Interview process was pretty smooth to schedule and the questions were pretty fair. I felt I was strung along for 4 separate series of interviews (recruiter screening, technical screen, onsite interview, and interview with founder) with great feedback but then failing to get an offer. I also was very thrown off with my interview with the founder only lasting around 10-15 minutes when it was scheduled to be 30. Felt at that point another candidate was already chosen but they decided to interview me anyway. Everyone seems nice but I wish they hadn't taken so much time just to inform me I didn't fit their needs.
Recruiter was nice albeit seemingly distracted. Like some entries before me I'm under the impression that the beginning stages are not undergoing any meaningful screening. When I applied, 3 things stood out to me...
1) Got an interview request within half an hour
2) The only available appointments were weeks out
3) When looking at a hiring manager's post on Linkedin, he mentioned he'd interviewed something like 48 interviews within the last 2 weeks.
How many people are going through this pipeline? In the age of AI screening I think it's nice that they are giving people a chance to talk to a human. But it also signals to me that they don't really know what they're looking for. Is this some sort of new technique to waste everyone's time?
At the very least, decisions seem to be made and communicated quickly.
I signed a non disclosure agreement so I cannot discuss any specific questions or problems. All communications were friendly. The rejection I received was generic and lacked any specific feedback.
Phone screen, technical screen, then on-site with 3 rounds (1 coding, 1 behavioral, and 1 systems design). After that, 1 more behavioral with founder. I felt like I did well on the interviews but they probably went with a candidate that had more years of experience than I did.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Typical LC type question and system design question