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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

← Linear

Senior Backend at Linear

BackendSeniorOutcome unknown◆ Commonly asked· 2023

6-round senior backend process. Fast-paced; expect follow-ups that push on depth.

The loop · 6 rounds

01

Round 01 · 3 questions

DSA / Coding

Data structures & algorithms on a whiteboard or shared editor.

  • Valid Parentheses — check balanced brackets.
    SeniorEasy◆ Commonly asked
    #stack#string
    PracticeLeetCode↗GeeksforGeeks↗
  • Median of two sorted arrays.
    SeniorHard◆ Commonly asked
    #binary-search
    PracticeLeetCode↗GeeksforGeeks↗
  • Reverse a linked list.
    SeniorEasy◆ Commonly asked
    #linked-list
    PracticeLeetCode↗GeeksforGeeks↗
02

Round 02 · 2 questions

Machine Coding

Build a working component or service under time pressure.

  • Build an in-memory pub/sub with topic subscriptions.
    SeniorMedium◆ Commonly asked
    #pub-sub
    PracticeGeeksforGeeks↗Search↗
  • Implement an exponential-backoff HTTP client.
    SeniorMedium◆ Commonly asked
    #reliability
    PracticeGeeksforGeeks↗Search↗
03

Round 03 · 2 questions

System Design

High-level architecture of a large-scale system.

  • Design a search autocomplete at Google scale.
    SeniorHard◆ Commonly asked
    #trie#ranking#cache
    PracticeGeeksforGeeks↗Search↗
  • Design an inventory reservation system for checkout.
    SeniorHard◆ Commonly asked
    #concurrency#transactions
    PracticeGeeksforGeeks↗Search↗
04

Round 04 · 3 questions

Tech Deep-Dive

Deep questions on your core stack and fundamentals.

  • Explain the difference between horizontal and vertical scaling.
    SeniorEasy◆ Commonly asked
    #scale
    PracticeGeeksforGeeks↗Search↗
  • Trade-offs of gRPC vs REST vs GraphQL.
    SeniorMedium◆ Commonly asked
    #api-design
    PracticeGeeksforGeeks↗Search↗
  • Explain optimistic vs pessimistic locking.
    SeniorHard◆ Commonly asked
    #databases
    PracticeGeeksforGeeks↗Search↗
05

Round 05 · 1 question

Hiring Manager

Scope, ownership, and role-fit discussion with the manager.

  • Walk me through the architecture of a system you owned end to end.
    Senior◆ Commonly asked
    #ownership#architecture
06

Round 06 · 2 questions

Behavioral / HR

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

  • Describe a time you had to deliver bad news.
    Senior◆ Commonly asked
    #communication#star
  • Tell me about the hardest bug you have debugged.
    Senior◆ Commonly asked
    #debugging#star

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