Frontend interview guide
Linear
Issue tracker for software teams. Famously high craft bar on a smaller eng team — the opinionated, keyboard-first, local-first productivity app.
Frontend engineers interviewing at Linear — small team, high bar, React / TypeScript on a local-first (sync engine) architecture.
Last reviewed 2026-10-04
What they emphasise
- Craftsmanship — Linear's finish is at Apple-adjacent levels and the interview reflects that.
- Local-first thinking — the app's architecture leans on a client-side sync engine; the interview probes for understanding of that model.
- Keyboard-first design — every workflow has a keyboard shortcut; design decisions reflect that.
- Taste — opinionated design is the explicit culture.
The loop, round by round
5 rounds. Durations and formats are typical, not guaranteed — confirm the loop shape with your recruiter in the screen.
Round 1
Recruiter screen
~30 minCallWhat it covers
- Resume, level, culture-fit orientation.
What they're looking for
- A specific "why Linear" — the product-first culture rewards it.
Round 2
Technical take-home
~3-5 hours over a few daysBuild a focused thing, submit a PR-shaped artefactWhat it covers
- A real UI build that would be evaluated as if it were a shipped feature.
- Polish, performance, keyboard, accessibility all expected.
What they're looking for
- A finished, polished submission.
- A clear README explaining decisions.
Round 3
Onsite: pair-programming
90 minPair on your submission or an extension of itWhat it covers
- Discuss decisions, extend the work, respond to feedback live.
What they're looking for
- Clean iteration under feedback.
- Comfort explaining trade-offs.
Round 4
Onsite: system design
60 minDiscussionWhat it covers
- A frontend-shape prompt that touches local-first / sync-engine territory.
What they're looking for
- Awareness of CRDTs, sync engines, and the trade-offs they introduce.
Round 5
Onsite: team-fit / taste
45 minConversationWhat it covers
- Discuss design opinions on real products.
- Craftsmanship stories from past work.
What they're looking for
- Opinionated, grounded taste.
- Specific craftsmanship stories.
What each level expects
The bar you're being measured against — plus the failure modes candidates most often trip on at that level.
Senior
~5+ yearsLinear's typical IC entry level.
What they expect
- Visible past impact at the finish-and-polish bar Linear ships at.
- Comfort with ambiguity and opinionated design.
Common failure modes
- Submissions that are correct but visibly unpolished.
- No taste — can't argue for or against a specific design decision.
Staff
~8+ yearsMulti-area technical direction on a small team.
What they expect
- Peer-level discussion.
- Visible multi-team leverage in a small-team context.
Common failure modes
- Senior+ output rather than Staff leverage.
How to crack it
Day-of advice. The specific moves that separate offers from no-offers when the content is already in your head.
- 1Treat the take-home as a portfolio piece. Keyboard, accessibility, loading, empty states all included.
- 2Write a README that explains every decision — Linear reads these carefully.
- 3If possible, build with the Linear SDK or against a Linear-adjacent problem for the take-home.
- 4In the pair round, be comfortable with 'I was wrong, let me change this'.
- 5Use Linear before the loop. Form specific, defensible opinions.
How to master it (over months, not days)
The longer-horizon work. These are the habits that pay off at Senior+ bars where cramming visibly fails.
- Build and ship a polished productivity tool on your own time. The craft bar is only credible when exercised.
- Learn one keyboard-shortcut system deeply (ckm, mousetrap).
- Study local-first architecture — Ink & Switch's publications, Linear's own blog posts.
- Follow Linear's own designers / engineers who publish publicly.
- Make writing a habit — RFCs, PR descriptions, blog posts.
Resources
On-site content for the technical prep, plus short-list of external links worth your time.