LinkedIn interview: coding, system design, behavioral
Company interview guides

LinkedIn SWE interview guide

LinkedIn SWE/SSE loop: recruiter, tech screen, coding ×2, HLD, behavioral (and often concurrency) — habits, reported questions, Lattice study path.

Pooja Singh 5 min read ·

How LinkedIn hires SWE / SSE

01Recruiter

Process + PDF

02Tech screen

Gate to onsite

03Coding ×2

DSA · stacks/trees

04HLD / concurrency

Level-dependent

05Behavioral

Impact · role-play

06Offer

Level can move

LinkedIn’s process is recruiter-forward: read the prep PDF, clear a tech screen, then an onsite that usually mixes coding, design, and a serious behavioral / project deep-dive. Senior and SSE loops often add HLD and sometimes a dedicated concurrency round. Treat behavioral as peer weight to DSA — LinkedIn is explicit about this in recruiter materials.

LinkedIn interview loop
Representative Sr path; confirm concurrency / HM variants with your recruiter.

Senior / SSE loop

Common path for Senior / SSE (confirm your IC level):

  1. Recruiter conversation — timeline, level, prep doc (read it)
  2. Technical phone screen — pass before onsite prep ramps
  3. Onsite coding ×2 (DSA; sometimes 2 problems per round)
  4. System design / HLD (API scale, feeds, notifications, monitoring — team-dependent)
  5. Behavioral and/or hiring-manager deep-dive; some loops add concurrency

Reported questions (one Oct loop)

One detailed candidate report (recruiter Aug → onsite Oct) saw this slate. Treat as examples, not a guarantee:

  • LC 235 — LCA of BST · LC 236 — LCA of Binary Tree → trees & BST
  • Exclusive Time of Functions → stacks
  • HLD: metrics monitoring & alerting platform → TSDB / Kafka / notifications
  • Behavioral: most impactful project; skill learned from peer/manager

Prep plan for LinkedIn

  1. Coding: company-tagged LC + Glassdoor; articulate → complexity → dry-run — coding series
  2. HLD: structured mocks first (seek critical feedback), then tech depth — HLD delivery
  3. Concurrency: BlockingQueue / race drills — concurrency basics
  4. Take OAs elsewhere to desensitize nerves
  5. Behavioral: written STAR bank; refine wording, keep real facts — behavioral series
  6. Mock one full coding+STAR block and one critical HLD review

Backend focus at LinkedIn

DSATrees · graphs

Stacks · strings

HLDScale APIs

Feed · notify · monitor

LLDConcurrency

Often explicit

STAREqual weight

Read the PDF

Round scripts — first 2 minutes

Lattice study path for LinkedIn

  1. Prep plan + cheat sheet
  2. LC LinkedIn tag + trees + stacks + graphs
  3. Concurrency → correctness
  4. HLD → notify / feed / monitoring flavors
  5. Core concepts + technologies
  6. STAR + impact/growth Q&A
  7. Re-read this guide; critical HLD mocks

Signal rubric — LinkedIn strong vs weak

7-day LinkedIn plan (week before)

  1. D−7–6: Company-tagged LC under timer; dry-run every AC.
  2. D−5: LCA + exclusive-time variants.
  3. D−4: Monitoring or notification HLD aloud.
  4. D−3: Concurrency BlockingQueue + race drills.
  5. D−2: Behavioral + PM pitch role-play.
  6. D−1: Re-read recruiter PDF; light review; sleep.
linkedininterviewSSEcodingsystem-designconcurrency

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