetches, so open them in a browser.

The tenets are Clear communication, Efficient execution, Act like an owner, Continuous learning, Top talent, Championship team, Customer focus, Repeatable innovation, Positive energy, and Mission first. The careers page also says Coinbase is apolitical at work, is "remote-first, not remote-only", and rewards outperformance while giving unremarkable performance a generous severance package.

How the round works (official How to interview at Coinbase, dated Mar 2024, so confirm current stages with your recruiter):

About 60 days across 6 stages. Only about 5% of applications pass the first review.
The recruiter screen asks how the mission resonates with you, how you align with the cultural tenets, and your crypto experience or interest.
A structured assessment of about 30 minutes measures cognitive ability and culture alignment. Engineers also take a CodeSignal test.
Up to four 1:1 interviews, with the focus of each shared in advance.
The CEO or COO reviewed every offer (as of the Mar 2024 post).
Coinbase's engineering interview post (2021) asks you to say if you have seen a question before. Exaggerating your scope is a red flag.

What they look for: mission alignment (crypto-curious counts), ownership, clear and short communication, comfort with a high-performance culture, and honesty.

Questions to practice:

Why Coinbase, and how does our mission resonate with you? (recruiter screen topic, official)
How familiar are you with crypto? (recruiter screen topic, official)
What is the project you are most proud of? (Aced)
What is the biggest organizational challenge you have faced and how did you handle it? (Aced)
Tell me about a production incident you handled. (reported)
How do you use AI tools in your work? (reported, 2026)

Do this: Decide honestly whether the "Championship team" intensity and the apolitical policy fit you. Answer the culture assessment the same way you would act at work, and stay consistent across similar items.

Company page: Coinbase.

Palantir¶

Values link: Palantir publishes no values list. Its official Getting Hired page is the best guide.

It says Palantir looks for people who are bright, adaptable and eager to be part of a tight-knit team, and that fit has to be right on both sides. Palantir's careers site also links CEO Alex Karp's latest letter to shareholders. Read one from the letters page so your "why Palantir" reflects how the company describes itself.

How the round works:

Official: interviewers ask how you've executed, challenged yourself, motivated others and made judgments, and where you've failed. They also want to hear what you are passionate about.
Behavioral questions appear in every stage. The decomposition interview gives you a broad real-world problem to break down, with no real coding. interviewing.io's example: design technology to help elderly people with poor vision cook for themselves (interviewing.io).
interviewing.io: surface-level motivation won't get you far, and Palantir rejects strong technical candidates who don't seem to fit. It looks for people comfortable discussing civil liberties.

What they look for: real motivation (including comfort with government and defense work), honest failures, independent problem solving, explaining technical ideas to non-technical users, and judgment under ambiguity.

Questions to practice (from the Tech Interview Handbook list, sourced from Glassdoor):

What is something 90% of people disagree with you about?
What is broken around you?
If you were in charge of picking projects for Palantir, what problem would you try to solve?
Describe Palantir to your grandmother.
Teach me something you've learned.
Tell me the story of how you became who you are today and what made you apply to Palantir.
Describe a time your values conflicted with a decision, or you disagreed with leadership. (reported, Jan 2026)

Do this: Practice 2 decomposition prompts out loud with a friend. Prepare a real failure, not a success in disguise. If you are considering the forward deployed role, read Jugal's FDE post first.

Company page: Palantir.

Quant firms (Jane Street, Citadel, Two Sigma, HRT, D. E. Shaw)¶

Most quant firms judge fit inside technical rounds, not in a separate behavioral round. How you take hints and talk through a problem is the behavioral signal.

Firm	Official link	What they say they look for	Behavioral format
Jane Street	Preparing for a SWE interview, Interviewing	The main question is whether they want to work with you. Tips: be nice, be clear, know your language, know what you don't know. Asking great questions matters more than knowing every answer. No finance knowledge is tested	No formal behavioral round. Collaboration is judged inside technical rounds (interviewing.io)
Citadel	Our Culture, engineering interview process	"The Best Idea Wins". Values: Integrity, Winning, Meritocracy, Learning, Extraordinary Colleagues. Official prep: read the values, reflect on how your internship contributed to business outcomes, refine your personal story	4 steps, about 8 weeks. First round (45 min): coding plus your technical interests, past internships, school projects and why Citadel. Second round: usually three 45-minute interviews mixing technical and behavioral. Then a leadership interview with a senior engineer for a specific team
Two Sigma	Careers, Interviewing for SWE	Curiosity and care, analytical and low-ego, people who take ownership	Later meetings of about 60 minutes on specific projects and contributions from previous roles
HRT	Interview at HRT (Sep 2021)	Collaboration (do you take hints and stay open to another approach), teachability (do you apply ideas from earlier in the interview), communicating past projects at the right level of detail, honesty (say if you've seen a problem before)	Scored inside every technical round
D. E. Shaw	Interviewing	Uphold high standards, analyze rigorously, communicate clearly and concisely, thrive on collaboration, show intellectual curiosity	Inside technical and hiring manager rounds. Some processes ask for a writing sample, code sample or case study

