The interview process at N26 consists of four stages:
An online coding assignment on Codility
A coding challenge with two N26 engineers, focused on algorithmic problems
A systems design round
A behavioral round
Feedback usually takes 2–3 days after each stage, but the scheduling is quite disorganized. Instead of letting candidates provide availability, they force you to choose from a limited set of time slots, which can be a week or more out - unlike other companies that schedule interviews ASAP.
The Interview Experience
The technical questions were surprisingly easy compared to other companies in the same space.
Codility: One basic debugging problem and two medium Leetcode-style algorithm problems.
Second coding round: Another straightforward Leetcode problem.
Systems design: A simple FinOps-related design problem.
Behavioral: Standard questions on conflict resolution, mentoring, and working under deadlines.
The Major Issues
The entire process felt unorganized and incohesive from start to finish.
JVM Bias: Despite making it clear multiple times that I don’t work with Java/Kotlin, I was forced to use Java in Codility. Then, in the next round, the interviewers (who were clearly unprepared) gave me another Java problem - this time in a broken coding environment. I solved it anyway (including test coverage), and since they had nothing left to ask, we just wasted the rest of the interview talking.
Disjointed Behavioral Round: It was a complete mess. They seem to be mimicking American-style behavioral interviews without actually understanding their purpose. They expect answers to match their internal experience at N26 - deviate even slightly, and they start shaking their heads and taking notes. For example, they asked about my Agile experience, and when my responses didn’t align with their specific Agile implementation, they seemed to take issue with it. Similarly, when I mentioned managing "2 front-end and 1 back-end" developers, they bizarrely concluded that I lacked experience managing backend engineers.
The Rejection & Absurd Feedback
I was ultimately rejected with feedback that made no sense:
“Not from the JVM world” - despite HR explicitly assuring me this wouldn’t be a problem.
“Not enough mentoring experience with BEs” - despite having mentored entire teams, SDETs, and interns at past companies. They framed their questions in a way that set up misleading conclusions instead of actually exploring my experience.
Final Thoughts
Given the chaotic interview process, questionable evaluation criteria, and an underwhelming compensation package, N26 simply isn’t worth the effort.
