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Your interview with Earnest — preparation checklist
Howdy
Howdy
<prep@howdy.com>
to me
Mon, Feb 24, 2026, 9:42 AM
You're interviewing with
Earnest
Student loan refinancing & personal finance · earnest.com
Date
Thursday, February 26, 2026
Time
10:00 – 12:00 AM PST
Format
Video · 2 technical rounds + 1 system design
Link
meet.google.com/wdy-earn-int
Hi Juan Manuel,
Your technical interview with Earnest is coming up on Thursday. We put together this checklist to help you walk in confident and prepared. Check items off as you go.
Read Earnest's homepage — understand their core products (student loan refinancing, personal loans)
Look up 2–3 recent articles or blog posts about Earnest and the student lending space
Review your interviewer's LinkedIn profile and find common ground
Re-read the job description and map your experience to their stated requirements
Review core data structures: arrays, hash maps, trees, graphs, heaps
Practice 2–3 algorithmic problems: dynamic programming, BFS/DFS, sliding window
Prep for system design: be ready to design a loan processing pipeline or payment service
Brush up on REST API design, idempotency, and error handling in distributed systems
Set up your coding environment — confirm your language, IDE, and that screen sharing works
Review the basics of financial data modeling: interest calculations, amortization schedules
Prepare 2–3 strong examples using STAR format (Situation, Task, Action, Result)
Be ready to walk through a technical project you're proud of, including trade-offs you made
Prepare a story about handling a production incident or technical failure and what you learned
Think about why you're excited about Earnest specifically — be genuine and specific
Test your audio, video, and screen sharing at least 30 minutes before
Have a backup device and phone hotspot ready just in case
Keep a notepad and glass of water within reach
Join the call 2–3 minutes early and greet your interviewer with energy
"What does the typical engineering workflow look like, from idea to production?"
"What's the biggest technical challenge the team is working through right now?"
"How does the team balance shipping velocity with code quality and technical debt?"
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