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Tech & product grad assessments in Southeast Asia

By Marin Devereux·6 min read·

Tech companies in Southeast Asia — Grab, Shopee, GoTo, Stripe, Google, Meta — test differently from banks. The aptitude component is shorter, but it sits alongside coding challenges or product sense questions that are unique to tech hiring.

The typical tech pipeline

  1. Online application + resume screen.
  2. Aptitude test — usually SHL or AON, sometimes Pymetrics. 20–40 minutes.
  3. Technical screen — coding (SWE), product case (PM), SQL/analytics (DA).
  4. On-site / virtual interviews — 3–5 rounds, mix of technical and behavioural.

What makes tech aptitude tests different

Tech companies tend to use shorter batteries (numerical + logical, skip verbal) and weight the results less heavily than banks do. The test is a filter, not a ranking tool. Pass the cutoff and the coding screen becomes what matters.

Pymetrics in tech
Grab and Unilever SEA use Pymetrics. The game-based format means you cannot cram — but you can familiarise yourself with the mechanics. See our game-based assessments guide.

Product metric questions

PM and DA roles increasingly include a “product metric interpretation” section. You see a dashboard (DAU, retention, conversion) and answer questions about what changed and why.

Product metric
A mobile app’s DAU dropped 15% week-over-week, but MAU stayed flat. What is the most likely explanation?

Users are still active monthly but visiting less frequently. Possible causes: a feature change reduced daily engagement, a push notification was disabled, or seasonality (e.g., post-holiday drop). The answer is about engagement frequency, not user churn.

Conversion analysis
Funnel data shows 10,000 sign-ups, 6,000 activations, 1,800 purchases. What is the sign-up to purchase conversion rate?

1,800 / 10,000 = 18%. The activation bottleneck (60% activation rate) is the biggest drop — fixing it has more leverage than improving purchase from activated users (1,800 / 6,000 = 30%, which is already reasonable).

How to prepare

  • Aptitude: 1 week of focused numerical + logical practice. Tech tests are easier than bank tests — but they still filter.
  • Product metrics: Read dashboards daily. Practice interpreting changes in DAU, retention curves, and conversion funnels.
  • Coding (SWE): LeetCode medium, focus on arrays, strings, trees, and dynamic programming.
The SEA advantage
Most tech companies in SEA norm their aptitude tests against a regional pool. If you are comfortable with English and have practised, you are already ahead of the median.

Prep for tech assessments on forge

Numerical, logical, and Pymetrics practice — tuned for the shorter, faster tests tech companies use.

Start preparing
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