Questions to practice:

Why do you want to join Jane Street? (reported, 2025)
Why Citadel? (official first-round topic)
Tell me about your past internship and how your work contributed to business outcomes. (Citadel official prep advice)
Why are you interested in working at Two Sigma? (reported, 2025)
Walk me through a technical decision you have made in the past. (D. E. Shaw, reported 2025)
Tell me about a time you were stuck and didn't know how to proceed. (D. E. Shaw, reported)
How do you deal with a teammate who is slacking? (D. E. Shaw, reported)

Do this:

Practice thinking out loud on open-ended problems with a friend, and say "I don't know X, here is how I would find out" without freezing. Jane Street's official tip is to know what you don't know.
Watch Jane Street's mock interview video and note how the candidate asks questions. The engineers in it say the most important advice is to practice under conditions as close to a real interview as you can.
Apply early. Jugal's HFT post says applications for the next summer open as early as June to August and many close by September to October (How to break into HFT roles). His HFT roles overview explains how SWE, quant researcher, quant trader and infrastructure roles differ.

Company pages: Jane Street, Citadel, Two Sigma, HRT, D. E. Shaw.

OpenAI¶

Values link: the OpenAI Charter sets out four principles: broadly distributed benefits, long-term safety, technical leadership, cooperative orientation. The careers page lists 4 values (Humanity first, Act with humility, Feel the AGI, Ship joy) and 4 operating principles (Find a way, Creativity over control, Update quickly, Intense focus). Both pages block automated fetches, so open them in a browser.

How the round works (official interview guide):

OpenAI says it cares about collaboration, effective communication, openness to feedback, and alignment with its mission and values.
It says it is not credential-driven and looks for high potential: you ramp up fast in a new domain and produce results.
The intro call covers your work and academic experience, motivations and goals.
Final interviews run 4 to 6 hours with 4 to 6 people over 1 to 2 days, virtual by default. Expect to hear back within a week. References may be requested.
AI tools: some formats allow them, others test you without AI. Ask your recruiter which applies to each round.

What they look for: mission alignment with a real reason behind it, ownership beyond your role, work with researchers and product teams, and a considered view on AI safety.

Questions to practice:

Why do you want to work at OpenAI? (Aced)
Walk me through your most impactful or memorable project, and what you personally did. (Aced)
Describe a time your work had a negative business impact. What happened and why? (Aced)
Tell me about a time you explained a technical limitation to a non-technical stakeholder. (Aced)
Tell me about a time you did something outside your defined responsibilities. (reported)
Tell me about a time you had to consider AI safety implications. (reported)
If you were deciding whether to release a new AI model, what criteria would you use? (reported)

Do this: Read the Charter and the last few posts from your target team. Form one opinion on one Charter principle, with a real experience behind it.

Company page: OpenAI.

Anthropic¶

Values link: Anthropic company page: Act for the global good; Hold light and shade; Be good to our users; Ignite a race to the top on safety; Do the simple thing that works; Be helpful, honest, and harmless; Put the mission first.

How the round works:

Official careers page: Anthropic cares about what you can do, not where you learned it. About half of its technical staff had no prior ML experience, and about half have PhDs. If you are an engineer, apply as an engineer.
Official candidate AI guidance: write the first draft of your application yourself, then use Claude to refine it. No AI in live interviews or take-homes unless you are told otherwise.
Aced reports a culture round with two interviewers that pushes 3 to 4 levels deep. Recruiters may warn that you will be asked something uncomfortable (Aced).
References are checked. For the Fellows program, Jugal advises contacting your referees before you apply (Anthropic Fellows guide).

What they look for: specific reasons for Anthropic rather than "AI is exciting", honest independent views (including disagreement with Anthropic), real situations where your values were tested, willingness to change your mind, and low ego.

Questions to practice (all from Aced):

Tell me about a time you had a moral conflict with the work. Who did you talk to?
What concerns do you have with Anthropic's mission or direction?
How do you balance delivery speed with security concerns?
Describe a time you disagreed with your manager and later changed your mind.
What's your honest critique of Anthropic's direction?

Do this: Write one honest concern about Anthropic's direction and what you would do about it if you worked there.

