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JetBrains test task and interview, from the timer to the offer.

Updated · Sources at the end

At JetBrains the test task decides more than any single interview. Interns meet it first: on the internship platform you pick up to five projects, and each project has its own task that you see only when you press a button that starts the timer. A mentor reviews the solutions and interviews the people whose work stood out. Full-time engineers meet it later, after a recruiter call and a team interview, as a take-home task that the team then reviews with you. JetBrains says it asks for a test assignment in every role, developers or otherwise.

JetBrains makes developer tools: IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm and the other IDEs, TeamCity, YouTrack, the Kotlin language and the AI coding agent Junie. Its job ads say more than 15 million people and over 300,000 companies use its products. The company is privately owned and counts 2,800+ people of 75+ nationalities across 15 offices, and its engineering roles are open in cities such as Prague, Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Belgrade, Warsaw, Madrid, Limassol and Yerevan.

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01

Who JetBrains hires

JetBrains hires interns across engineering, research, design and business teams, and experienced engineers who build IDEs, language tooling, build and CI tools, cloud platform services and AI features. In October 2026 its open engineering roles include backend developers on the JVM in Kotlin or Java, QA and test automation engineers for the IntelliJ platform and Kotlin plugin, release and build infrastructure engineers, ML developers on Junie and research engineers working on agentic models. Most roles are open in several European cities at once. The internship program is for current students and graduates of up to one year, based in the EU, the UK, Serbia or Armenia, and we found no separate graduate program on its careers site, so the internship is the main entry route for new grads. Full-time hires get relocation support; interns can get it to Armenia, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany and the Netherlands, decided case by case.

JetBrains runs two different processes. Interns apply to projects through an internship platform, and one mentor runs the selection for each project. Full-time hires go through a recruiter and a team. Both put a practical task at the centre, but the task comes at a different point and is reviewed in a different way.

  • Track · Intern

    Internships for students and recent graduates

    Projects are published twice a year, and you can apply for up to five. Each has a test task written by the project's mentor, then a single interview with that mentor, then an offer. Internships are paid, three to four months full time or five to six months part time, on site, hybrid or remote within countries where JetBrains has an office. You must be a current student or have graduated within the last year, and be legally allowed to work in the country; JetBrains offers no visa support for interns.

  • Track · Engineer

    Full-time engineering roles

    Applications go through the careers site with a CV and a short cover letter. A recruiter call comes first, then a team interview with a small live exercise, then a take-home task, a review of the task with the team and a final interview on hard skills, then three references. JetBrains says a serious side project or open-source contribution can sometimes replace the take-home task if the team agrees.

02

What is the JetBrains interview process?

Both processes are published by JetBrains: the internship rules on its internship platform, and the full-time process on its careers page and in a recruiter's guide on its blog from July 2026. The careers page lists the task review and a final interview as separate steps; the recruiter's guide goes from the task review straight to references, so the final interview may or may not be a separate call. Interview length and content for interns come from candidate accounts on Reddit, and we mark them as reported.

01
Profile and project choice
Internship platform, with a JetBrains account

Fill in your profile with your education, skills and experience; the projects open to you depend on your country. Read each project description closely, because it lists the skills the mentor needs, and some projects are tagged as too hard for early students. Pick up to five. You can write to the mentor or to the internship team with questions before you start.

Interns
02
Project test task
Online, timed, one set per project

The task appears only when you press Solve the task, which starts the timer. You can start at any time before the application deadline and still get the full time. If a project has several tasks, you see them all at once under a single timer. The mentor reviews the solutions and you hear the result by email either way. The section below covers past tasks and how to approach them.

Interns
03
Mentor interview
Video call with the project mentor

The only interview for the internship. Candidates report it lasting about 30 minutes and say the content depends on the mentor: your test task, your experience and the knowledge the project needs, with some mentors adding an algorithms question. If you passed the task for several projects, you get a separate interview for each.

Interns
04
Offer
Email from the internship team

After every shortlisted candidate has been interviewed, the mentors decide who joins their project. The invitation includes questions about the paperwork to sign. One new graduate who reached this stage in December 2025 reports being asked to decide quickly, and being told the internship would likely turn into a full-time job, with no guarantee.

Interns
05
Application and CV review
CV and a short cover letter

JetBrains asks for a CV and a short cover letter covering your strengths, interests and motivation, and says to apply even if you don't match every requirement. Review can take a few weeks. Its recruiters say they often see hundreds of CVs per role and look for outcomes, clear titles and tenure, and a line of context for each company.

