C++ developers

Zoox - Vehicle Experience Contractor AssessmentThe purpose of this document is to help [Vendor] select and submit the right candidates. It describes what we assess and what we look for. It is guidance for sourcing, not a fixed assessment specification - the exact format and content of the sessions may vary by we are sourcing: 3 C++ and 2 cloud (Kotlin / JVM).What we look for in every candidate:These apply across the board, and are the most useful things to screen for before submitting a candidate:Fluent spoken English, and willingness to think out loud. Our sessions are live discussions, not written tests. A candidate who works silently, or who produces a correct-looking answer they cannot explain, will not do well. This is not about accent or polish - it is about being able to hold a technical conversation and reason in real time.Problem-solving ability on unfamiliar ground. We deliberately put candidates on problems they have not seen before. We are interested in how they approach the unknown: asking clarifying questions, stating assumptions, forming and revising a hypothesis, and making progress with incomplete information. Memorized answers are not useful.Real production software experience. Candidates should have designed, owned, or debugged a non-trivial component of a real system - something that ran in production, had users, and failed in interesting ways. This matters far more to us than domain background.