AppSec / Track

Application Security Engineer

Shift left without slowing developers down.

AppSec Engineers embed in product engineering. You run threat models early, set the bar for secure-by-default libraries, triage SAST/DAST output, and build the paved road so the easy path is the secure path.

Tools in scope

SemgrepSnykCodeQLBurp SuiteTrivy

How different employers interview

FAANG

Live code-review round in one of their primary languages plus a threat-model exercise.

Startup

Generalist round — expect to defend tradeoffs against zero-process baseline.

// Sample question

Engineering wants to roll their own JWT auth library because the existing one is 'too restrictive'. How do you respond?

Show strong-answer outline

Don't start with no. Ask what's restrictive and whether it's a config, a missing feature, or a misunderstanding. If a custom build is unavoidable, insist on a vetted JOSE library underneath, ban `alg=none`, require explicit algorithm allow-listing, key rotation, short expirations, and external review before rollout. Document the threat model.

Reading list

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