Full-time roles
06
Recruiter interview
Phone or video call

Walk through your last two or three roles: the product, what you owned, the scale, how the team worked and what changed because of you. The recruiter will also ask what you want from your next role, and JetBrains says this question is often underestimated because it checks whether the role can meet your expectations.

Full-time roles
07
Team interview
Online, one to three team members plus the hiring manager

A small live exercise, which depends on the team: live coding, a short case study or a live code review. Expect questions on projects you led and the trade-offs behind them. Recruiters usually say what the interview will cover, and you get a warning in advance if it includes algorithmic questions.

Full-time roles
08
Take-home test assignment
At home, on your own time for most roles

A task built on realistic work, sometimes with a time limit. JetBrains says the first thing reviewers check is whether you followed the instructions, and that extra features never make up for a missed requirement.

Full-time roles
09
Task review and final interview
Discussion with potential teammates

Potential teammates review your solution and may ask for fixes or clarifications, and JetBrains says it notices how you communicate during that exchange. If the feedback is positive, you discuss the decisions and trade-offs you made, how you would evolve the solution and whether and how you used AI tools. The final interview then goes deeper into hard skills, with more advanced questions about the work you would do.

Full-time roles
10
References
Three contacts from past jobs

JetBrains asks for three references, ideally former direct managers and main stakeholders who can give concrete examples. After a conflict of interest check, it makes the final decision.

Full-time roles
03

JetBrains test task: how it works and how to prepare

Past tasks and how to approach them

For interns, the test task is the first selection phase, and it is written by the mentor of the project you chose, so it looks like a small piece of that project's work. The rules are on the internship platform: the task is hidden until you press Solve the task, the timer starts at that moment, you can start any time before the deadline with the full time, and several tasks in a project share one timer. For full-time roles the take-home task comes after the team interview, and the recruiters' guide says reviewers check first whether you followed the instructions. The tasks below are ones candidates have published on GitHub with their solutions. Tasks change every round, so use them to learn the kind of work each team sets.

  • Planning around the internship timer: Read every project description before you press anything, and only press Solve the task when you have a free block of time, since the timer runs from that click and covers every task in the project. Start well before the deadline anyway: the rules give you the full time whenever you start, but a late start leaves no room for a broken setup. Apply to fewer projects and do each task well rather than rushing five.
  • An algorithm puzzle with a step budget ("Blind Snake"): A published task: play Snake blind on a wrapping screen of unknown size, finding the apple within 35 times the screen's area in moves, and explain the strategy in writing. The task text says partial solutions count and asks for a baseline first, then improvements with an explanation of why they work. Ship the simple correct version, then improve it, and write the reasoning down, since the explanation is required.
  • A parallel file downloader (Data Ingestion team, 2026): A published task: download a file in chunks over HTTP range requests, in parallel. A careful solution checks the file size and range support with a HEAD request, writes each chunk to the right offset, retries failed chunks, falls back to a plain download when ranges are not supported, and comes with tests. Cover the failure cases in the README, because that is where reviewers look first.
  • IDE and build tool plugins: Several published tasks ask for a small IntelliJ plugin (a breakpoint tracker, a toolbar button for a UI library), a Gradle plugin that lists Kotlin sources for Build Server Protocol work, or a language server for the LOGO language in Kotlin. Start from the official plugin template, keep the feature small and working, and say in the README how to run it. Mentors for these projects work on the IDE every day, so idiomatic use of the platform counts.
  • ML and research tasks: Published examples include training word2vec, building a code completion dataset and measuring a model on it, and evaluating LLM coding agents. These are judged as small research projects: state the question, the data, the metric and the result, include a short report, and be honest about what did not work. A clean evaluation with a clear write-up beats a bigger model.
  • QA tasks: exploratory testing and bug reports: A 2026 QA internship task asked for exploratory testing of the Command Completion feature in IntelliJ IDEA, with written bug reports. Test the feature like a user with a real project, try edge cases on purpose, and write each bug with steps, expected and actual results and your setup, so a developer can reproduce it on the first try.
  • Small apps and services: Other published tasks: a client-server app that shows a Git repository's log in the browser, for a Kotlin merge queue project (staying on the JVM was preferred), a todo app with a stats chart for the Qodana frontend team, and a text file indexer. Meet every listed requirement first, write down any assumptions you made to simplify the problem, and keep the code readable.
  • The take-home for full-time roles: JetBrains recruiters warn against what they call a spaceship solution: building far more than asked to show off. Meet every requirement, keep the code clean and readable, and note what you would add with more time. Expect to discuss it with the team afterwards, including fixes they may ask for and whether you used AI tools, so keep notes on your decisions as you go.

