You're given a small repo with failing tests and a vague bug report: fix the bugs, then add a feature
The format that filters out LeetCode-only candidates: unfamiliar code, failing tests, 45 minutes. There's a repeatable protocol for it, and a reason the first five minutes decide the round.
Updated Aug 2026 · Grounded in real Forward Deployed Engineer interview loops and written to a senior-engineer editorial bar.
The format that filters out LeetCode-only candidates: unfamiliar code, failing tests, 45 minutes. There's a repeatable protocol for it, and a reason the first five minutes decide the round.
Lead with where the obvious approach breaks, because that is the judgment they are screening for — most candidates jump straight to the happy path and lose the room.
Then walk the failure back through the pipeline in order, naming the one metric the customer's exec sponsor actually cares about before you propose the fix.
