Interview Experience: SDE-3 at Veeam (SECURITI.ai)

Recently, I interviewed for an SDE-3 position at Veeam. The first round was with a Senior Director of Engineering.

After introductions, the interviewer asked about my native place. Not sure how that was relevant to a technical round, especially since I had already agreed to relocate with the recruiter.

Next, he asked which languages I was comfortable coding in. I mentioned Java and C++.

He questioned my choice, pointing out that I've been working with C# for the last four years and should therefore be comfortable coding in it.

I was then asked to solve a problem similar to Integer to English Words, with an additional requirement to support different denominations based on currency:

• INR: Crore, Lakh, Thousand.
• USD: Billion, Million, Thousand.

The solution needed to be extensible so new currency formats could be added with minimal changes.

I explained the approach, covered edge cases, and wrote pseudocode. However, the interviewer wasn't satisfied because the code wasn't compilable C#.

I eventually said that I work on solving complex engineering problems, not memorising language syntax and framework imports.

He immediately responded with "Thank you", and the interview ended. XD

My concern isn't about clearing or failing an interview. It's about what we choose to evaluate in experienced engineers.

For an SDE-3 position, shouldn't problem‑solving, design thinking, code quality, and engineering judgment matter more than recalling language syntax?

I also wonder whether this kind of interview approach reflects the engineering culture and management style within the team.

Would love to hear perspectives from other senior engineers and engineering managers.