Airbnb Interview Questions

Sreenisha S. - "Let me tell you about a time where a website I managed suddenly showed slow performance and the mistake on our side was it was unnoticed until a user reported the issue to management. As a PM for that project, I took full responsibility of the situation and worked with the engineering team to quickly resolve it. This mistake taught me the importance of focusing and monitoring non functional requirements as well in addition to new feature development /adoption where I was mostly spending my time"See full answer

Bipin R. - "As you know, this is the most important question for any interview. Here is a structure I like to follow, Start with 'I'm currently a SDE/PM/TPM etc with XYZ company.... ' Mention how you got into PM/TPM/SDE field (explaining your journey) Mention 1 or 2 accomplishments Mention what you do outside work (blogging, volunteer etc) Share why are you looking for a new role Ask the interviewer if they have any questions or will like to dive deep into any of your experience"See full answer

Michelle D. - "I'd tell the interviewer that I'd start off with clarifying the question to make sure I understand it correctly (see 1 below). Then, I'd tell the interviewer my approach to make sure they know what to expect as I talk through. Approach would start with discussing the mission and connecting a north star metric (NSM) to the mission, then discuss key product metrics that are inputs towards NSM. If there's time at the end and if the interviewer wants to go down this path, we should also talk about t"See full answer

Mrigang S. - "1. Problem Statement & Clarifications To achieve a 3x growth in new users, I am defining the scope as follows: Platform Scope: I am looking at the entire Airbnb ecosystem (Homes + Experiences). Since Airbnb operates on a two-sided marketplace model, growth in the user base requires a balanced distribution between demand and supply. Defining "New Users": Our goal is to increase the number of users who not only sign up but complete their first booking. This conversion from "reg"See full answer

Anonymous Crab - "Super helpful video on metrics and experimentation design! However, I did not see any discussion on the actual algorithm improvement ideas. So it left me with these questions: 1) How would you actually improve the algorithm? (e.g. sorting based on amenities preferences, miles from airport, etc.). Of course, totally makes sense that we would test how that improvement moved our chosen success metrics. 2) Should we be choosing one metric or one set of metrics we want to optimize for when we impro"See full answer

Ross B. - "I most want to communicate a few principals of conflict resolution that I believe were integral in this situation, which are mutual respect, a results orientation, an unwavering focus on the user. To that end, here’s how I’d like to structure this answer: First, I’ll tell you about the project we were working on, to provide some background for you. Second, I’ll describe the disagreement. Third, I’ll describe how we arrived at a solution, and finally, I’ll discuss how those 3 conflict resolution"See full answer

Hans - "Situation: Was given negative feedback about an aspect of my communications. The person said it made them worried because of the brevity and the format of some messages. (Their worry was that a longer negative message was coming) Task(s): Reflected on feedback about my communication style. Acknowledged the point. Assumed best intentions on the part of the person giving the feedback Saw things from the other person's point of view Action(s): In private - Apologised to the person wh"See full answer

Ushita S. - "The back-of-the-envelope calculation is very well done!"See full answer

Anna H. - "Great. I'm going to get started by asking clarification questions for (1) understanding of the gap by assessing current product features for bookings via platform?, (2) brainstorming possible solutions, (3) how to implement solutions, and (4) suggesting metrics to validate solutions towards an increase of bookings Clarification questions & Assumptions: What is customer segment (family/ group/ individual)? In which market? (individual & US market) Should I specifically focus on one of use ca"See full answer

Delyan P. - "Leadership though empathy - I helped underperforming engineer to break into product since she had great product qualities like good attention to the user.. Now she is my peer and we cross-collaborate extensively. I have earned her trust and she can go the extra mile when my team needs some support."See full answer

Diamonde H. - "I'm interpreting this question as "what's the process you'd go through to launch a new product". I'd approach it this way, assuming we haven't yet made any determinations around the what/how: Step 1: Pick an industry of interest with Industry criteria based on Industry growth rate VC investments (pitchbook is a good resource) Step 2: Evaluate the various industry verticals and select the vertical with the most opportunity evaluated by Age of companies New entrants Existing -"See full answer

Catherine I. - "I always ask to clarify if this is a brand new team. If so, then I focus on bringing in people with strong technical aptitudes(since I'm hiring for software engineering), but also team members that have experience mentoring and good communication is a must. I look for people who have leadership qualities. I emphasize that building a brand new team isn't something I can do on my own, so the initial hires of that team are very important to help me expand it."See full answer

Amparo L. - "I'm currently a School Bus Monitor at First Student, I make sure that the students on the bus are seated down, making sure they are safe during the bus ride. Sometimes depending on the day they may need me to help do a wheelchair so I sometimes help the driver out with making sure the wheelchair is safely secure, hooking up the 4 hooks on the wheelchair, putting the lap belt on the student and also making sure the student feels comfortable during the bus ride. After we finished dropping off our"See full answer

Anjali M. - "Colleague moved to a different role, so I decided to fill in and did outshine in showing results within the group."See full answer

Aaron W. - "Clarification questions What is the purpose of connecting the DB? Do we expect high-volumes of traffic to hit the DB Do we have scalability or reliability concerns? Format Code -> DB Code -> Cache -> DB API -> Cache -> DB - APIs are built for a purpose and have a specified protocol (GET, POST, DELETE) to speak to the DB. APIs can also use a contract to retrieve information from a DB much faster than code. Load balanced APIs -> Cache -> DB **Aut"See full answer

Gabriele G. - "What about exploiting the hash set and that is it? def smallestSubstring(s: str, t: str) -> str: if len(t) > len(s): return "" r = len(s) - 1 not_found = True while r > 0 and not_found: subs_set = set(s[0:r + 1]) for c in t: if not c in subs_set: not_found = False if not_found: r -= 1 else: r += 1 l = 0 not_found = True while l < r and not_"See full answer

gdecuri - "I suggest a 4 step process: Ensure your recruitment process and company's branding are inclusive. This means using inclusive language in your job postings, avoiding gender stereotypes, and making sure your company's website and social media presence are welcoming to people from all backgrounds. Partner with nonprofit and cultural organizations to reach a more diverse pool of candidates. Many organizations can help you connect with candidates from underrepresented groups. These org"See full answer

P K. - "Clarifying questions: What are open homes and how does this model work? Open homes cater to provide free shelter for refugees; hosts list the property and partner NGOs based on the requirement book an appropriate property for the refugees. How long does a refugee stay at a property? Minimum 2 weeks Does the host provide meals? Up to the host, some do and some don't What does improve Open Homes mean? There is an imbalance in hosts - we need more hosts"See full answer