GEICO Sr. Software engineering Manager interview questions

The interview process was long but not out of the ordinary. The biggest issue was time between rounds with very little communication. My first contact was early march and the rounds concluded in mid april. For what it was it kind of drug on a bit too long. Truthfully though I am not a fan of coding interviews The problem was not terrible. There were 4 or 5 use cases described and I was pretty easily able to nail 4 out of the 5. More than likely I could have sat there for another 30 minutes and figured out the algorithm but as a Senior EM head down writing code isnt what I do everyday any longer though I still do understand code and best practices. As far as the design question I think this is just not a great question to ask. It is far to broad to cover in the 25 or so minutes given. The best one can hope for is to cobble together some things that sound like they might be useful services and show that they could have a data base and how they might interact and where the API could be located etc. Just really not a super solid question. Overall Geico seems like a company that is trying to transition from IT to and Engineering company but from what I am told management is still mandating that leadership be as savvy on IC type work as Senior and Staff engineers. Sadly as someone who has spent 25 years writing and designing numerous systems at scale for companies doing throughput that far exceeds anything that will be required here it was shocking to hear that my design capability was lacking. My overall read is that this is a company that is changing. I think in 6 or 8 months it could be a fantastic place to work but for now I think that they are being compelled to use criteria that do not match to the roles they are hiring for per se. I think that is a growing process that will hopefully be soon corrected or they will continue to overlook people that could wind up being game changers for them.

It starts with the recruiter reaching out to us to screen for the initial skill set and explaining roles and responsibilities. Then, two LeetCode coding, one system design, and three managerial and leadership interviews to assess technical skills, problem-solving, and leadership abilities. While actively seeking candidates with FAANG experience, the company is offering salaries in the range of $230k-$240k, which falls notably below industry standards. The interview difficulty level seems incongruent with the compensation. The new CTO's vision for a tech transformation is emphasized, stating that everything is in the build phase, and the company needs to double its efforts in the coming years to lead this transformation. This raises concerns about the company's commitment to attract and retain top-tier talent in the current competitive market.