Best Buy · Primly Community

Best Buy coding interview / online assessment, format and difficulty (completed Jan 2026)

infra_ines · 4 replies

just finished their OA so posting while it's fresh. applying for a software engineer role, not sure the exact level since they didn't specify in the JD.

format: HackerRank platform. 90 minutes. 3 problems.

difficulty breakdown: problem 1: array manipulation, easy-medium. classic sliding window pattern. finished in 12 minutes. problem 2: graph traversal. i think it was medium. needed BFS/DFS to find connected components. took me about 30 minutes. edge cases on disconnected nodes tripped me up. problem 3: dp or greedy, couldn't decide which. ended up going greedy and got 7/10 test cases passing. not sure if i passed overall.

the problems felt like standard leetcode medium territory. nothing that screams 'we want top 1% candidates' but definitely not trivial either. if you can solve mediums consistently you should be fine.

one thing: there's a built-in IDE but i switched to writing in the scratch pad first because the editor kept losing my cursor. annoying. bring a second browser tab open with your practice env just in case.

time pressure was real. 90 minutes for 3 problems is tighter than it sounds, especially if you get stuck on problem 2 and need to pivot.

not sure on timeline yet. recruiter said 1-2 weeks to hear back after the OA. i'll update this thread if i hear anything.

4 replies

bootcamp_bri

The HackerRank editor being buggy is a known thing. I always test my code in a local editor and paste over. Saves so much stress.

newgrad_neil

Did they require webcam or code replay on? Some companies do proctoring, others don't. Asking because I get super anxious when I know someone might be watching.

jp_newgrad

no proctoring that i noticed. no webcam prompt, no flagging warnings. just the timer and the problems. felt like a standard unproctored OA.

mobile_mara

7/10 test cases passing on the DP problem is usually enough if the others were strong. Their bar isn't 'perfect score or bust' from what I've seen.