AT&T · Primly Community

AT&T onsite / final round, how it really goes: not like FAANG but still solid

veteran_vance · 5 replies

The term "onsite" is a bit misleading for AT&T now. Mine was fully virtual over Webex (not Zoom, not Google Meet, Webex. Be ready for Webex). Four sessions back to back with 10 minute breaks between them.

This was for a Staff/Principal-adjacent infrastructure engineering role at their network cloud division.

Session 1: Coding round 1 (45 min) One problem, medium complexity. Graph traversal variant. The interviewer was an SWE II who kept the environment calm. He told me explicitly to talk through my thinking before I coded, which I took seriously. The actual code was secondary; he was watching the problem-solving process.

Session 2: Coding round 2 (45 min) Another medium problem. This one involved interval merging. Felt like a classic LeetCode medium with a slight twist. I finished with time to spare and he asked me to consider optimizing memory usage afterward, which was a signal they think about practical constraints.

Session 3: System design (60 min) Long session. I was asked to design a content delivery system for AT&T TV (their streaming product). Interesting domain because it's not just serving files fast, it's also DRM, subscriber entitlement checks, and regional licensing. Lots of real-world nuance if you know the domain. I didn't know the streaming side well but I knew caching and CDN architecture and that got me through.

Session 4: Behavioral + hiring manager (45 min) The HM was a director level. Very conversational. Not a grilling. Asked about a time I drove consensus on a controversial technical decision. Asked about my approach to mentoring. Asked what I was looking for in a team. Ended with a clear "what questions do you have for me" and seemed genuinely interested in answering.

Overall feel: Professional and organized. The Webex tech hiccuped once in session 3 and the coordinator was responsive in getting us back on track. Less intense than Google or Amazon final rounds but not a rubber-stamp either.

5 replies

sre_sol

Webex getting you is real. I've been burned by not testing it ahead of time. Good PSA in there implicitly.

backend_bekah

The HM being director-level is interesting. That's a sign they take the role seriously at least. How long did it take to hear back after the final round?

veteran_vance

About 12 days. I followed up after 8 and got a response within 24 hours saying they were still in debrief. So maybe follow up around day 7-9 if you're anxious.

hardware_hugo

The AT&T TV / streaming design angle is interesting for a network infrastructure company. Makes sense they'd use their own product as the domain prompt, grounds it in reality rather than abstract "design YouTube."

market_realist

Less intense than Amazon is a low bar given Amazon's bar raiser system but I'll take it. Good to know the HM round is more conversational.