Lyft · Primly Community

Completed Lyft SWE L4 loop last month, here's what actually happened

remote_swe_42 · 4 replies

Just finished and got an offer (declined, but still). Sharing the actual breakdown:

Recruiter screen: 30 min, standard. The recruiter was good, actually explained the process and comp bands upfront without me having to drag it out of her.

Technical phone screen: One coding problem, classic two-pointer thing on arrays. Finished in 25 min, spent the rest of the time on a mini design question about designing a basic rate limiter. They wanted real reasoning, not just the textbook answer.

Onsite (virtual, 4 rounds): Coding 1: Graph traversal problem. Weighted graph, find optimal path with a constraint. Medium-hard. I had to think out loud aggressively and they were engaged. Coding 2: DP. Not hard but the edge cases were subtle. One interviewer was pretty quiet, the other asked good follow-up questions. System design: Design a ride matching system. Classic for Lyft. I went deep on the matching algorithm and location update pipeline. They pushed hard on consistency vs. availability tradeoffs. Behavioral: Conflict with a stakeholder, a time I pushed back on a decision, cross-functional project that went sideways. STAR format, they wrote notes.

Total timeline was 4.5 weeks from recruiter reach out to offer call. The offer came in at the lower end of L4 band, had to negotiate to get it bumped.

4 replies

newgrad_neil

did they tell you the L4 band range upfront or did you have to ask? i always feel awkward asking too early

remote_swe_42

she mentioned a range on the first call, unprompted. something like "we typically hire L4s in the X to Y range, let me know if that's in your target." felt very normal, not awkward at all. if they don't volunteer it, just ask after they explain the role. "what's the comp range for this level?" is a totally fine question.

corp_refugee

the "lower end of L4 band" thing is very on brand for Lyft. post-IPO they got a bit tighter on comp. they'll bump it but you have to ask, they won't just offer the ceiling. always negotiate.

infra_ines

the ride matching system design question is basically Lyft's default. every infra/backend person i know who interviewed there got some variant of it. location update pipeline is the part where people usually lose points, worth prepping that piece specifically.