It was an extensive mixture of online and in-person communication with a standard technical interview.

I applied online and was e-mailed a brief questionnaire. Within a week, I was sent a technical assessment to be completed within a one-hour time limit. The assessment was a mixture of coding and of knowledge of how Java and JavaScript run.

Within a few days, I received notice via e-mail that I had passed the technical assessment and moved forward to an online interview with a Talent Acquisition Specialist. I connected via Skype video call with a kind and friendly woman who explained a little about her role in the hiring process and asked me a few behavioral questions. At the end of the interview, she let me know where I could find further information and that I would hear back from them soon.

A few days later, I received an e-mail that I was still in the running and to await the next steps. About a week later I received a phone call from AT&T's Atlanta office in regards to setting up another online interview via AT&T's own conferencing software. I received a confirmation e-mail including the date and time, which also indicated that -- as a developer -- I should be prepared with a Java IDE open. I assumed (correctly) that this next stage would be the technical interview portion.

On the conference call, I spoke to a program director and two existing software engineers. I was asked a little about my background and my interest in AT&T as a company before we moved on to the technical portion. I did not end up needing a Java IDE ready, as the technical portion was conducted over a live code collaboration website (I can't recall the name). I was asked two questions and had written two separate functions before bad luck struck and my power went out. I was lucky to have called into the conference because we were able to continue to some degree without the use of the internet on my part. I was told that they had heard enough to invite me to the office, and an appointment was set up for me to meet in person. I received a confirmation e-mail with the date, time, and directions.

At the office, I was greeted and guided to the conference room where I was able to complete the technical portion of my interview on a whiteboard with the same engineers with whom I had spoken online. I was later informed that they had upped the ante to see just how much I could take, given that I seemed pretty at ease with the first two questions online. With some difficulty and assistance, I was able to complete the assessment. I was given a brief tour of the office and introduced to some people before having a final, more personal chat over lunch with another program director.

I received (and missed) a call from the main director I had spoken with that same day, but was able to connect the following morning. I was extended a job offer and a great deal of praise for getting through the process.

Given a string containing some varying kinds of brackets, return True if the use of those brackets is valid and False if not.

(ie: "{()}[]" = True, "]{[}]" = False)