Students: Anthropic's careers FAQ says it does not currently offer internships, so the Fellows program is the main early-career route. Jugal's Fellows guide covers each stage, including a research discussion where he notes there isn't always a correct answer and Anthropic wants your reasoning.

Company page: Anthropic.

Google DeepMind¶

Values link: Google DeepMind About. The mission is to build AI responsibly to benefit humanity.

How the round works (official Interviewing at Google DeepMind PDF, linked from GDM careers):

4 stages: initial, skills, final, decision. The process takes 4 to 10 weeks.
Many interviews are competency-based, and GDM recommends STAR.
GDM values curiosity and intellectual honesty. If you don't know an answer, say you're not sure.
Use data to show your impact. AI is fine for preparation, not in live interviews or tasks.
All GDM internships are managed by the Google Recruiting team. Interns apply through Google, and the Googleyness page applies.
Referrals: GDM employees cannot refer anyone who contacts them online (for example through LinkedIn) without a direct connection. Ask people who know your work. See referrals.

Prompts from the official guide to prepare:

A success you are proud of, with data on your impact.
A lesson you learned from something that went wrong.
How your skills made a difference to a team or project.
How GDM's mission resonates with you personally.
What excites you about being part of GDM's future.

Do this: Write one STAR story for each prompt above, each with one number. Practice saying "I'm not sure" out loud on a question you can't answer, then say how you would find out.

Templates¶

Values-to-story grid¶

Replace the headers with your company's values. Mark X where a story fits.

Story (1 line)            | Value 1 | Value 2 | Value 3 | Value 4 | Value 5 | Number in result | Reflection
--------------------------|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|------------------|-----------
[Internship: cache bug]   |   X     |         |   X     |         |         | [p95 -40%]       | [Next time...]
[Club: event pivot]       |         |   X     |         |   X     |         | [120 attendees]  | [...]
[Group project conflict]  |   X     |         |         |         |   X     | [grade / demo]   | [...]

Ready-made headers:
Atlassian: Open company, no bullshit | Build with heart and balance | Don't #@!% the customer | Play, as a team | Be the change you seek
Spotify:   One Team | Human Judgment | Make It Happen
Stripe:    Users first | Craft and beauty | Urgency and focus | Collaborate egolessly | Stay curious | Obsess over talent
Airbnb:    Champion the Mission | Be a Host | Embrace the Adventure | Be a Cereal Entrepreneur
LinkedIn:  Members first | Trust and care | Open, honest, constructive | One LinkedIn | Diversity, inclusion, belonging
Databricks: Customer obsessed | Raise the bar | Truth seeking | First principles | Bias for action | Company first
Salesforce: Trust | Customer Success | Innovation | Equality | Sustainability
Uber:      Go get it | Trip obsessed | Build with heart | Stand for safety | Forest and trees | One Uber | Great minds | Do the right thing

Why [company] in 3 parts¶

1. Product: "I use [product] for [real use]. The part I keep noticing is [specific detail]."
2. Problem or team: "The [team] role works on [problem from the JD]. I worked on [related
   project], where I [action + number]."
3. Value: "Your value [exact value name] matches how I work. For example, [10-second proof]."

Mission answer for AI labs¶

Why this mission: "[Experience] showed me [specific AI risk or benefit]. I want to work
on [team area] because [reason]."
Honest concern: "One thing I'm unsure about is [specific tension, e.g. speed vs safety].
If I worked here I'd [concrete action]."

Resources¶

Resource	What it is	How to use it
Tech Interview Handbook: behavioral questions	Common questions plus company lists (Airbnb 25, Palantir 15, Stripe 3, Lyft, ByteDance and more) from Glassdoor	Drill your target company's list after this page
Tech Interview Handbook: behavioral interview guide	STAR, how many stories to prepare, the "Big Three" questions	Prepare the Big Three first: tell me about yourself, your best project, a conflict
awesome-behavioral-interviews	Open-source repo with STAR tips, a prep grid and sample answers	Use the grid. Do not copy its generic "why company" answers
Jugal: How to prepare for behavioral interviews	Story-first framework for any company	Build 6 to 7 core stories, then map them to each company's values
Jugal: Behavioral interview preparation	STAR basics and timing (2 to 3 minutes per answer)	Use the timing rule for every company here
Aced Practice (freemium)	Peer mock interviews (formerly Pramp), free monthly credits	Book 2 behavioral mocks in your last week
Free Mock Interview	Free AI voice mock with a report	Run your "why [company]" and cut anything generic
interviewing.io mock library	Free recorded mocks with transcripts; live anonymous mocks are paid	Watch 2 behavioral replays. Book a paid mock only before a high-stakes loop

Next: Offer negotiation