Hey everyone, need some perspective here.
I recently finished the HubSpot software engineering intern online assessment and I’m feeling pretty discouraged. Based on what I’d read in various forums and posts, I expected the problems to be more manageable, but it feels like these coding challenges keep getting harder each year.
I managed to get my solutions working for the sample test cases they provided, but when it came to the hidden test cases with the actual datasets, my code failed. I’m wondering if this means I should just assume I won’t move forward in the process.
Has anyone else had a similar experience with HubSpot or other company assessments? Do they sometimes still consider candidates who only pass partial test cases, or is it pretty much game over at that point? I’m trying to figure out if I should keep my hopes up or start focusing on other opportunities.
Any insights would be really helpful. Thanks!
I went through something similar with HubSpot’s assessment last year. Failed several hidden test cases despite solving the samples correctly. What I learned afterwards is that many of these assessments have performance requirements that aren’t immediately clear from the problem description. Your solution might be algorithmically correct but too slow for larger datasets. The good news is that recruiters often review partial solutions manually, especially if the logic is sound. I’ve heard from friends who work there that they sometimes advance candidates who demonstrate good problem-solving skills even with incomplete solutions. The key factor seems to be whether your approach shows understanding of the core concepts. Don’t abandon hope completely, but definitely keep pursuing other opportunities in parallel. The worst thing you can do is put all your eggs in one basket while waiting to hear back.
Don’t write yourself off just yet. I had a similar situation with HubSpot’s assessment about two years ago where my solutions worked on sample cases but failed some hidden ones. Despite this, I still received an interview invitation. Companies often evaluate more than just whether you passed every test case. They look at your approach, code quality, and how close you came to the full solution. The fact that your logic worked on the provided examples shows you understood the problem fundamentally. Sometimes the hidden cases test edge conditions or performance constraints that weren’t obvious from the samples. I’ve seen plenty of cases where candidates who partially solved problems still advanced because their thinking process was sound. Keep applying elsewhere but don’t assume HubSpot is over until you get a definitive rejection.
honestly same thing happend to me last semester with their assesment. got through samples fine but bombed the hidden cases too. still ended up getting to phone screen tho so dont give up yet! sometimes they care more about your thought process than perfect solutions. the edge cases can be really tricky and not always obvious from the examples they give you.