Interview difficulty
Where a $200,000 tech job comes with an easier-than-average interview
Twenty-five companies pay a median of at least $200,000 and still get below-average difficulty ratings. Their interviews rate almost the same. Their offer rates and reviews do not.
Instacart pays a median of $298,300 across its tech roles, and candidates rate its interview 2.74 out of 5, easier than the typical company’s. That combination puts it first in Dataford’s list of the easiest tech interviews that still pay over $200,000.
Yelp (2.77 difficulty, $234,000) and Fanatics (2.79, $242,500) are next. The two best-paying companies on the list, EvenUp ($409,950) and Plaid ($369,992), interview at 2.83 and 2.94.
A close ranking, very different jobs
The ranking itself is tight. Difficulty runs from 2.74 to 2.94 across all 25 companies, a spread of 0.2 points. The other columns spread out much further. Pay runs from $200,000 at Docker to $409,950 at EvenUp. Offer rates run from 17 percent at Docker, EvenUp and Plaid to 54 percent at BNSF Railway. Work-life ratings run from 2.2 at BNSF to 4.6 at Front.
Offer rate, all 25 companies
Highlighted: the lowest (Docker, EvenUp, Plaid) and highest (BNSF Railway) offer rates on the list.
Easy does not mean pleasant
A low difficulty score says little about how candidates feel afterward. At Docker and EvenUp, 50 percent of candidates rate the experience negative; at Front, 48 percent. All three have more negative reports than positive ones. Yelp, Docusign and Yahoo are among the companies candidates rate well.
The post singles out AURORA as the company that clears every bar: a 2.81 difficulty rating, a $221,650 median, a 44 percent offer rate, 71 percent positive and 10 percent negative reviews, and a 3.9 work-life score.
| # | Company | Difficulty | Median pay | Offer rate | Positive | Negative | Work-life | Reports |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Instacart | 2.74 | $298,300 | 32% | 46% | 34% | 3.6 | 1,060 |
| 2 | Yelp | 2.77 | $234,000 | 44% | 54% | 20% | 3.3 | 791 |
| 3 | Fanatics | 2.79 | $242,500 | 41% | 48% | 30% | 3.2 | 390 |
| 4 | Upstart | 2.80 | $211,150 | 38% | 52% | 34% | 3.9 | 375 |
| 5 | Docker | 2.80 | $200,000 | 17% | 33% | 50% | 3.1 | 160 |
| 6 | SoFi | 2.81 | $247,179 | 42% | 53% | 31% | 4.1 | 469 |
| 7 | AURORA | 2.81 | $221,650 | 44% | 71% | 10% | 3.9 | 307 |
| 8 | Navan | 2.82 | $269,700 | 34% | 40% | 44% | 3.8 | 433 |
| 9 | EvenUp | 2.83 | $409,950 | 17% | 30% | 50% | 2.5 | 171 |
| 10 | PlayStation | 2.86 | $232,500 | 31% | 50% | 32% | – | 598 |
| 11 | GitHub | 2.87 | $260,420 | 19% | 41% | 42% | 3.9 | 443 |
| 12 | Motional | 2.87 | $218,088 | 37% | 50% | 26% | 4.2 | 132 |
| 13 | BNSF Railway | 2.88 | $205,000 | 54% | 57% | 18% | 2.2 | 500 |
| 14 | Illumio | 2.88 | $211,600 | 52% | 55% | 37% | 3.8 | 139 |
| 15 | Front | 2.89 | $203,300 | 22% | 39% | 48% | 4.6 | 478 |
| 16 | Zoom Video Communications | 2.90 | $230,585 | 27% | 44% | 37% | 3.6 | 508 |
| 17 | Amplitude | 2.90 | $241,065 | 28% | 36% | 44% | 3.9 | 178 |
| 18 | Docusign | 2.91 | $212,997 | 37% | 54% | 30% | 3.6 | 657 |
| 19 | Bumble | 2.91 | $239,250 | 28% | 44% | 41% | 3.5 | 277 |
| 20 | Shopify | 2.93 | $212,300 | 28% | 53% | 27% | 3.4 | 855 |
| 21 | Yahoo | 2.93 | $207,989 | 36% | 57% | 22% | 4.4 | 521 |
| 22 | Klaviyo | 2.93 | $205,000 | 24% | 43% | 35% | 3.2 | 532 |
| 23 | Verkada | 2.94 | $215,000 | 37% | 47% | 31% | 3.5 | 547 |
| 24 | Plaid | 2.94 | $369,992 | 17% | 42% | 34% | 4.3 | 576 |
| 25 | Alteryx | 2.94 | $201,650 | 47% | 54% | 34% | 3.8 | 276 |
Sorted by difficulty, lowest first. Click a column to re-sort. Pay is the company median across tech roles. Source: Dataford.
How the numbers work
The filter: company median tech pay of $200,000 or more and at least 100 rated interview reports, sorted by difficulty from easiest. Pay combines leveled total compensation where a company publishes a ladder with posted salary ranges elsewhere; posted ranges understate equity-heavy packages. Difficulty and experience come from candidate-submitted reports. Details are in the source post.