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Interview questions from top companies, mapped to the exact round they show up in. Prep for what you will actually face.

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Online AssessmentDSA / CodingMachine CodingLow-Level Design

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The Loop aggregates publicly shared interview experiences and curated commonly-asked questions, each labeled with its source. Not affiliated with any company listed.

CC BY-NC 4.0 · © 2026

← Instacart

New Grad / Junior Backend at Instacart

BackendNew Grad / JuniorNo offer◆ Commonly asked· 2023

Junior backend interview. Balanced across coding, design, and collaboration.

The loop · 5 rounds

01

Round 01 · 1 question

Online Assessment

Timed online coding / aptitude screen, usually the first filter.

  • Aptitude and logical-reasoning section.
    New Grad / JuniorEasy◆ Commonly asked
    #aptitude
    PracticeGeeksforGeeks↗Search↗
02

Round 02 · 3 questions

DSA / Coding

Data structures & algorithms on a whiteboard or shared editor.

  • Word ladder — shortest transformation sequence.
    New Grad / JuniorHard◆ Commonly asked
    #bfs#graph
    PracticeLeetCode↗GeeksforGeeks↗
  • Subsets.
    New Grad / JuniorMedium◆ Commonly asked
    #backtracking
    PracticeLeetCode↗GeeksforGeeks↗
  • Invert a binary tree.
    New Grad / JuniorEasy◆ Commonly asked
    #tree
    PracticeLeetCode↗GeeksforGeeks↗
03

Round 03 · 2 questions

Machine Coding

Build a working component or service under time pressure.

  • Implement a job queue with retries and backoff.
    New Grad / JuniorHard◆ Commonly asked
    #queue#reliability
    PracticeGeeksforGeeks↗Search↗
  • Build a webhook receiver with signature verification.
    New Grad / JuniorMedium◆ Commonly asked
    #security#api
    PracticeGeeksforGeeks↗Search↗
04

Round 04 · 3 questions

Tech Deep-Dive

Deep questions on your core stack and fundamentals.

  • Explain how you handle concurrency / race conditions.
    New Grad / JuniorHard◆ Commonly asked
    #concurrency
    PracticeGeeksforGeeks↗Search↗
  • How does HTTPS/TLS establish a secure connection?
    New Grad / JuniorMedium◆ Commonly asked
    #networking#security
    PracticeGeeksforGeeks↗Search↗
  • How do you run a zero-downtime database migration?
    New Grad / JuniorHard◆ Commonly asked
    #databases
    PracticeGeeksforGeeks↗Search↗
05

Round 05 · 2 questions

Behavioral / HR

Values, collaboration, and past-experience (STAR) questions.

  • Describe working with an ambiguous or shifting requirement.
    New Grad / Junior◆ Commonly asked
    #ambiguity#star
  • Tell me about the most impactful project of your career.
    New Grad / Junior◆ Commonly asked
    #impact#star

Practice each round across every company

  • Online Assessment
  • DSA / Coding
  • Machine Coding
  • Tech Deep-Dive
  • Behavioral / HR

◆ This experience is composed from commonly reported questions for this role and level. Real, individually-shared interviews will be layered in over time.