What is Alibaba’s interview process like?

There are usually three rounds of interviews in Alibaba:

1. The first round of interviews:

The first round of interviews is usually a telephone interview with the interviewer You will call in advance to arrange an interview time. Don't be nervous when you receive the interviewer's call. If you are not ready for the interview or the time is inconvenient, you can make the appointment later to leave enough time as a buffer.

Don’t be too nervous during the interview. The engineer interviewing you is usually a member of the team for the position you are applying for. He is selecting teammates for his team, so there is no reason to embarrass you.

2. Second round interview:

If you successfully pass the first round interview, then the second round interview will be held about a week later. The interviewer for the second round of interviews is usually the team manager (not necessarily the team where you are applying for the position, because there is "cross-over" to prevent cheating).

If the second round of interviews is for programmers, the programmer's ability level will be examined, and the final judgment will be made through a written test and Q&A.

3. The third round of interviews:

After passing the second round of interviews, you usually enter the technical "final interview". This round is usually interviewed by the department director and HRD. The interviews mainly focus on the individual's psychological quality, professional quality and ability to treat others.

If the interviewer can successfully pass the 3-part interview, he or she will receive an offer from Alibaba.

1. Mastering basic knowledge

Alibaba’s technical interviews are usually a process from shallow to deep. Initially, the interviewer will ask some basic technical questions based on the job requirements. Of course, the meaning of the word "basic" is not simple. If you don't have sufficient preparation and sufficient accumulation, you will be easily rejected.

According to interview experience, more than half of the applicants are rejected at this link. Therefore, it is recommended that applicants do not take the exam naked, otherwise they will leave an interview record with a "unsound foundation" and will be unable to apply for the job again in the short term. The success rate of applying for Alibaba is very low.

2. Adaptability

Alibaba interviewers will use design questions to test the applicant's "resilience".

For example, given a specific problem, the applicant is asked to provide a design plan, such as designing a traffic light system, a Chinese chess system, a question and answer system, an online shopping website, etc. It is required to draw a module diagram and give the definition of key APIs or the relationship between classes.