Rob’s Pairing Interview (the “RPI”)

Nat Bennett (of Mr. Reciprocity fame—if you haven’t read it, run, don’t walk, read it. Back? Good.) has spilled some ink on the RPI, well worth a read:

Then I asked an LLM to describe it, and here’s what we got:

The “RPI” at Pivotal Labs stands for “Rob’s Pairing Interview,” named after Rob Mee, one of the founders of Pivotal Labs, and is a distinctive step in their technical hiring process that emphasizes pair programming, collaboration skills, and real-world coding ability.123

RPI Structure and Philosophy

  • The RPI is a short (usually 30–60 minute) technical screen where the candidate navigates while the Pivotal engineer drives—all typing is done by the interviewer, allowing candidates to focus on conceptual problem solving and communication, regardless of programming language expertise.431
  • The goal is not to trip candidates up with obscure puzzles but to see how they express ideas and collaborate, making the assessment fairer and less pressured compared to traditional interviews.31
  • This method aligns with Pivotal’s culture, which emphasizes empathy, respect, communication, and extreme programming practices like pair programming and test-driven development.13

The Full-Day Pairing Interview

  • Candidates who pass the RPI are invited to an all-day pairing interview, which typically includes two half-day sessions (morning and afternoon) with different engineers.563
  • During these sessions, candidates work on real stories from the backlog—sometimes even making real commits before being hired—mirroring the actual work environment.53
  • The approach aims to provide mutual insight: candidates experience “a day in the life” at Pivotal, while interviewers assess collaboration, problem-solving, adaptability, and technical skill.63
  • If a candidate isn’t a fit, the process may be shortened, but generally includes feedback and opportunities for reflection.51

Origins and Impact

  • The RPI was personally developed and championed by Rob Mee, who at one point directly paired with every candidate.24
  • Candidates receive scores on a quantifiable scale, with only top performers typically advancing, emphasizing Pivotal’s focus on collaboration and technical excellence.2
  • The pairing interview has influenced hiring practices elsewhere as a model for “real work, real collaboration,” moving beyond typical whiteboard or puzzle interviews.43

Reconstruction of the PPI (Pivot-Pong Interview)

Someone asked

Would anyone happen to have the original PM interview - the ping pong app prompt?

and I responded

found this in an email from 2013; the Homework prompt following up to the whiteboard pairing. This would’ve been for design, so some more PM-specific areas (eg storywriting) might need a re-fabrication.

Pivot Pong

Ping pong is a big part of our culture here at Pivotal Labs. It’s what we do when we need a break in the middle of our work day or when we’re hanging out after hours. Most of us play recreationally, but there’s a good number of Pivots who take ping pong very seriously. Occasionally we play doubles or have “Pivot Pong” tournaments as well.

We’d like you to flesh out the design we discussed for a “Pivot Pong” mobile app. The users of this app are the Pivots (Pivotal employees) who might be interested in recent and upcoming matches, scores, ranking order (aka “The Ladder”), and other things we discussed. The goal of the app is to improve our Ping Pong culture, which rewards us in happiness, healthiness, and camaraderie. You may include some of these in your design, or any information you find appropriate.

Please do not spend more than eight hours on this and have it ready and back to us no later than one week. Please include:

  • an iteration of the Google Draw wireframing design exercise in whatever format you feel is appropriate, e.g. more fleshed-out wireframes, and
  • choose at least one representative screen for visual design.

Feel free to send us your process, sketches, original files or any materials you find valuable. After you we review your submission we will schedule a follow-up session to discuss your design further. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us. We’d love to help along the way as much as we can. We hope you have fun working on this!

  1. https://devjourney.info/Guests/261-ChelseaTroy.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  2. https://www.wired.com/2013/11/pivotal-one/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. https://blog.jonrshar.pe/2016/Dec/05/pivotal-interviews.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  4. https://engine.expert360.com/why-you-should-stop-making-developer-candidates-do-tests-1e18fe2899ef ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. https://www.simplermachines.com/notes-on-the-pivotal-interview-process/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  6. https://blogs.vmware.com/tanzu/how-we-interview-at-pivotal/ ↩ ↩2