AbbVie · Primly Community

AbbVie coding interview / online assessment, format and difficulty breakdown

qa_quinn · 4 replies

okay so i just did the online assessment for an entry-level software engineer role at abbvie. i was pretty nervous going in because i had no idea what platform or format they use. here's exactly what i encountered:

platform: HackerRank. standard interface, no surprises.

timing: 90 minutes, two problems.

problem 1: array manipulation, medium difficulty by leetcode standards. something like finding the max sum of a non-adjacent subarray. i'd call it a standard DP problem but nothing you haven't seen if you've done any prep at all.

problem 2: string parsing. given a log-format string, extract error codes matching a specific pattern. more about careful string handling than algorithmic complexity. python made this easier than java would have.

no system design, no SQL, no tricks. just two algorithmic problems.

time-wise i finished with about 20 minutes to spare. i'm a new grad and this felt like a mid-level leetcode prep session, not a google-hard OA.

a few things i noticed: no hidden test cases that i could see (all tests were visible) they do care about code quality. one of the problems had a follow-up question in text asking me to describe how i'd improve my solution's space complexity. worth reading those if there are any. instructions said not to use AI tools. i don't know how they check but i just did it the normal way.

i passed and got invited to the phone screen. if you're mid-prep and worried: this is very doable if you've covered easy/medium leetcode. the bar isn't cruel.

if anyone else has more recent OA data, drop it below. curious if they rotate problems.

4 replies

bootcamp_bri

this is genuinely reassuring, thank you. i've been nervous about abbvie's assessment because pharma companies sometimes have weird technical bars. 90 min / 2 problems on hackerrank is basically standard, good to know.

newgrad_neil

did they say how quickly they score and move to the next step? i submitted mine 3 days ago and haven't heard anything.

jp_newgrad

it took me about 5 business days to hear back. their process is a bit slower than tech companies, just keep that in mind. 3 days is nothing yet.

analyst_ana

i wonder if the data analyst OA is similar format. did you see anything about what role yours was for?