The process began with a phone call interview with a Senior Engineer. He asked questions ranging from basic Java level operations to my experience with REST services. The questions were effective in adequately assessing my skills and experience.

Then, I was invited for an in-person interview the next day. I was interviewed by three engineers simultaneously. They asked a couple of questions about previous projects and the frameworks I had implemented, then continued by asking me to whiteboard basic Java collections implementation challenges.

The most frustrating aspect was that the engineers "docked me points" for not knowing a collections class method. They also stated that I had implemented a generic into an ArrayList incorrectly, though I am most certain it was correct. (They did not explain how it was incorrect when I asked, and upon double-checking at home, I found my implementation was indeed correct).

After this frustrating interview, where I felt they did not adequately assess my skills and knowledge but rather my memorization of collections classes, I never heard anything back despite the "we'll be in touch" remark. I later received feedback from a contact at American Express stating that I would require a Senior Developer to "hold my hand" if hired. This was completely aggravating and humiliating, considering I have developed full-stack applications from start to finish independently and within teams, implementing the very frameworks they questioned me on.

It is regrettable that the interviewers seemed unsure of how to ask the right questions to correctly assess skills.

What are the HTTP Request methods?

Whiteboard the exact way you would implement and reverse an ArrayList without using any sort of reverse methods from the collections classes. (You will get docked for any syntax or forgotten Collection class methods like ArrayList.size()!)

Switch two integer variables without creating a third.