How to Ace a Code Review Interview

A code review interview asks you to read code you didn't write and say what's wrong with it, how you'd fix it, and why. It usually shows up in software engineering and engineering manager loops, sometimes in place of a coding round, and the format shifts a lot by company: some give you a broken file to debug, some ask you to write and then critique code, and one (Airbnb) has built a dedicated, rubric-scored round around it.

This guide covers what the code review round evaluates, how it varies across companies, real prompts candidates have described, and how to prepare.

What is a code review interview?

A code review interview evaluates how you assess code someone else wrote: whether you can spot correctness, design, testing, and maintainability problems, and communicate them clearly. It's different from a standard coding round, where you write a solution from scratch. In practice the two blur, because several companies use "code review" to mean anything from critiquing an existing file to writing code and then reasoning about it.

Where the code review round appears depends on the role and the team. It's most common in engineering manager loops and in senior-and-above software engineering loops, and it sometimes replaces a coding round rather than adding one. At Meta, for example, one M1 engineering manager candidate described production-engineering loops using a code review round instead of a coding interview, while other engineering roles kept the coding round.

The round's format and tooling vary widely. This table summarizes what specific candidates and interviewers have experienced, but it's not a fixed spec for any company:

What do code review interviews test in 2026?

More companies are using a code review round because it's harder to fake than a standard coding challenge, where a candidate writes a solution to an algorithm question from scratch and can prepare by practicing familiar patterns.

The Airbnb interviewer who helped build their round put it directly:

Code review "requires you to understand coding complexity, being able to read code that somebody else wrote," and it produces a strong seniority signal that a standard coding question doesn't.

In their view, the industry should use code reviews more. AI-assisted development points in the same direction: as models write much of the first-draft code, an engineer's value shifts toward reading and judging code they didn't write.

In practice, the round often turns into a debugging exercise. One Google engineering manager described a code review that came down to fixing code that didn't run: reading it closely to find the defects, then repairing them by hand. The candidate tied the format to AI directly, saying that as models write more code, debugging and code-reading skills matter more, and that more companies seem to be testing for them.

💡 Reviewing and repairing code you didn't write is becoming its own evaluated skill, separate from writing code quickly from scratch.

How the round is scored reflects the same emphasis. At Airbnb, the rubric grades communication, teamwork, problem execution, and depth of knowledge, and the interviewer we spoke with was explicit that the score doesn't come from how many issues you find; it comes from how clearly you communicate each one and at what depth.

What the code review round looks like at different companies

Code review interviews vary by company, and preparing for one company's version won't fully prepare you for another's.

At Airbnb, the code review is a formal, rubric-scored round used from the SDE-2 (senior) level through staff, but not for senior-staff and above, because the interviewer's team found review skill stops separating candidates cleanly at those levels. Candidates get three questions drawn from an approved bank, in Java or Python, with the hiring manager choosing questions to surface the signals a given team cares about. The code review is also a common failure point: the interviewer we spoke with said they'd seen many senior candidates not pass it.

At Google, the L6 engineering manager candidate we spoke with was given more than 200 lines of broken code in a Google Doc, with no IDE and no AI tools, and asked to review it, leave comments, fix the defects, and reason through test cases by hand. The round was effectively a debugging challenge and the loop's must-pass stage, and the candidate noted it appeared to be a recent change rather than a long-standing Google format.

At Apple, the M1 engineering manager candidate we spoke with had a round labeled "code review" that became a from-scratch coding problem (validating a completed 9x9 Sudoku grid) on CoderPad, with an IDE that allowed autocomplete and running the code, followed by a question about how to optimize the solution.

At Meta, the candidate we spoke with said that production-engineering loops substitute a code review round for the coding round. Candidates also report that Meta now allows an AI code-assistant in the round, which is closer to day-to-day work.

