Loop format recon: one sheet per company, settled by the recruiter

Map the loop before you prepare: each round's order, length, format, tools and AI rule, with the recruiter settling what is open.

Before you read: predict

A backend role at Monzo. Your first call with its recruiter is ending, and all you know is that a technical exercise comes next.

Your only notes are a friend's, from a large US tech company: “Senior loop: a LeetCode screen, then two algorithm rounds.” The recruiter asks: “Any questions about our process before we schedule the next step?” What do you say?

The 30-second version

Loops differ by company, so do not prepare from a generic one. Start from the EU remote-first default, fill one row per round from the company's own page, and note the page's date. Where a cell is empty or the page disagrees with itself, ask the recruiter. Then spend the hours on the rounds that exist, at their real length.

Map the loop before you prepare: each round's order, length, format, tools and AI rule, with the recruiter settling what is open.

How it works

Step 1 of 13

Formats are not standard. Rounds, order and rules differ by company; one handbook says front-end formats are not standardized across the industry. [S3]

Analogy: A debater preparing for a tournament she has not attended before

A university debater is entered in a tournament she has never been to. Her club always debates one format: four teams of two, seven-minute speeches, fifteen minutes to prepare. She starts from it, then reads the tournament's rules pack: last year's. She lists what is open: preparation time, what may enter the preparation room, whether phones are allowed. The pack says fifteen minutes, the welcome email twenty, so she asks the convenor; his reply settles it. She rehearses at the real speech length. A teammate who prepared from another format's notes rehearsed eight-minute speeches. (The format details are the scene's own.)

At the tournament	In the loop
The club's usual format	The EU remote-first default
Last year's rules pack	The company's page, with its date
Pack and email disagree	A page that gives two figures
The convenor's reply	The recruiter
Speech length, preparation time	Each round's length
What may go into the preparation room	Tools, and the AI rule
Rehearsing seven-minute speeches	Prep at the real length

Breaks down when: a tournament's rules hold for every team alike, while a loop can change for one candidate: a choice of take-home or pairing, or an alternative assignment. Wrong inference: “the published process is fixed and the same for everyone.”

In real terms: before you prepare for a company, fill its sheet, and send every open cell to the recruiter.

Try it

Answer first, then check. Nothing is saved.

Question 1 of 7

A backend engineer from a chat startup applies to Monzo.

Going by Monzo's own post on its backend process (read 2026-10-07), in what order will she meet its stages?

Question 2 of 7

A chat-app engineer's next stage is GitLab's technical interview, booked for Thursday 15:00. The merge request link arrived on Monday at 11:00. She plans to review it on Thursday morning, so that it is fresh in her mind for the call.

Going by GitLab's handbook (read 2026-10-07), what is wrong with that plan?

Question 3 of 7

Monzo's recruiter asks you, for the next stage: “Would you prefer a take-home or a live pairing session?” Your evenings for the next two weeks go to your team's chat-app launch, and you are at ease coding while someone watches.

Going by Monzo's post (read 2026-10-07), what do you answer?

Question 4 of 7

A chat-app engineer is filling the length cell of the pair-coding row on her Monzo sheet. Monzo's post (published 1 March 2025, read 2026-10-07) says in one paragraph that you pair with an engineer “for an hour”, and in another that you “pair-program for 45 minutes”.

What goes in the cell?

Question 5 of 7

A chat-app engineer is invited to GitLab's technical interview. The row has one line per cell, each line starting with its label: Round:, Before:, Length:, Format:, Tools:, AI:, Source: and Open:.

Write that round's row of the sheet from the saved page.

Your answer (optional, stays on this page)

Question 6 of 7

Monzo's systems design round is in five days. You have only ever sketched chat-system designs on an office whiteboard.

Going by Monzo's post (read 2026-10-07), what do you do this week?

Question 7 of 7

You are invited to GitLab's technical interview, but this week your team's chat-app launch leaves you no time for the asynchronous part before the call.

Going by GitLab's handbook (read 2026-10-07), what do you do?

Go deeper

Pro tip

Keep every company's sheet in one file, with the date of each stage. When a recruiter asks where you are in other processes, you can answer from it in one line.

Checked against the tools and docs as of 2026-10-07.

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