EquityZen Software Engineer interview questions

They seem very intense. Lots of questions regarding my previous work history and commitment to the company if hired. They are a small team so it makes sense that they don't want dead weight but it was a bit too much. One guy flat out told me he "had no free time" when I asked him about his interests outside of the job. They were upfront about wanting me to work 12+ hour days if hired, staying until midnight, etc. Thanks but no thanks. I wasn't too enthused at hearing that so they dropped me, and I'm glad they did. Initiative and "passion" for computer science were big factors. My phone interviewer mentioned some technologies they use in their stack and seemed surprised when I got to the on-site and hadn't gone out of my way to learn them before the interview. He told me he was "disappointed" that I hadn't taken the time to read into the things he mentioned. I understand the sentiment from their perspective, but I had other interviews and it seemed a bit inappropriate to expect someone to invest time into learning something before getting the job. Hiring here seems to be very much of a "how bad do you want the job" ordeal. Personally, I didn't see enough evidence to justify me wanting it badly (early stage startup, etc.). Maybe if they had offered some information about what kind of compensation would be waiting, I might have tried harder.

The response and the whole process were very quick. I got the response on the very next day and was instructed to schedule a date. It seemed they were interviewing a lot of people. The interview went by very fast. Phone screen was about 30 minutes with basic straightforward questions. The interviewer was nice.