GitHub has used take-home technical assessments that mirror its development workflow. According to GitHub's website, applicants select a language, work on a project in a private repository with a time limit, and submit a pull request for review. One recent software candidate also described an online coding assignment lasting a few hours, so the exact task remains role-dependent.

When to Expect the OA for Your Role

After the initial application review, the technical exercise often comes next and can precede the full interview loop. GitHub's documented take-home process sends an email invitation, lets you start at a convenient time, and begins the timer when you create the exercise repository. Some roles may instead use Codility or another coding format, so review the invitation before planning your preparation.

Does Your Online Assessment Matter?

GitHub uses the documented take-home assessment to decide who advances. Automated tests check the submission, and an engineer reviews the anonymized pull request with a scorecard before approving it or requesting changes. Correctness is one review signal. Reviewers also consider code structure, tests, comments, and pull request quality.

Compiled List of GitHub OA Question Types

These problems cover repository-style state, graphs, grids, caching, scheduling, intervals, and collaborative system design.

1. Design In Memory File System - hierarchical paths and stateful operations.
2. Design Twitter — feeds, follows, and time order.
3. Time Based Key-Value Store - Versioned lookup with ordered timestamps.
4. LRU Cache - Constant time access and eviction.
5. Battleships in a Board - Grid scanning and careful counting.
6. Clone Graph - Graph traversal and object reconstruction.
7. Course Schedule - detect dependencies via topological sorting.
8. Number of Connected Components in an Undirected Graph — discovering components and handling visited states.
9. Merge Intervals - sort and merge intervals.
10. Task Scheduler — Greedy Scheduling with cooldown constraint.

Microsoft Interview Questions

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How to Prepare and Pass the GitHub Online Assessment

Practice in a local repository. For each practice session, read a short specification, build a small implementation, add tests, and create a clean pull request within a fixed time limit. GitHub's documented take-home allows candidates to use their preferred editor, operating system, tools, and online documentation. Follow the rules in your invitation.

In week 1, practice stateful classes, graph traversal, and dependency problems. In week 2, complete 2 full repository mocks and 1 short algorithm exercise. Talk about code names, error handling, test coverage, and commit clarity. Use Lodely to add GitHub-specific system design and collaboration questions. Prepare for the interviews that follow the code submission.

GitHub Interview Question Breakdown

Design In-Memory File System

Type: Stateful object design. Prompt: Model directories, files, path lookups, and content changes in memory. The Trick: Path parsing and file-versus-directory behavior must stay consistent across operations. What It Tests: Data modeling, API design, and invariant-based testing.

Battleships in a Board

Type: Grid traversal. Prompt: Count distinct ships without double-counting adjacent cells. The Trick: A local rule must detect only the start of each shape. What It Tests: Constraint reading, boundary checks, and concise correctness arguments.

What Comes After the Online Assessment

A successful technical interview may lead to a recruiter or hiring manager conversation and a role-specific virtual interview loop. Be ready to explain the assumptions and tradeoffs behind your pull request, its tests, and the changes you would make with more time. Engineering interviews may also cover live coding, system design, REST or product-domain design, and behavioral questions about remote work.

Conclusion

Practice the full repository workflow, including the algorithm, and reserve enough time for testing and a readable pull request. Use Lodely to practice GitHub questions on coding, design, and collaboration.