TikTok Shop Software Engineer interview: KPI, SQL and incident scenarios

The interviewer first asked whether I had questions, then I gave a brief introduction. It quickly turned into a question about setting KPIs for the role, followed by troubleshooting and incident scenarios about user tickets.

I was asked how I would investigate a page that would not load for a person new to the platform, what early signs could point to an access-permission cause, and how I would investigate ticket volume rising over a week. I also had to describe SQL for finding recurring patterns and prioritizing a flood of urgent tickets when everyone called their request critical. The most intense question was what I would do in the first 30 minutes of a massive ticket spike before confirming whether it was a system failure or human error. I finished by reflecting on whether I had taken initiative to improve something before.

It was demanding but practical. I did not get an offer, and I learned that it required calm, step-by-step decisions under uncertainty.

Location: Singapore. Overall feedback: positive. Offer status: no offer.