I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Checkout.com
Interview
I had four rounds and it took more than a month:
1. Recruiter Screen
2. Hiring Manager round
3. Take Home Test
4. System Design round :
The Take Home test was very time consuming and an entire project is supposed to be created. I tried to add additional pieces to stand out but all of it was of no use since it was not even considered. I would suggest to make it as basic as possible as this is not really an evaluating criteria.
The final decision is only made from the last round. It also appears that they are not really looking for hiring and the postings are not real.
As per their job criteria, I fulfill each requirement at the desired level and aced every round but the feedback at the end mentioned that I am not versed in DevOps(this is not a requirement, you should know basics of CI/CD only). I was confident that their requirements match my expertise and skills and I will get a positive feedback.
The last round involved two interviewers who made it very difficult to think clearly as both asked different questions. I specifically asked feedback for take home test which I spent a lot of effort in and the interviewer started nitpicking(he basically could not come up with much and started talking that adding comments in code were not necessary)
This last interview was very stressful and uncomfortable and one of the interviewers was extremely arrogant and it was a dead give-away within the first 5 minutes. It appeared that they are there to reject, not hire. I am marking the interview difficulty as the highest since interviewer themselves have no idea what they are looking for even if candidates match the job requirements. I interviewed for the Integrated Platforms team, perhaps other teams have better interviewers based on the other reviews(trying to be optimistic here).
The feedback also gets a bit personal where they tell you that you are not eligible to be at your current level and don't know your own projects. Just because the interviewers don't know what you worked on, nobody has the right to tell you that you are bad at your job and one should never even consider working in such an environment. Nobody can judge your capabilities within an hour, especially when they make no effort in evaluating your strengths.
Don't let their feedback get to you as I do feel they are not really looking to hire at the moment and merely shopping.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Standard questions from resume in HM round
Design a payment gateway with a bank simulator for take home test
Design file upload system
I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Checkout.com (Tallinn) in Feb 2026
Interview
The best interview process that I had so far . Starts with a survey after the recruiter screening which is very detailed for the candidates to align with the company culture, with a clear feedback on the end. The challenge at home with a task that makes sense for the domain of the company was the next one, followed by a live explanation of the project I liked much more than the traditional pair programming rounds, as it removes a bit the pressure of live coding which eventually brings problems totally disconnected of the position that we are applying and gives you the time to discuss your solution with the interviewers afterwards. The final stages, system design and values interview in person are much more enjoyable and feels more like a workday at the office with a colleagues than live interviewers made on-line.
Up until the system design it was really friendly. Then it became the most embarrassing interview I’ve ever had.
The guy visually facepalmed and laughed if I said something he didn’t like. Asking a lot of trick questions and said hashing the API Key when storing in the database doesn’t make any sense. 😆
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Why would you hash an API key when storing in the DB?
I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Checkout.com (London, England) in Aug 2025
Interview
I had a first-round interview with talent acquisition, followed by a take-home test, and finally an in-person interview focused on system design.
During all three steps, I received positive feedback. However, after a call from the HR team informing me that I had successfully passed all the steps, they suddenly told me I was not successful due to some gaps in system design and the coding challenge from the second-round interview. This felt quite strange; it seemed like they didn't know what they were doing.
It is possible to successfully pass all interview stages and still not progress with your application, which I find unprofessional.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Design a system that processes payments and communicates with two third-party providers, such as a bank and an inventory system.