What does the average technical interview process include?

Interview process length

The below relates to the interview processes, as described on example job descriptions, of 394 companies on cord. Of these, 373 contained information about the length and content of the interview process.

An average interview process consists of 3.37 stages, with the median process having 3 stages and the longest processes consisting of 7 stages.

Interview formats

Interview processes can vary significantly. While the vast majority have between 3 and 5 stages, seven different interview formats featured heavily (i.e. appeared 60 or more times) in the sample.

A note on terms: given the amount of variation in interview processes, some qualitative assessment was needed to convert the descriptions of interview stages into formalised, quantifiable forms. This means the following assumptions:

• Introductory “Video calls” or similar have been assumed to be non-technical unless specified, or implied by the presence of e.g. an Engineer

• “Tech Interview” includes code reviews if these are described as a separate stage to a technical test

• Technical tests that aren’t specified as taking place onsite or in a video call have been assumed to be remote tests

• Reviews of applicants’ previous work or code samples have also been counted as remote tests

• Onsite / collaborative tests includes technical exercises explicitly or implicitly taking place as part of a larger technical interview, either in-office or over a video call. This also includes pair programming exercises

• A significant number of processes included a “Final” interview without specifying its content, format or function of the interviewees, so an additional category has been created for this. More specific descriptions have been allocated accordingly - for example, “Final round with CEO” would be counted as a leadership screen.

• Where multiple C-level meetings take place, common sense has been applied in designating them. So if an applicant meets, separately, a CTO and then a CEO in a process, the former would be counted as a Technical / Hiring Manager screen, and the latter as a Leadership screen. A CTO’s presence in something which is, to all other extents, a technical interview will not change this stage being counted as a technical interview.

So in general, the interview process you are most likely to encounter will be three stages long, consisting of a non-technical screen, a technical interview and a remote test.

Key insights

• Interview processes have just over 3 stages on average

• The longest processes have 7 stages

• Non-tech screens and Tech interviews are the most common interview formats