--- title: "Leetcode Questions, Being Approachable, and Critical Feedback on PRs - CoderPad" description: "David Jiang, Senior Software Engineer at Airbnb, dropped in (virtually speaking, of course) to talk through his perspective as a hiring manager designing a smart and fair technical interview process." canonical: "https://coderpad.io/blog/interviewing/quicksort-david-jiang-airbnb/" last_modified: "2026-06-03 08:51:38" --- [Back to blog](https://coderpad.io/blog/) # Quicksort – One Airbnb Senior Software Engineer’s Perspective About Running Technical Interviews October 7, 2020 3 Minute Read [Interviewing](https://coderpad.io/blog/interviewing/) # Leetcode Questions, Being Approachable, and Critical Feedback on PRs: One Airbnb Senior Software Engineer’s Perspective About Running Technical Interviews David Jiang, Senior Software Engineer at Airbnb, dropped in (virtually speaking, of course) to talk through his perspective as a hiring manager designing a smart and fair technical interview process. TL:DR don’t use leetcode questions. Kidding. Read on for some great insights into how this smart, experienced engineer thinks about the technical hiring process. ### WHAT IS YOUR NAME, TITLE AND CURRENT COMPANY? David Jiang, Senior Software Engineer @ Airbnb ### WALK US THROUGH YOUR TECHNICAL INTERVIEW PROCESS STEPS. I haven’t gone through the technical interview process in my role at Airbnb yet. At Hotel Tonight, however, we had a call with the recruiter, followed by a possible call with the hiring manager, then a technical phone screen (on CoderPad!). If all went well, we’d bring them onsite for three technical rounds plus two rounds of soft skills and a chat with the CTO to finish it. With the pandemic, there are obviously adjustments but that’s the general focus. ### WHAT’S ONE PIECE OF ADVICE FOR BUILDING A KILLER TECHNICAL INTERVIEW? Personally, I’m not a fan of leetcode questions. I feel they don’t test how well you can do the job. Usually the people that performed well in that portion were the ones that studied the hardest; that’s not the same thing as having and applying your skills. The questions that were a good gauge of what we were looking for were more higher-level, architecture-style questions. How would you build X? How would you optimize for Y? ### BEST WAYS TO SET A CANDIDATE AT EASE? Offer them a drink! (Kidding). No, but the usual, water, snacks, restroom break are good. Building in short breaks to take care of those things is probably more relevant now. I always try to share a quick intro about myself and a breakdown of what the next hour will consist of. I try to be friendly and approachable throughout the interview. The point is not to scare anyone away. After all, I could be working closely with this person in the near future. ### HOW DID YOU ESTABLISH THE CRITERIA FOR HIRING JUNIOR/MID-LEVEL/SENIOR ENGINEERS? WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR FROM EACH? Sometime we have questions specific to the level, but we also have a set of questions (mainly architecture-style) that we ask across all levels. These questions will have a different rubric for each level. We expect more senior engineers to be able to dive deeper into the subject matter and point out some of the more nuanced issues. ### WHAT LANGUAGES DO YOU USE – AND DO YOU RECOMMEND GIVING CANDIDATES A CHOICE IN THE TECHNICAL INTERVIEW? I usually let the candidates choose whatever language they feel most comfortable coding in. We don’t want the language/syntax to get in the way of the problem being solved. We want to see what you can really do. ### WHAT’S THE BEST QUESTION YOU ASK TO GAUGE TEAM AND PERSONALITY FIT? I like to see how a person might address critical feedback on PRs. Of course, candidates will say they’ll try to resolve comments in a civil manner, discuss them in person, respond back with reasons for doing it this way versus that way, etc., but I’ve heard a few responses that did raise some red flags. There was a period when we did a [take-home project](https://coderpad.io/resources/docs/interview/quick-start-guides/interviewers/take-home-projects/) that allowed us to give candidates feedback. This also allowed us to catch some of those issues before the onsite. Quicksort is CoderPad’s blog for job seekers who want to stand out to hiring managers who, by necessity, are moving quickly to sort the best from the rest. Want to share some insights about your company’s hiring process? Reach out to our [support team](https://coderpad.io/contact/support/). ## Subscribe for more CoderPad insights ## Trending Articles Previous slide Next slide [Interviewing ## 5 Skills of the Future Developer: A Framework for Evaluating AI Fluency According to CoderPad’s State of Tech Hiring 2026 report, 82% of developers now find GenAI useful — up from 76% just a year ago. More telling: 54% of developers would experience a measurable productivity drop if AI tools were removed tomorrow. AI isn’t a productivity booster anymore. It’s infrastructure. With this shift, it’s no surprise […] Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/interviewing/5-skills-of-the-future-developer-a-framework-for-evaluating-ai-fluency/) [Hiring Developers ## Q&A: Musings of a CEO on Tech Interviews, Cheating and AI In this Q&A session on cheating and AI in tech interviews, Amanda Richardson emphasizes the importance of trust and effective interview design. Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/interviewing/qa-musings-of-a-ceo-on-tech-interviews-cheating-and-ai/) [Engineering Management ## How To Use CoderPad To Interview Software Architects Software architects are the masterminds behind the design and structure of software systems, ensuring that projects are scalable, maintainable, and aligned with business goals. Unlike more hands-on engineering and development roles, assessing architect skills in an interview relies much less on watching them code and more on their ability to drive software design principles and […] Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/interviewing/how-to-use-coderpad-to-interview-software-architects/) [Hiring Developers ## “Don’t Expect Candidates to Have Everything Memorized”, the Dos and Don’ts of Cheating Prevention With Nathan Sutter Sure, you want to prevent cheating. But you also want to feel good about your hiring process. So how do you do that? Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/hiring-developers/dos-and-donts-cheating-prevention-nathan-sutter/) [Interviewing ## Crafting Effective Technical Interview Questions: A 4-Step Guide Writing great technical interview questions can be hard. We're here to help. Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/interviewing/crafting-effective-technical-interview-questions-a-4-step-guide/) [Interviewing ## Viral TikTok Layoff Videos: What You Need to Know So, you’ve heard about these viral TikTok layoff videos, but you’re unsure how concerned you should be? Read about what you can learn from this content, and how it should impact your company’s HR practices. Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/interviewing/viral-tiktok-layoff-videos-what-you-need-to-know/) [Interviewing ## 8 Steps Recruiters Can Take to Instill Inclusivity in Tech Interviews As TA professionals, you have the power to create an inclusive interview environment for your interviewers and interviewees. Want to know how? This guide will help you. Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/interviewing/inclustive-technical-interview-guide/) [Engineering Management ## These 9 Red Flags Are Scaring Away Candidates During Interviews Don't let your name be dragged into a bad Glassdoor review. Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/engineering-management/these-9-red-flags-are-scaring-away-candidates-during-interviews/) [Interviewing ## Best Platforms for Remote Interviews Discover how the modern employment landscape is embracing remote work and virtual interviews. Dive into the capabilities of platforms like Zoom, Skype, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meets for general use, and explore specialized options like HireVue, Codility, and CoderPad for technical hiring. Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/interviewing/best-platforms-for-remote-interviews/) [Interviewing ## Why One-Way Video Interviews Don’t Work and What You Should Do Instead Read about why one-way interviews are less promising than they seem and explore alternative methods that offer a fairer, more realistic approach to hiring. Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/interviewing/why-one-way-video-interviews-dont-work-and-what-you-should-do-instead/) [Interviewing ## 2 Interview Questions to Assess Your Next Intermediate Backend Engineer Looking for guidance in evaluating your intermediate backend developers? We've got the perfect solution with these two insightful questions. Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/interviewing/2-interview-questions-to-assess-your-next-intermediate-backend-engineer/) [Interviewing ## 3 Tips To Introduce ChatGPT Into Your Technical Interviews Integrating ChatGPT into technical interviews involves setting clear expectations, demonstrating its practical use, and acknowledging its limitations, creating a fair and realistic assessment environment that aligns with the evolving landscape of software development Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/interviewing/3-tips-to-introduce-chatgpt-into-your-technical-interviews/) ## Hire with confidence. See why engineering teams trust CoderPad to evaluate developers with realistic, AI-ready hiring workflows. [Request a demo](https://coderpad.io/sales/)