The process is the usual: intro with HR, 45 minutes with Eng. manager, 1.5 hours of coding, 30 minutes with the product manager and a final round with the CTO to figure out culture fit and high-level technical questions.
The HR who worked with me did a great job - introduced the company, described the role and team and the process in detail. Was always in touch and gave feedback. However, on first introduction they ask a lot of questions about residency and taxes even for a B2B contract. After successful completion of the process, you will have to prove your residency. You cannot work from many European countries such as Italy.
The first technical interview was in a Q&A manner and was thorough but positive, awkward at times.
Second interview at the coding session: the task was presented in Google Meets chat so you had to copy-paste it (face palm). The task itself was interesting, not algorithmic. I copied the requirements and started thinking out loud about the solution. Then wrote code and tests, debugged a bit. I finished much earlier, and only after I did everything, they mentioned that I forgot to copy the last part of the requirements (face palm2, where were you before?). I implemented the final solution using google and stack overflow to refresh knowledge you don't use in everyday basis. Still finished before I had time, asked a few questions about the process. It was my mistake for not asking about the solution at all because I was confident about it.
The next day they sent me a rejection with some very strange feedback, such as:
– ‘you tried to use multiple approaches to solve the same problems, which led to some chaos in the process’.
Yes, this happens when you have a tight timeline.
– Several key requirements were missed.
Yes, next time, please share the requirements more clearly rather than chatting. And make sure the candidate gets all the requirements before starting the work.
- While it's great to discuss potential improvements, the focus of our session was on implementation. Your feedback and thoughts were valuable, but we would have liked to see more focus on the coding part itself.
Okaaaay... I thought the purpose of a coding interview was the exact opposite - to see how the candidate thinks.
Anyway, thanks to HR for their diligent work, I just wasn't a good fit for the team. The company's recruitment process also looks strong.
