Software Engineer, Developer Experience Interview Process at Asana

The interview process for the Software Engineer, Developer Experience position at Asana is designed to evaluate your technical expertise, particularly in improving developer productivity and creating seamless developer tools. The role focuses on optimizing the developer experience at Asana by building tools and frameworks that enable engineers to be more productive, efficient, and aligned with Asana’s engineering goals.

Based on my personal experience and feedback from other candidates who have interviewed for this position, here’s a detailed overview of what to expect in the interview process, along with examples and preparation tips.

1. Resume Screening and Initial Contact

The interview process begins with resume screening, where the recruiter focuses on:

• Experience in software engineering with a strong emphasis on improving developer productivity and building developer tools.
• Familiarity with developer workflows, and experience with tools and technologies that enhance the developer experience (e.g., CI/CD, Git workflows, Docker, Kubernetes).
• Exposure to building or optimizing internal tooling, such as IDEs, build systems, or performance monitoring tools.
• A solid foundation in programming languages (especially JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, or Go) and understanding of cloud infrastructure.

Once your resume passes the screening, a recruiter will contact you for an initial phone screen to further assess your fit for the position.

2. Recruiter Phone Screen

The recruiter phone screen typically lasts 30-45 minutes and focuses on assessing your background, motivation, and fit for Asana’s culture. Expect questions like:

• “Why are you interested in the Developer Experience team at Asana?”
• “Can you tell me about your experience building or maintaining developer tools?”
• “What is your understanding of how improving developer experience impacts the broader engineering team’s efficiency?”

The recruiter will also provide an overview of Asana’s engineering culture, discussing the team structure, and the specific responsibilities and challenges of the Developer Experience team. They’ll ask about your collaborative work with engineering teams and how you help solve internal challenges to improve workflows.

3. Technical Interview

The next stage is the technical interview, which usually lasts 60-90 minutes and is focused on assessing your programming skills, problem-solving abilities, and your approach to building developer tools. During this interview, expect:

• Coding challenges: You might be asked to solve coding problems, typically related to optimizing tools or workflows used by developers. These could be algorithmic problems or tasks where you must optimize or refactor existing code to improve performance.

  Example:

  “How would you design a tool to help developers debug slow performance in a complex system?”

• System design: You will be asked to design a tool or system that would improve the developer experience at Asana. This could involve designing a CI/CD pipeline, a build tool, or a system for managing and visualizing logs and errors.

  Example:

  “Design a system that automates deployment pipelines and ensures smooth integration with a variety of services.”

• Performance optimization: Expect to discuss ways you’ve improved system or code performance to increase developer productivity. You may be asked about techniques like caching, lazy loading, or code profiling.

  Example:

  “What techniques would you use to improve the performance of a codebase that has grown too large for the existing CI/CD pipeline?”

This round tests both your technical depth and your understanding of tools and systems that can improve developer workflows.

4. Behavioral Interview

In the behavioral interview, you’ll meet with a hiring manager or senior team members. This round typically lasts 45-60 minutes and focuses on your leadership, communication, and team collaboration skills. Key areas assessed include:

• Problem-solving and prioritization: As a Software Engineer in Developer Experience, you will need to solve internal pain points. You’ll be asked about how you prioritize which tools or processes to improve based on feedback from developers.

  Example:

  “Tell us about a time when you improved a tool or process that directly impacted developer productivity. How did you identify the issue, and what changes did you make?”

• Collaboration with other teams: At Asana, cross-functional collaboration is key. Expect questions about how you’ve worked with other engineers, product managers, and even design teams to enhance developer tools and workflows.

  Example:

  “How do you gather feedback from other engineering teams about their pain points with current development tools, and how do you incorporate that feedback into improvements?”

• Adapting to feedback and iteration: Since developer tools need constant iteration, the team will want to know how you incorporate feedback and improve solutions over time.

  Example:

  “How do you handle situations where a tool you developed didn’t perform as expected? Can you describe the steps you took to iterate and improve it?”

This round assesses your empathy for developers, your ability to iterate on feedback, and your overall leadership style.

5. System Design Exercise or Case Study

At this stage, you might be asked to complete a system design exercise or case study. You’ll likely be asked to design a developer tool that enhances workflows or productivity. You’ll need to discuss the architecture, scalability, and integrations of the system you design. This could involve building an internal framework, improving CI/CD pipelines, or developing a tool that integrates monitoring or debugging features.

### Example:
> “Design a tool to improve the onboarding experience for new engineers by automating environment setup, managing dependencies, and providing debugging features.”

### Example:
> “You need to improve the error-tracking process for a development team working on a microservices architecture. How would you design a solution to capture, analyze, and visualize errors in real time?”

This exercise evaluates your strategic thinking, ability to design systems, and your understanding of engineering challenges from a developer’s perspective.

6. Final Interview with Leadership

The final interview often involves a meeting with senior leadership, such as the VP of Engineering or the CTO. This interview is typically focused on assessing your strategic vision for developer experience and alignment with Asana’s overall engineering culture and goals.

• Vision for Developer Experience: Expect to discuss your long-term vision for improving the developer experience at Asana, and how your experience aligns with their goals of scalability, productivity, and automation.

  Example:

  “How do you envision the future of developer experience at Asana? What tools or systems would you prioritize to support the growth of engineering teams?”

• Alignment with Asana’s values: Asana is focused on collaboration, radical inclusion, and continuous improvement. Be prepared to discuss how these values resonate with your leadership approach and how you foster an inclusive, productive environment for engineers.

  Example:

  “How do you ensure that all engineers have the tools they need to be productive, regardless of their background or team they belong to?”

7. Offer and Negotiation

If successful, you’ll receive an offer. The compensation package for this role typically includes:

• Base salary: Expected to range between $140,000 and $180,000, depending on experience and market conditions.
• Equity and bonuses: Asana offers equity packages and performance-based bonuses in addition to the base salary.
• Benefits: Asana offers a comprehensive benefits package, including health insurance, wellness programs, mental health support, career development budgets, and retirement savings plans.

Preparation Tips

• Understand Developer Tools and CI/CD: Focus on tools that improve developer workflows, such as CI/CD pipelines, Docker, Kubernetes, and Git workflows.
• Brush up on System Design: Be ready to design tools or systems that optimize developer experience and improve productivity.
• Collaborate with Cross-functional Teams: Be prepared to demonstrate your experience working with other teams, especially when creating tools or improving processes.
• Empathy and Problem-solving: As a developer tools engineer, you must show empathy for developers and their pain points while solving problems efficiently.