I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at YouGov (London, England) in Feb 2024
Interview
This is kind of hard to write because up until the last point I was very impressed with the interview process for this role. The steps were:
- Call with the talent person, to discuss the high level details of the role, etc
- Technical test in Github (I was impressed with how it was done, all automated and very relevant)
- In Depth Technical interview: to discuss the tests and more in depth JS technical questions from two engineers
- Cultural fit: this is when everything crumbled....
I was notified THE DAY BEFORE of my final round, that the role was not longer available, as well as other roles. That decision came from HR and finance. What kind of company is this?!
How can someone put up roles and pulled them out suddenly, when people where already deep in the process? I've never seen anything like it in my +15 years as engineer.
I was so excited to think that I could work for what it sounded like a great company, but I might have missed a bullet there. What a mess.
I was given an automated evaluation project to add features to a dummy project. The code itself was messy. I added a YAGNI solution to it not to avoid messing it too much. I thought it was part of a collaboration with a real interviewer. But it was final. They were expecting clean code and SOLID principles and I should have done drastic changes to the code instead.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Adding features to a dummy project (free of frameworks) thats compatible with clean code and SOLID principles.
I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at YouGov (Mumbai) in May 2019
Interview
I liked the Interview process. One HR person from the UK approached me from LinkedIn. He asked me about my total years of experience, technical skillset, current & expected hike, the reason for switching and expected hike, etc.
The next day only he mail me regarding my skype interview with a Development Manager and Director.
The interview was pretty long, lasted for 1.5 - 2 hours of discussion. Maybe they were also testing my patience level and my interest in the job and role.
The manager asked mostly about my past experiences, about my projects and technical questions. The director asked me mostly managerial questions and was curious about my working mentality and my past experiences in leading and mentoring a team. Trust me these were the toughest managerial questions I have faced in my experience.
The technical questions were also tough and very nice.
They were alternately asking questions, like 15 mins of technical questions, then 15 mins of managerial questions.
But it was more of a discussion, not an interrogation, so it was not exhaustive at all. Lastly, they said HR will get back to me soon (Like everybody says).
After a few days, the HR mailed me regarding when can I join and they are happy to offer me the role.
I needed a week's vacation from my last working day in my previous organization before I join YouGov because I was stressed with work. And they understood and happily agreed.
Head's up: My interview was a one-day event. I am not sure how many rounds do others had to go through. It depends on many things, like teams, experience, role, etc.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Technical:
Questions were mostly asked from core Javascript concepts. Few were from frameworks. Few from Node JS and databases. And regarding CI/CD and infrastructure.
Managerial:
Questions were situation based, like suppose if this happens, what will you do? etc. These were very tricky. Not sure how convincing my answers were.