Okay so I just finished my Datadog new grad SWE loop and I am exhausted but I want to write this up for everyone who's going in behind me because the info out there is thin.
Some background: I'm a 2025 CS grad, did two SWE internships, applied to Datadog through their campus portal in January. Heard back in 3 weeks.
What the loop looked like:
Online assessment first. Two coding problems on their own platform (not LeetCode but same format). One was array manipulation, one was a graph problem. I'd put them at medium difficulty. You have 90 minutes. No looking things up, obviously, but the environment is reasonable.
If you pass the OA you get a recruiter call and then 2 technical rounds + 1 behavioral.
Technical round 1: Data structures and algorithms. I got a tree traversal problem and a sliding window string problem. Both medium, one felt closer to hard. They care about correctness first, then efficiency. I talked through my thinking the whole time which I think helped even when I got stuck.
Technical round 2: More applied. I got a question about designing a simple rate limiter and had to write the code for it. Not just the concept, actual working code. This felt different from a typical coding round. It's more like a mini system design + implementation combined. Know what a token bucket is.
Behavioral: Standard for new grad. Tell me about a project you led. Tell me about a conflict with a teammate. Tell me about a time you had to learn something fast. They're lenient with new grads here, they know you don't have 10 years of stories. Internship and school projects count.
Comp range I've seen for new grad offers (2025-2026, NYC/SF): base around $155-175k, RSU grant in the $90-130k range vesting over 4 years. Bonus is usually 15%. This is not a quote, these are second-hand data points from people in my network.
If I had to give one piece of advice: practice talking out loud while you code. Seriously. Datadog interviewers seem to genuinely evaluate communication, not just the solution.