Continued from Part 1: 3 November 2025 reports

Coverage: These are 2025 reports: one new-grad column-verification screen, one MLE coding and model-integration loop, and one 2026-cohort new-grad process reported in November 2025.

Candidate timelines 20–22

20: A column-verification bug in a 2025 new-grad screen

Report date: November 13, 2025 · Role: SDE new grad · Screen duration: About 45 minutes

The candidate called Project and Filter Structured Records col-verify: process a multi-line, multi-column string and return a filtered string as conditions changed. Part one went smoothly. In part two, tests exposed a lowercase-handling bug, which they fixed. They explained an approach for part three but did not finish coding it.

21: A separate MLE coding and integration loop

Report date: November 11, 2025 · Role: Machine Learning Engineer · Result: Did not pass the two rounds

The coding round used Project and Filter Structured Records: select or change column contents in a multi-line, multi-column string. A bug was expensive to fix under time pressure. In a separate 45-minute round, Two-Label Tabular Model Pipeline involved building a neural network with PyTorch or a similar library, handling null rows and missing features, and evaluating the model. Language references were allowed; LLM use was not.

22: An earlier 2026-cohort shipping-cost screen

Report date: November 8, 2025 · Role: 2026 SDE new grad · Result: Rejected

The OA involved Jupyter server logs. The phone round used Shipping Cost Part 1 and Part 2, which the candidate completed before advancing. VO included Email Subscription Scheduler and a separate requests task.

What repeated often enough to prioritize

Tier 1: Practice until automatic

Practice long, incremental prompts and test each part before moving on.

Tier 2: Be ready to explain deeply

Explain bugs, corrections, and unfinished work clearly under time pressure.

Tier 3: Keep role and stage differences clear

The MLE integration round and the new-grad SWE screens are separate preparation tracks.

Part 1 contains the 19 reports from 2026.

Related Stripe posts: 47-problem ranking · 2026 coding patterns