okay so i just got invited to the airbnb new grad / entry level software engineer interview loop and i am trying not to spiral. posting here in case anyone else has gone through it recently and can share what to expect.
i've been looking at older posts but most of them are from people doing the experienced hire loop. not sure how much carries over for new grad. from what i've pieced together:
what i've heard: 2 coding rounds (LC-style), both OA-first then a video interview if you pass 1 behavioral round (the core values thing that seems to be universal at airbnb) possibly a system design round but lighter than the senior one? or maybe none for new grad?
what i'm doing to prep: grinding LC mediums, mostly arrays/strings/trees/graphs reading about airbnb's core values ("be a host", "champion the mission", etc.) and trying to map my intern/project experiences to them watched some videos on design fundamentals since i honestly have zero "real" system design experience
a few specific questions i'm hoping someone who went through the new grad loop can answer: is system design actually included for new grad L3/E3 or not? are the coding problems closer to easy/medium or do they sometimes hit you with a hard? how much does the behavioral round actually matter for new grad vs just the coding?
any data points from 2025 or 2026 loops appreciated. i know every loop is different but even rough signal helps.
5 replies
bootcamp_bri
i went through the new grad loop at a similar company (not airbnb specifically but comparable process) and system design was light, more like 'design a URL shortener' level, not 'design youtube'. they're checking that you understand basic concepts: client/server, databases, scaling at a high level. you're not expected to have the depth a senior hire would have.
remote_swe_42
for the coding rounds: airbnb tends toward mediums with a twist rather than straight LC hards. the twist is usually "now extend this to handle X edge case" or "what's the tradeoff if we use approach A vs B". knowing your time/space complexity cold and being able to articulate it clearly matters more than knowing every advanced algorithm.
newgrad_neil
went through it 4 months ago, new grad L3. no system design in my loop. two coding rounds plus one behavioral. behavioral definitely matters, they dinged someone in my recruiting cohort (friend who also applied) specifically on behavioral. do the core values homework, it's not a formality.
jp_newgrad
this is super helpful thank you. what kind of behavioral questions did you get? was it standard "tell me about a conflict" stuff or airbnb-specific framing?
newgrad_neil
they literally named the value at the start of the question. like "for 'be a host' can you tell me about a time you put someone else's needs before your own in a team context". so you can prep by just reading the 6 values and preparing one solid story per value. i only had time for 4 and got asked about one i hadn't prepped. fumbled it a bit but still passed.