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      Senior Software Engineer Interview

      20 Jun 2022
      Anonymous interview candidate
      No offer
      Positive experience
      Average interview

      Application

      I applied online. The process took 3 months. I interviewed at Canonical in Apr 2022

      Interview

      The process for me was similar to what other people mentioned here. The whole process is laborious and tremendously long. The steps I passed were as follows: - CV Screening. - Written "interview". - Psychometric tests (Thomas GIA/PPA). - 25 min interview with an engineer from my team. This was mostly just a regular conversation to get to know the role and introduce myself. - 1h interview with an engineer from my team. There were both technical questions and behavioral questions. - 1h interview with an engineer from the OpenStack team. Mainly Linux and networking questions. - HR call to discuss benefits. - An open-ended take-home technical assessment. - 1h interview with an engineering manager. - 1h interview with a staff engineer from my team. During the entire process you get these automated pre-written emails about everything. They seem to have put some effort in to make them appear as realistic as possible. Since the interview process is overseen by engineers it is not much of a surprise they tried to automate everything, but in my opinion this masquerade is a bit insulting. They should get rid of the psychometric tests. It's bad enough you have to do the written interview before having spoken to a single real person, but then you have to also do these kinds of tests like you're a lab rat. The PPA also generates some "suggested questions" for them which the interviewers can ask, which aren't really helpful (and the interviewers didn't seem to feel so either). I get the point of the written interview as a means of providing some relevant information to all interviewers later on but it should be trimmed considerably. Also, it was quite obvious that not all interviewers had the same level of information about me. Some did read the submitted info beforehand, some hadn't and either skimmed through it while on the call or just asked their own questions. For example, for the technical assessment I submitted I was told in the engineering manager interview that they liked it but I would be given more in-depth feedback by the next interviewer, who then hadn't even looked at it at all. The way they score you is that each interviewer has to fill a form of radio buttons with scores 1-5 at the end of the interview. This is supposedly done to reduce bias but it introduces more bias in my opinion as every one of them can have a different way of rating the various aspects. During the process, it was never quite clear how many interviews were to be scheduled next, or how far in I actually was. After the 10 steps I listed above and a double-digit number of hours spent in the process there simply was a silence for 3 weeks and then I got a generic rejection email with no explanation at all. I tried to contact HR during this silence period but was simply ignored. In conclusion, if you really like the position I think you should try to interview for them as it seems a place with a lot of good engineers to exchange knowledge and work on cool open-source projects, but you should really keep in mind the tremendous level of involvement and time you will have to invest which can all just be washed away with a generic rejection email...

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      Written interview questions were the same as the other submissions here. Other parts described above.
      Answer question
      5

      Other Senior Software Engineer interview reviews for Canonical

      Senior Software Engineer Interview

      27 Jan 2026
      Anonymous interview candidate
      No offer
      Negative experience
      Average interview

      Application

      I applied through a staffing agency. I interviewed at Canonical in Jan 2026

      Interview

      I understand they are looking for a very specific type of profile. It's just not for me and after a long form with 30+ questions, some of then about my teenage years hobbies or my grades in school, and a intelligence tests consisting on sesame street knowledge like "Peter is taller than Jenny. Who is shorter?" i just withdraw, if that is the respect they have for candidate time i am not a good fit for their culture.

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      long writting essay about school grades
      Answer question
      2

      Senior Software Engineer Interview

      3 Nov 2025
      Anonymous interview candidate
      No offer
      Neutral experience
      Average interview

      Application

      I interviewed at Canonical

      Interview

      Long process, took a lot of time to complete so-called "written interview", talking about your academic performance during high school and college, which is hated by most people. Interviewers are kind, however, it sucks when the interview process takes you 40+ days to get a rejection email.

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      Find the position of matched bytes in a large data memory
      Answer question

      Senior Software Engineer Interview

      3 Sept 2025
      Anonymous employee
      Adelaide
      Accepted offer
      Neutral experience
      Easy interview

      Application

      I interviewed at Canonical (Adelaide)

      Interview

      It was lengthy. There is the well-known written interview, followed by a basic programming test. Lots and lots of Google Meet interviews. Many of the interviewers asked the same questions. A panel interview would have been a lot better.

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      They ask a lot about high school times.
      Answer question
      2

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