I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at PortSwigger (Manchester, England) in Dec 2022
Interview
Multiple stages: CV stage, “Smell Test” - looking at whether we can spot problems with code (even if it would run) Technical Interview - kind of a pop quiz on how Java works, I’d done it at Uni so it was okay, but some questions were difficult. Make sure explanations are clear and careful! Interview with the Founder - I was super scared of this but it was actually quite nice. Once I got over the fact I was talking to the head of the company, it was a nice conversation (Not sure if this was a stage, but there was a personality test) In person interview - two parts. Another problem solving test and another culture interview. I really enjoyed it, and got the chance to get to know people.
Mostly focused on interpersonal skills and situational questions. There is also a focus on the use of agentic AI in personal projects, further to work done in university courses. They really want you to have used AI agents to plan and write code as opposed to just using them for research/debugging.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Describe a time you worked in a team, how did you distribute the work fairly?
I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at PortSwigger (Knutsford, England) in Oct 2025
Interview
Stage 1 - Take home assignment: Java codebase take home assignment on github.
Stage 2 - 30 min "culture" interview (online): Culture interview - “tell me about yourself” and “tell me a time when you” kind of questions.
Stage 3 - Assessment day (PortSwigger HQ, Knutsford)
This consisted of 5 rounds, lasting from 9AM until 4PM on the same day.
Round 1 - Pair programming - 01:30 hrs: I was paired with a senior engineer for this, and was given access to Claude Code. An extensive codebase was presented on which I had to add features that the senior engineer wants us to implement. It was not DSA based tho.
Round 2 - Group activity - 30min: I was teamed up with other candidates in a group of 4, and all of us were given a list of scattered information. Our job was to collect and organize the information, and work together to achieve a goal. The culture team was overlooking at our performance.
Round 3 - Pair problem solving - 30min: I was paired with another candidate and was given a puzzle to solve.
Round 4 - Culture interview - 45mins: I went to have a conversation with a senior employee. Was all about culture related questions.
Round 5 - SwigFactor interview (culture oriented) - 45mins: Another extensive round to talk about culture, as they tested how much of a fit I am to PortSwigger.
Interview questions [5]
Question 1
What were you thinking when you applied for this role?
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at PortSwigger (Knutsford, England) in Oct 2023
Interview
Applied online through PortSwigger’s careers site and heard back within a few days.
Stage 1 – A short Zoom interview focused on logical and problem-solving questions (e.g. “How can you tell if a barrel is more or less than half full without using any tools?”).
Stage 2 – A technical Zoom interview with around 40–50 quick Java questions covering syntax, libraries, and general language knowledge.
Didn’t progress further, but the process was fast, professional, and well-structured.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
You have two sticks. Each takes exactly one hour to burn completely, but they burn unevenly. How can you measure 45 minutes?