Example code review prompts

Code review interview questions can range from debugging a broken program to writing and then critiquing a small algorithm. The examples below come from individual candidate reports. Interviewers change prompts often, so use these examples to guide your prep, and expect different questions in your own round:

• Debug and review a broken implementation. A Google candidate reviewed a 200+ line program meant to return the smallest positive integer missing from a set of inputs; the buggy logic was built around intervals, and the task was to find the defects, comment on them, and make the code work.
• Write and then critique a solution. An Apple candidate was asked to validate a completed Sudoku grid from scratch, then discuss how to remove duplicated logic and optimize it.
• Review from a question bank in your language. Airbnb's round draws three prompts from an approved Java or Python bank, chosen by the hiring manager for the signals a team needs.

How to prepare for a code review interview

1. Clarify the task and the code's intent: Confirm what the code is supposed to do, what language and constraints apply, and whether you're reviewing, fixing, or writing. Read for intent before you read for bugs.
2. Read the whole thing once before commenting: In the Google candidate's round, the biggest mistake was spending too long trying to understand the code, and starting fixes too late. Budget your time: a first pass to understand, a second to find and prioritize issues.
3. Prioritize by impact: Lead with correctness and functional defects, then design and complexity, then testing gaps, then style and consistency. Explain why each issue matters instead of only noting that it's there.
4. Communicate like a collaborator: Focus your feedback on the code itself, explain your reasoning, and be specific about the fix. The Airbnb rubric looks at how you raise a comment as much as whether you found the issue.
5. Show your testing thinking. Name the edge cases you'd check and how you'd verify the fix, even if you can't run the code. Senior-level scoring expects complete, deliberate testing rather than a single successful case.
6. Connect the change to the bigger picture: Note downstream effects, client and server implications, and cross-team impact. This is what separates a staff-level review from a competent one.

How the code review bar rises by level

The same code review round is scored differently by seniority. This progression comes from an Airbnb interviewer's rubric and reflects Airbnb's format specifically; other companies scope levels their own way:

How the code review round fits the interview loop

The code review is one round inside a larger loop, not a standalone interview. In software engineering loops it typically sits alongside coding, system design, and behavioral rounds; in engineering manager loops it sits alongside people-management, project, and system design rounds.

At Airbnb, for example, the full loop the interviewer described ran recruiter screen, hiring manager call, and coding phone screen, then an onsite of coding, code review, system design, and an architecture review, followed by a core-values round.

FAQs about code review interviews

What is a code review interview?

A code review interview is a round where you evaluate code you didn't write, identifying correctness, design, testing, and maintainability problems and explaining how you'd fix them. It appears most often in software engineering and engineering manager loops and sometimes replaces a coding round. The exact format varies by company, from debugging a broken file to writing code and then critiquing it.

How is a code review interview different from a coding interview?

A coding interview asks you to write a solution from scratch, while a code review interview asks you to assess existing code and communicate what should change. Some companies blur the two: one Apple candidate's "code review" round was instead a write-from-scratch problem. An Airbnb interviewer noted that code review is harder to fake than coding because it tests whether you can read and reason about code someone else wrote.

What do interviewers look for in a code review interview?

Interviewers look for prioritized, well-communicated feedback in code review rounds. At Airbnb, for example, the round is scored on communication, teamwork, execution, and depth of knowledge, and the score depends on how you raise each comment more than on how many you find. Correctness and functional issues come first, then design, testing, and maintainability.

Which companies use a code review interview?

Airbnb runs a dedicated, rubric-scored code review round from senior through staff level. Recent engineering-manager candidates also described code review rounds at Google, Apple, and Meta, though the format differed at each: Google used a no-tools debugging exercise, Apple used a coding problem on CoderPad, and Meta used code review in place of coding for production-engineering loops.

Can you use AI tools in a code review interview?

Whether you can use AI tools in code review interviews depends on the company, so confirm it with your recruiter. One Google engineering manager candidate had no IDE or AI tools and worked in a plain document, while one Meta candidate reported being allowed an AI code-assistant, and one Apple candidate had an IDE with autocomplete and execution. Assume no assistance unless told otherwise.

How do you prepare for a code review interview?

To prepare for a code review interview, practice reading unfamiliar code and articulating issues in priority order: correctness first, then design, testing, and style. Run a first pass to understand the code and a second to find and rank problems, and practice explaining why each issue matters and how you'd verify a fix. Working through real coding questions and mock interviews builds the code-reading speed the round rewards.