The steps are a 1 hour hackerrank SQL challenge, an HR screen, a 48 hour take home problem, and an on-site interview. The most interesting part of the process was the take-home which consists of 1 ambiguous at best question with a data set of 1 month of order data, which is less data than they open-sources. The HR representative said that for the 48 hour take home most people put in 4-6 hours to complete it, but because they want a visualization board, powerpoint, or presentation medium which can take a lot of work, it can feel like just another Silicon Valley rush assignment to do a full project. I also hypothesize that Instacart rejects most candidates at this stage. At first I thought that the interview process was very transparent. However, after I was rejected from the 48 hour take home problem because "my background" was not competitive, it became clear that while Instacart's interview steps or criteria were not forthcoming. At no point did anyone from Instacart ask me about my background and to pass the initial hiring manager screen only to get rejected on an analytical component of the interview process for what should have been brought up in an initial screen seemed disingenuous at best.

First there was Tech screening followed by a Take home Assessment where we had to review an experiment and make a recommendation. The Virtual on-site (4 rounds) included one round to review the assessment from before, and other standard rounds (stats, bar raiser, hiring manager).