Was given a document with a long list of generic open questions to answer in a few days.
I answered the questionaire and they replied that I didn't pass without any reason why.
Interview questions [37]
Question 1
Describe a skill or knowledge you acquired recently that has been impactful for you. Why did you make this investment? What has the outcome been for you and your team?
What is your most senior role in a software engineering organisation? Describe your span of control, and the diversity of products, functions and teams you led.
Outline your thoughts on open source software development. What is important to get right in open source projects? What open source projects have you worked on? Have you been an open source maintainer, on which projects, and what was your role?
Describe your experience building large systems with many services - web front ends, REST APIs, data stores, event processing and other kinds of integration between components. What are the key things to think about in regard to architecture, maintainability, and reliability in these large systems?
How comprehensive would you say your knowledge of a Linux distribution is, from the kernel up? How familiar are you with low-level system architecture, runtimes and Linux distro packaging? How have you gained this knowledge?
Describe your experience with public cloud based operations - how well do you understand large-scale public cloud estate management and developer experience?
We consider academic results in high school and university for all roles, regardless of seniority. In every discipline, from engineering to marketing to operations and sales, we intensely value colleagues who are able to puzzle through difficult problems and find the optimal path forward.
- How did you rank in your final year of high school in mathematics? Were you a top student? On what basis would you say that?
- Please state your high school graduation results or university entrance results, and explain the grading system used. For example, in the US, you might give your SAT or ACT scores. In Germany, you might give your scores out of a grading system of 1-5, with 1 being the best.
- What sort of high school student were you? Outside of class, what were your interests and hobbies? What would your high school peers remember you for?
- What leadership roles did you take on during your education? Did you conceive of, and drive to completion, any initiatives outside of your required classwork?
- Outline your thoughts on the mission of Canonical. What is it about the company's purpose and goals which is most appealing to you? What do you see as risky or unappealing?
I applied through a staffing agency. I interviewed at Canonical in Jan 2026
Interview
I understand they are looking for a very specific type of profile. It's just not for me and after a long form with 30+ questions, some of then about my teenage years hobbies or my grades in school, and a intelligence tests consisting on sesame street knowledge like "Peter is taller than Jenny. Who is shorter?" i just withdraw, if that is the respect they have for candidate time i am not a good fit for their culture.
Long process, took a lot of time to complete so-called "written interview", talking about your academic performance during high school and college, which is hated by most people.
Interviewers are kind, however, it sucks when the interview process takes you 40+ days to get a rejection email.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Find the position of matched bytes in a large data memory
It was lengthy. There is the well-known written interview, followed by a basic programming test. Lots and lots of Google Meet interviews. Many of the interviewers asked the same questions. A panel interview would have been a lot better.
