I received an ad via Linkedin and I decided to apply, first, they sent me a code challenge based on Python for Data Science, I did it anyway and I was able to complete 2 of the 3 tasks, but I told them that I work with backend not with Data Science.
I got an e-mail saying I wasn't approved, but after that, I got the correct test in Flask.
The test was easy but a bit different from what I am used to do, some tests didn't inform the expected headers or expected response format, and when the tests failed I had no clue why, it took me some time by trial and error but eventually I was able to finish all tests.
After that I got an interview, the interview was fine and the lady polite and honest, but then a lady told me that my salary expectations were too high for the company standards, according to her the company pays 20-30 USD an hour, I find this value a bit low for Senior positions, but I decided to move on anyway since 30 USD would be good enough for me.
Then I got another tech test that I had to do while sharing my screen, it was about Python, the interviewer was polite and helpful, but I didn't know what was going to be the focus of the test (Web, pure Python, algorithms?) so I didn't prepare in advance.
The first test was a set of Python questions, most of them were easy if you work with Python, but some of them can be tricky if you don't study or experiment with the language enough, so I got 7 correct out of 10. For the second test, I got 30 minutes to pretty much manipulate strings from files, it was easy but I felt 30 minutes wasn't enough to complete, so I got only 70% of the test cases correct, the third and last test was about csv manipulation and I had 40 minutes, but I completed it in 10 minutes with 100% of tests cases, my overall rate was 80% and I still didn't pass.
It's never clear how much you must score to pass, also it would be good to better time the tests, the second one I had too little time and the third one too much. Also, it feels like I've been eliminated not because I am not a good fit for the position, but because the process needs to improve.