For full-time roles, ask your recruiter whether a substantial side project or open-source contribution could replace the take-home task. JetBrains says some teams accept one if it is relevant and big enough to evaluate.

04

What JetBrains screens for

JetBrains lists six traits it hires for on its careers page, and repeats them on its blog. The task review is where most of them get tested.

  • Raising the bar: real skill, a thoughtful approach and an eye for the details that matter
  • Caring about why the work matters, and wanting to solve hard problems
  • Refusing to settle for good enough, and finding another way when blocked
  • Making decisions and leading from wherever you sit, whatever your title
  • Independence with accountability: owning your work because it matters to you
  • Acting with intent: moving fast when it counts and judging work by impact
05

JetBrains interview questions

Drawn from what they say they test

No candidate account we could read lists JetBrains interview questions word for word, and internship interviews change with each mentor. The questions below are our own, built from what JetBrains says each stage checks: your recent work and motivation in the recruiter call, how you reason in the team interview, and how you defend your task in the review.

Behavioural & motivation

  • Why JetBrains, and why this team?Listening for: Specificity · Connection · Research
  • Walk me through your last role: the product, what you owned, and what changed because of your work.Listening for: Product and scale · What you owned · A concrete outcome
  • What do you want from your next role, and why is this one the right step?Listening for: A specific want · Why this role fits · Honest expectations
  • Tell me about a time you saw something broken that nobody owned, and fixed it.Listening for: The problem you spotted · What you did unasked · Owned the result
  • Describe a decision where you chose a simpler solution over a more impressive one.Listening for: The options on the table · Why simple won · How it held up
  • For interns: walk me through how you solved the test task, and what you would do with another week.Listening for: Clear walkthrough · Honest about limits · A sensible next step
  • Tell me about a disagreement with a teammate over a technical decision.Listening for: Engagement · Professionalism · Resolution

Technical

  • Practice: given a list of file paths, group the files that have identical contents. Talk through your approach as you would in a 30-minute slot.Live coding in the team interview: One option JetBrains lists for the small live exercise; you are told in advance if it is algorithmicListening for: A sound approach · Cost said aloud · Edge cases
  • Practice: here is a pull request that adds caching to a method that loads user settings from disk. What would you ask the author, and what would you block on?Live code review: Another option JetBrains lists for the team interviewListening for: Correctness first · Blocking versus nits · Clear, kind comments
  • Practice: users report that an IDE feature became slow on large projects after the last release. How would you find the cause?Short case study: The third live format JetBrains lists; useful practice for platform and tooling teamsListening for: Reproduce and measure · Narrow it down · Fix and guard
  • Practice: pick a small project you built. Explain the one design decision you would defend hardest, one you would change, and how you used AI tools while building it.Defending your take-home task: JetBrains says the review covers your decisions, trade-offs, how you would evolve the solution and your use of AI toolsListening for: A decision defended · What you would change · AI use, plainly
  • Practice: a service records usage events from an upstream system that sometimes sends the same event twice. How do you make sure each event is counted once?Backend on the JVM: From the open backend ads: Kotlin or Java services, transactions, idempotency, data migrationsListening for: Idempotency key · Ordering and retries · How you would verify
  • Practice: a new rename refactoring is ready for testing in an IDE. Which scenarios would you test by hand, and which would you automate first?QA and test automation: From the open QA ads for the IntelliJ platform and Kotlin plugin, and from a QA internship task published on GitHubListening for: Risky scenarios · Manual versus automated · Useful bug reports

These come from what the company says it tests, and your loop is role-specific. Paste the actual posting and Calibrd predicts the questions for that exact role and level.

