Confluent (IBM) | Software Engineer - L2 | 2.5 YoE | Rejected
Summary
I completed four interview rounds for an L2 Software Engineer role at Confluent; I passed the technical assessments but was rejected after the values alignment round.
Full Experience
I recently had a chance to appear in an interview for Confluent, an IBM company.
Before OA it took 8-10 days for me to hear back from HR as they have submitted my profile to HM for review. Initially the review was positive so they started my interview.
However by the time I reached final round things changed.
Round 1 : Online Assesment
- 60 min Hackerrank test with 3 questions was able to solve all the questions.
Verdict : Positive
Round 2 : Peer To Peer Virtual DSA Round
- Q1 : Verify Sudoko
- Q2 : Solve Sudoko
Result : Both Question Solved
Time : 60 mins
Verdict : Positive
Round 3 : Peer To Peer Virtual Machine Coding Round
- Q1 : Find word in a list of documents
- Q2 : Find Phrase in the same sequence they appear in list of documents
Result : Both Question Solved
Time : 60 mins
Verdict : Positive
Round 4 : Peer To Peer Virtual Values Alignment Round
Focus area of this round was on my work in previous company. And Some scenarios based behavioural questions.
Now the EM/HM asked me
Q1 : You've mentioned that you wanna work in a Distributed System kinda environment, but this is a DevProd role we don't work in Distributed System Environment.
Ans : I'm Open to work in services that don't involve distributed systems environment as well. Since I've worked in Distributed Systems in past company I've mentioned but it's not a mandatory job requiremnent for me. I look forward to join the team and take ownership of projects you assign me.
Q2 : You have never worked in a DevProd Role, You have always worked for customer facing teams. I'm concerned will you be able to work here?
Ans : Yes I don't think it's a blocker anyway. I haven't got chance in my previous companies for a DevProd role. Since now I have one. I would really like to contribute.
Time : 45 mins
Verdict : Negative
Result : Since I was interviewed for a DevProd role. the Hiring Manager thought my profile aka prev work doesn't incline with his team as they need someone with IaaC knowledge. That's the sole reason why I was rejected. I was wondering if that was the case why my profile was shorlisted by the HM at the first palce.
POV : Sometimes I reaaly don't know what's happened to the 2026 Job market. Every Other company is rejecting me left, right and center in any round. BTW my role was impacted back in April I was a part of Oracle. Since then the struggle is going on and it's real.
Interview Questions (4)
Sudoku Verification
Verify whether a given Sudoku board is valid according to Sudoku rules (no duplicate numbers in rows, columns, or 3x3 sub‑grids).
Sudoku Solver
Solve a partially filled Sudoku board by filling in digits so that the board becomes a valid completed Sudoku puzzle.
Find Word in Document List
Given a list of document strings, locate a specific word across the documents and return its position(s).
Find Phrase in Document Sequence
Given a list of document strings, find a phrase that appears in the same sequential order across the documents and return its occurrence details.