The interview process involved a behavioral phone screen, a coding challenge, a tech phone screen, and then an onsite interview. I only reached the coding challenge stage.

Someone I hadn't corresponded with via email called me for the behavioral phone screen. I was a little caught off guard and felt awkward, as I usually like to research who I'm interviewing with. Nevertheless, the interviewer spoke very highly of Asana and discussed his vision for the company's future.

He emphasized transparency as a key aspect of Asana's interview process, mentioning that they like to provide specific feedback to candidates regardless of the outcome. This was something I truly appreciated hearing.

Initially, I was hesitant about the coding challenge. The types of questions asked in these challenges often have little to do with one's ability to thrive in a workplace. From my experience, I now call these tests "computer science tests." They aren't indicative of how someone might perform as a software engineer, as a typical day involves diving into the codebase, significant architecting, leveraging existing knowledge, and the ability to search online. Furthermore, I've rarely needed to know typical algorithms like Bubble Sort for my current job.

Because of this, I tend to avoid coding challenges. However, the interviewer's assurance of receiving feedback regardless of the outcome convinced me to proceed.

Contrary to what the recruiter had stated, I received absolutely no feedback and was given a standard rejection email. Without feedback, I imagine any candidate would feel their time was wasted. This is quite disappointing from Asana's perspective, as discussing feedback was precisely what made me decide to take the coding challenge, believing Asana's recruiting process stood out.

I attempted to email for feedback but was ghosted with no response.

The recruiter I spoke with over the phone was certainly convincing due to his experience, but it seems Asana is just another typical tech company, leaving candidates in the dark with minimal human interaction. I believe my code met pylint standards, so readability was likely not an issue. I must have missed a typical college textbook algorithm, which again, has little to do with workplace performance, so they likely didn't favor the algorithm I chose.

It's the same thing about the rabbit and carrots. I know I've seen this pop up everywhere on Glassdoor, but I could only imagine the frustration someone with 5 years of experience would go through from having to do this kind of problem as a coding challenge.