Karat Interview: What to Expect in the 60-Minute Technical Interview

If you have been booked for a Karat interview, you are about to sit a live, one-on-one technical interview run by a trained interviewer on behalf of the company you applied to. It is not an automated take-home test. This guide walks through the 60-minute format, the distinctive 24-hour redo policy, how results reach the employer, and how to prepare for a human-led session.

Quick answer: Karat is technical-interviewing-as-a-service. A trained Interview Engineer runs a live, standardized, resume-blind technical interview for a client company, usually 60 minutes on camera with screen sharing. The employer — not Karat — makes the hiring decision. Karat scores the interview against a client-set bar and passes the result back to the recruiter.

Karat conducts live technical interviews for client companies using its own network of trained, certified Interview Engineers. These are real humans, not an automated grader. The interviews are standardized and resume-blind, which means your interviewer runs a consistent process rather than reacting to your background.

Karat handles the interview and returns the results to the employer. The client company decides whether you advance. Karat reports it has conducted more than 600,000 technical interviews across 70-plus countries, with more than 500 vetted Interview Engineers and an average candidate rating of 4.5 stars.

Candidate and prep forums name a range of employers that use Karat, including Atlassian, Palantir, Indeed, Intuit, and Instacart, with candidate write-ups also describing Robinhood and Walmart rounds. Those employer names come from candidate sources rather than Karat itself.

Some candidates first hit a pre-screen called Karat Qualify. One candidate on JoinTaro described it as a 15-minute, 15-question multiple-choice test with a topic choice such as Backend, General Coding Logic, or Algorithms and Data Structures. Passing it triggered an instant invite to schedule the live interview.

The classic "Karat Core" interview runs 60 minutes and is structured as a brief intro, then discussion and analysis questions, then programming questions. A commonly reported breakdown looks like this:

• Intro (a few minutes). The interviewer sets expectations and explains the format.
• Technical discussion (around 10 minutes). A deeper conversation covering discussion and analysis questions. Candidates report open-ended prompts here, such as how to reduce server-farm cost or how to handle unreliable third-party APIs.
• Coding challenge (around 45 minutes). Up to three coding questions that build on each other and get progressively harder. Reported examples include a 2-D grid passable-rows-and-columns problem and a shortest-path-to-corner variant.

Questions are competency-based, built from validated job-competency models. New grads tend to get FAANG-style algorithms and data structures, while senior candidates get more experience-based questions.

There is also a newer NextGen, AI-enabled format. It runs about 55 to 60 minutes total, with roughly 50 minutes of technical problem solving, and puts you in a web-based VS Code-style IDE working across a multi-file codebase. In that format you are expected to actively use an integrated AI assistant, and supported languages are Python, Java, JavaScript, TypeScript, and Ruby. In NextGen, you are not expected to finish every question.

You self-schedule the interview, and Karat offers wide availability — it reports that around 60 percent of interviews are scheduled outside core business hours, including nights and weekends.

This is the feature that sets Karat apart from most technical screens, and it is worth understanding before your interview.

If you feel you underperformed, you can request a redo within 24 hours of the original interview. Karat then sends a redo invite, you reschedule, and you take a new set of questions. Both recommendations — from the original and the redo — are published to the client, who decides whether to advance you.

A few implications for candidates:

• The window is tight. You have 24 hours, so decide quickly if a bad session warrants a second attempt.
• You do not repeat the same questions. The redo uses a new set, so a redo is a genuine fresh attempt, not a memory test.
• Both results go to the employer. A redo does not erase the first interview. The client sees both.

Karat positions the redo as a way to reduce false negatives and to help underrepresented and female candidates. Candidates on JoinTaro describe the option as a reassuring safety net, with one deliberately scheduling early to keep the redo window open.

If you want to understand where live human interviews sit relative to automated coding tests, our overview of skills assessments covers the broader picture.

Your interview is scored against a client-configured hiring bar — a performance threshold set with Karat's benchmarking data. Clients can also set per-assessment-area weighting and minimum scores, so different competencies can carry different weight.

Results are standardized and delivered to the hiring team, showing how you performed relative to the bar and across key assessment areas. The certified Interview Engineer generates a recommendation or outcome.

The catch for candidates is transparency. Karat does not share your interview results directly with you. The employer's recruiter relays feedback and next steps, typically within a few business days. A candidate on LinkedIn criticized this as a "black box" evaluation. Karat does have per-partner controls governing whether results are shared with individual talent partners, so score visibility is configurable by the client rather than automatic.

Candidate forum reports are broadly positive about the mechanics. People describe the platform favorably, value the ability to self-schedule at convenient times, and repeatedly cite the redo option as a reassuring safety net.

The process is reported as selective. Coding problems skew toward grid and graph traversal and shortest-path questions, paired with open-ended system-design and cost-estimation discussion. Company-specific threads for Atlassian, Robinhood, and Walmart show Karat rounds mapping to standard LeetCode-style data structures and algorithms plus code-design questions.

The recurring complaint is opacity — candidates do not get their own scores or detailed feedback directly, which is the "black box" critique noted above.

A live interview rewards different habits than an async test.

1. Practice talking while you code. The discussion segment and the interviewer's presence mean your reasoning matters, not just your final answer.
2. Drill DS and algorithms. Grid and graph traversal, shortest-path, and progressively harder coding questions are the reported staples. New grads especially should expect FAANG-style problems.
3. Prepare for open-ended discussion. Be ready to talk through trade-offs on prompts like cutting server cost or handling unreliable APIs.
4. Confirm your setup. Karat requires Chrome or Firefox on a laptop or desktop, a working webcam and mic, and roughly 15 Mbps internet. Phones and tablets are not supported.
5. Know the resource rules. You may not use Google, StackOverflow, or external AI tools. In the NextGen format, only the built-in integrated AI assistant is allowed.
6. Use the prep materials. Karat publishes prep guides, an example-interview video, and a tech-setup check. If you need accommodations, email Karat support as early as you can.
7. Keep the redo in mind. Scheduling earlier keeps your 24-hour redo window usable if the session goes badly.

If you are earlier in your search and want to understand the AI-driven side of hiring more broadly — how live interviews, automated screening, and scoring tools fit together — our comparison of the best AI recruiting software for 2026 is a useful next read.

How long is the Karat interview?

The classic Karat interview is 60 minutes. It typically breaks into a short intro, about 10 minutes of technical discussion, and about 45 minutes of coding.

Can you redo a Karat interview?

Yes. If you feel you underperformed, you can request a redo within 24 hours. You get a new set of questions, and both your original and redo results are sent to the employer.

Does Karat tell you your score?

No. Karat does not share results directly with candidates. Your recruiter relays feedback and next steps, usually within a few business days, which is why some candidates call it a "black box."

Can you use Google or ChatGPT in a Karat interview?

No. You may not use Google, StackOverflow, or external AI tools. The one exception is the NextGen format, where you are expected to use the built-in integrated AI assistant.

Is the Karat interview hard?

Candidates describe it as selective, with LeetCode-style data structures and algorithms plus open-ended system-design discussion. New grads tend to face FAANG-style algorithm questions, and coding questions get progressively harder.

Can you take the Karat interview on your phone?

No. Karat supports Chrome or Firefox on a laptop or desktop with a webcam, mic, and roughly 15 Mbps internet. Phones and tablets are not supported.