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06

Pay

Software engineer, Germany · Levels.fyi€69.1K to €146K+
Software engineer, Netherlands · Levels.fyi€101K to €128K+
Software engineer, Czech Republic · Levels.fyiCZK 1.4M to 2.75M+
Intern · Levels.fyi, four reportsAbout $1,750 to $3,990 a month

Ranges read from Levels.fyi on 6 October 2026, where JetBrains has 248 software engineer submissions across all countries; the ranges cover levels L2 to L5 and are almost all base salary with a small bonus. JetBrains is privately owned and its European job ads carry no pay range, only the line that it offers a strong base salary; its US ads do include ranges. Intern pay is thin on Levels.fyi: four reports from Warsaw, Amsterdam and Munich between summer 2023 and summer 2025, shown in US dollars, and the lowest may be part time. In a September 2025 Reddit thread, one person said an Amsterdam intern earned around €3,000 to €3,500 a month in 2020, and another put Dutch intern pay at around €40K a year; treat both as reported. Calibrd benchmarks an offer against your level and location in the report.

07

How to prepare for a JetBrains interview

  1. Watch the internship platform from the start of each cycle. Projects are published twice a year, and the 2025 and 2026 accounts show one round in spring and one in autumn.
  2. Register and fill in your profile before projects go live, since the projects shown to you depend on your country.
  3. Pick projects whose skills you already have. The description lists what the mentor needs, and some projects are marked as too hard for early students.
  4. Never press Solve the task until you have a free block of time: the test task section above explains the timer.
  5. Write a README with every solution: how to run it, the assumptions you made, what you would do next and what you tested.
  6. Prepare for the mentor interview by rereading your own solution. Candidates report that it centres on your task and your experience, with an algorithms question from some mentors.
  7. For full-time roles, rewrite your CV around outcomes: what problem you solved, what you built, what improved and what your part was.
  8. Prepare a two-minute walkthrough of your last two or three roles and a clear answer on what you want next, for the recruiter call.
  9. Before the team interview, ask your recruiter which format to expect: live coding, a case study or a code review. JetBrains says you will be warned if it includes algorithms.
  10. On the take-home, meet every requirement before adding anything, and keep notes on your decisions and any AI use for the review.
  11. Line up three references early, ideally former managers and main stakeholders who can give concrete examples.

This guide covers JetBrains' internship program and its full-time engineering hiring. JetBrains says other roles take a test assignment too, but the tasks and interviews here are the engineering ones. For management and leadership roles the loop is similar but the bar shifts to people, delivery and strategy, so pair it with the leadership interview prep hub. The bar for your exact role comes from the role-by-role guides, and the prep that actually transfers is spoken, so run a mock interview before the real one.

Also interviewing at Booking.com, Zalando or Delivery Hero? Their guides follow the same format, from the first screen to the offer.

Knowing the questions isn’t the same as answering them out loud. Run a JetBrains mock: spoken answers, coached on the spot. Your first mock is free.

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08

FAQ & sources

What is JetBrains' interview process?

Both processes are published by JetBrains: the internship rules on its internship platform, and the full-time process on its careers page and in a recruiter's guide on its blog from July 2026. The stages, in order: Profile and project choice; Project test task; Mentor interview; Offer; Application and CV review; Recruiter interview; Team interview; Take-home test assignment; Task review and final interview; References.

What does JetBrains look for in candidates?

JetBrains lists six traits it hires for on its careers page, and repeats them on its blog. Raising the bar; Caring about why the work matters, and wanting to solve hard problems; Refusing to settle for good enough, and finding another way when blocked; Making decisions and leading from wherever you sit, whatever your title.

What questions does JetBrains ask in interviews?

No candidate account we could read lists JetBrains interview questions word for word, and internship interviews change with each mentor. Technical themes: Live coding in the team interview; Live code review; Short case study; Defending your take-home task; Backend on the JVM; QA and test automation.

How does the JetBrains test task work?

For interns, the test task is the first selection phase, and it is written by the mentor of the project you chose, so it looks like a small piece of that project's work. The rules are on the internship platform: the task is hidden until you press Solve the task, the timer starts at that moment, you can start any time before the deadline with the full time, and several tasks in a project share one timer. Covered on this page: Planning around the internship timer; An algorithm puzzle with a step budget ("Blind Snake"); A parallel file downloader (Data Ingestion team, 2026); IDE and build tool plugins; ML and research tasks; QA tasks: exploratory testing and bug reports; Small apps and services; The take-home for full-time roles.

How do I prepare for a JetBrains interview?

Watch the internship platform from the start of each cycle. Projects are published twice a year, and the 2025 and 2026 accounts show one round in spring and one in autumn. Register and fill in your profile before projects go live, since the projects shown to you depend on your country.

Interview processes change. This reflects widely-reported and sourced conditions as of 2026 — confirm specifics with your recruiter, and treat it as a map rather than a guarantee.

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